A New Curriculum and a New Learning Space: An Opportunity for Real Change in an Irish Context

Abstract

Curricular change is currently underway in Ireland. A new Junior Cycle Student Award (JCSA) marks a move away from traditional learning and examinations, replacing these with project work, continual assessment, and collaborative styles of learning. Traditionally, teaching and learning has been dominated by teacher-led methodologies. Students sit in straight rows of square individual desks facing a whiteboard and projector at the front of the classroom. The teacher lectures on their subject expertise and the students write notes, with limited peer interaction. However, the foci of the JCSA are team work, discussion, project design, and collaboration and these will change the dynamic of classr..