Sir, – On October 1st, 2019, when Minster for Education Joe McHugh confirmed a “special core status” for history in the junior cycle, he requested “the support of the National Council for Curriculum & Assessment in devising a new structure for the junior cycle framework which includes history as a special core status”.
So far – over three months later – neither the NCCA nor the Department of Education have issued instructions to schools on the place of history for September 2020.
School principals need these instructions urgently as they plan their curriculum for next September.
Is it possible that the NCCA – which opposed making history core to the junior cycle – is waiting for the general election in the hope that, whatever the outcome, Joe McHugh will not be Minister for Education after that election?
The Committee of Cork History Teachers’ Association (Cork HTA) is calling on the Minister to act now to ensure that the NCCA uses its “expertise” to produce those guidelines for schools immediately. – Yours, etc,
DERMOT LUCEY,
Secretary,
Cork History
Teachers’ Association
(Cork HTA),
Ballincollig,
Cork.