Sir, – The evidence base of your correspondent Mike Lyons (Letters, March 11th) is unclear when he states that skills such as critical thinking and creative thinking are treated by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) as discrete and decontextualised from knowledge and other skills.
Documents such as the Framework for Junior Cycle state clearly that these and other key skills should actually be developed through engagement with subject knowledge and learning.
As proof of this, the same key skills are embedded in the learning outcomes of the subjects in question and treated in an entirely contextualised way.
As for the claim that the NCCA is myopic and ideological in its zeal for certain ideas and approaches, there is more than ample evidence on our website and in our record of curriculum development that the NCCA, as a statutory and representative body, uses education and other research (national and international) extensively, alongside the valued experience of practitioners and experts and extensive consultation processes, to arrive at the advice it offers the Minister for Education and Skills on curriculum and assessment developments designed to meet the future needs of children and young people. – Yours, etc,
BRIGID
McMANUS,
Chairwoman,
National Council
for Curriculum
and Assessment,
Fitzwilliam Square,
Dublin 2.