Learning for all? Second-Level education in Ireland during COVID-19

The Institute receives an annual grant-in-aid from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to support the scientific and public interest elements of the Institute’s activities; the grant accounted for an average of 30 per cent of the Institute’s income over the lifetime of the last Research Strategy. [...] According to the census records of the Department of Education and Skills (DES, 2019a) there were 723 second-level schools in the Republic of Ireland in the academic year of 2019/2020. [...] These include reforms in provision for students with additional needs (particularly the pilot School Inclusion Model); refinements to the identification of schools for the DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) programme currently out for consultation; the Framework for Junior Cycle in the final stages of implementation; and the review of Senior Cycle due for completion later in the. [...] The DES acknowledges that the embedding of digital technologies in school practice will take time and is committed to ensuring that differentiated models of CPD continues to be made available to schools for the implementation of the DLF and the embedding of digital technologies across all school activity. [...] As schools consider reopening, research suggests that a range of areas needs to be considered by schools and policymakers, including the timing and staging of student return, the nature of teaching and prioritisation of curricular areas, and the potential use of the summer period (Section 1.3.5).