Subject Contact Time in Secondary Schools

Plumella

Does anyone know if each subject has a minimum number of contact hours per curriculum year in Secondary Schools? And where I can find these timings written down in 'law' so to speak.

I have been unlucky in finding details on this. The NCCA I had thought would be the first port of call - but they have told me to check with the Dept. Of Education as they had no publication on this or guidelines to provide schools with

The Dept. Of Education have said that they would check it out for me but I have yet to hear back from them. :rolleyes:

Does anyone have any idea or link to somewhere with this information?:)

Thanks

Plumella

evolving_doors

Plumella wrote: »

Does anyone know if each subject has a minimum number of contact hours per curriculum year in Secondary Schools? And where I can find these timings written down in 'law' so to speak.

I have been unlucky in finding details on this. The NCCA I had thought would be the first port of call - but they have told me to check with the Dept. Of Education as they had no publication on this or guidelines to provide schools with

The Dept. Of Education have said that they would check it out for me but I have yet to hear back from them. :rolleyes:

Does anyone have any idea or link to somewhere with this information?:)

Thanks

Plumella

download the subjects syllabus from the ncca (pdf document) ...you might be a while wading through it (try ctrl + f and search the document). I think the classroom contact time is a minimum recommendation so to speak.

rainbowtrout

In some subjects a recommended number of hours is specified, e.g. JC Science is recommended to have between 240-270 hours in the 3 year cycle.

We were researching this last year as we were making changes to our timetable and found it very hard to pin down in some subjects. Also with choice subjects one may have a way higher recommended number of hours than another but if they are on the same block they will be allocated the same.

In general in the end we took it that 180 hours seemed to be the minimum we could find for any subject in Junior Cert. I seem to remember JC history and geography were in around 192 and 200.

A lot of the older syllabi, particularly at JC level have not been updated since the stone age and don't pin down specific hours. What we also found is that no one wanted to give us a straight answer at the Dept of Education. We presumed as it would mean that if we were told that we weren't teaching enough hours in core subjects etc, that we might be looking for concessions in hours allocated to the school.

evolving_doors

Is it true that science for the new jc is being proposed to be reduced down to 200 hrs? I think someone mentioned it here before christmas...

teacherhead

Armelodie wrote: »

Is it true that science for the new jc is being proposed to be reduced down to 200 hrs? I think someone mentioned it here before christmas...

Irish, English and maths 240 hours all other subjects 200 hours.

in looking at out timetable for next year and have also found it hard to pin down any minimum time. What i have done id look st inspection reports where it says how many periods etc and if this is adequate or otherwise. Pain in the ass but at least it gives some idea. Of course no matter what way you do it some teachers want ten periods a week for their subject - which is as it should be, if a teacher isn't looking out for their own subject its a bad sign Imo.

Pwpane

Armelodie wrote: »

Is it true that science for the new jc is being proposed to be reduced down to 200 hrs? I think someone mentioned it here before christmas...

Yes. The following extract is from the NCCA Background Paper and Brief for JC Science which is worth reading:
http://www.juniorcycle.ie/NCCA_JuniorCycle/media/NCCA/Documents/Consultation/Subjects/JC-Science_BP.pdf

9. Brief for the review of Junior Cycle Science
The review of Junior Cycle Science will lead to the production of a specification in line with the template above.

The principles for junior cycle education as they appear in the Framework for Junior Cycle will inform key decisions made in the development of the specification for Science. In its work, the development group will be conscious of the extent to which the specification relates to various statements of learning in the Framework and in that context, how it might assist a school in
planning and evaluating their junior cycle programme.

The specification will be at a common level.

It will be designed to be taught in a minimum of 200 hours.

It will be structured or organised around strands and learning outcomes.

The key skills of junior cycle, as appropriate, will be embedded in the learning outcomes of the specification.

The skills of literacy and numeracy will be promoted through specific aspects of the specification.

It will be completed for Autumn 2014.

The development of the new specification for Junior Cycle Science will take account of current research and developments within the field of science education, particularly the emerging understanding of the Nature of Science.

The development of the new specification will address continuity and progression. It will consider whether first year Science should be taught as a common introductory course (CIC), with a particular focus on consolidating learning from primary school and on the development of students’ understanding of the Nature of Science. Some consideration should be given to the development of bridging units to be commenced by students in sixth class and completed at the start of first year.