Talk to educators about the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), and chances are the praise will come thick and fast. All the signs are that, with one or two exceptions, it's a case of general satisfaction all round. The NCCA has its roots in the Curriculum and Examination Board (CEB), which was set up by the then Minister for Education, Gemma Hussey back in 1984. The CEB, as its name suggests, was to take control of both the curriculum and examinations from the Department of Education. When the Fine Gael-Labour coalition fell in 1987, a bill to put the CEB on a statutory footing had already been published. When Mary O' Rourke took over as Minister for Education, she changed the CEB's name to the NCCA and opted for non-statutory status. It's thanks to the current Minister for Education and Science, Micheal Martin, that the NCCA is about to become a statutory authority, under the terms of the Education Act 1998.

The establishment of the CEB was both historic and controversial. Up until then, the Department of Education had sole charge of curriculum and exams. Wresting control from the Department was bound to raise a few hackles. Involving teachers and parents in curriculum development was entirely novel.

"Of course there were tensions between the NCCA and the Department," confirms a highly placed source. "Civil servants like to work on the basis that they know what's going on and they don't like to lose control."

This attitude has changed in recent years, however. Today, relations between the NCCA and the Department of Education and Science are described as "excellent". Department officials are now well versed in the art of committee and partnership participation.

The trend, indeed, is for more executive agencies, devoted to specific aspects of education, to be set up. The Education Act provides for the establishment of corporate bodies "to perform functions in, or in relation to, the provision of support services" by ministerial order. Under the old system, officials could be diverted from their work, for various reasons, the source says. "The curriculum is a living, breathing, changing thing," explains Gemma Hussey. "It must be constantly updated, renewed and reviewed. It needs the input of lot of people.

"The Department inspectors had an enormous job on their hands. They were involved with the curriculum and with designing, correcting and running exams. It was not what they should be doing." Hussey admits to being "heartbroken", when her plans for the CEB were scrapped. Under the new legislation, the role of the NCCA is to advise the Minister on matters relating to early childhood, primary and post-primary curriculum and assessment procedures and examinations. "The Minister will still wield a lot of power, but the deliberations and pronouncements of the council will have considerable strength and will not be at the beck and call of the government of the day," Hussey says. The NCCA's representational nature is widely regarded as being its greatest strength. The Act stipulates that "as far as is practicable" the council must include representatives of the early childhood primary and post-primary sectors, the national parents councils, school management organisations, trade unions and teacher staff associations.

Representatives of business, industry, students with disabilities and special needs and the Irish-language organisations are also to be included in the council. "The fact that the NCCA is a representative body, providing advice to the Minister for Education and Science on curriculum and assessment, has meant that the curriculum in Ireland has not been the battleground which it has been in other countries," observes John White, deputy secretary of the ASTI. "The issues are thrashed out and a consensus is arrived at and advice is sent out to the Minister, who makes the final decisions," White says. "If he makes a contrary decision, however, he has to have very good reasons." "The NCCA has been responsible for overseeing some of the most radical changes that have ever taken place in the Irish education system," adds Billy Fitzpatrick, the TUI's education officer. "There has been tremendous reform of the curriculum. The NCCA is a very, very effective body in representing views and bringing about change."

NOT EVERYONE, however, is enthusiastic about the NCCA's representative character. Opting for a council which is composed of representatives of the partners in education as opposed to a body of experts is a great weakness, argues Dr Ed Walsh, former president of the University of Limerick and now chairman of the Council of Science, Technology and Innovation.

Walsh chaired the CEB and the NCCA for seven years. "When I was there, there was a great deal of frustration when good progressive ideas were rejected by people who were looking over their shoulders," he recalls. "Curriculum development was conditioned by the views of those who were representing other interests. "I looked around a table of 20 or so people and only a minority were genuinely giving advice on the basis of knowledge and curriculum improvement. There was enormous frustration in seeing how many micro-political angles had to be observed."

Walsh still argues in favour of a council composed largely of experts. "If it were possible for the Government to have the courage to convene a small group of experts who were familiar with international developments and the Irish education system, our school system would be a much better place," he asserts.

"The CEB was a collection of experts," recalls Professor Aine Hyland, UCC's new vice-president and chairperson of the Points Commission. While the representative approach is admirable, having some people nominated to the council in their own right would provide a better balance, she says. Hyland, however, lauds the partnership approach. "It's a major innovation in curriculum planning. We have moved away from a top-down approach, where it was all done within the Department of Education. The NCCA has done a terrific job and has kept up the debate on curriculum and assessment at a very important time."

INTERESTINGLY, no mention is made of third-level representation in the Act. However, Albert O Ceallaigh, the NCCA's chief executive, points to the fact that the council's chairpersons have invariably come from that sector: first Walsh, then the late Dr Tom Murphy of UCD and now Dr Caroline Hussey, registrar of UCD. Under the terms of the Act, the NCCA will take on a number of new roles. This comes against a background of the growing awareness of the significance of educational change, both here and internationally. "There's a need to ensure that the Irish system keeps apace with other countries, and above all there is the issue of quality," O Ceallaigh observes. "As a statutory body we will have responsibility for all of our functions. We can't pick and choose and we will be publicly accountable." For the future, the council will be required to consult with a range of designated bodies, including organisations involved in training (FAS, for example) and research and development. The development of early childhood and special-needs curricula have also been placed on the NCCA agenda.

The council, too, has been given evaluation and research and development briefs. "There will be far more emphasis on the review and evaluation of the curricula and how effective they are," he says. "We are out of the developmental stage. We have produced the new primary school curriculum, a new Junior Cert curriculum and three Leaving Cert curricula."

Issues of disadvantage, further education and the role of the Irish language in schools are set to receive increased attention, O Ceallaigh notes. The Education Act provides for the establishment of a body to advise on and support the teaching of Irish in schools and the promotion of education through the medium of Irish. This body will advise the NCCA on such matters.