English

Junior Cycle English focuses on the development of language and literacy in and through the three strands: Oral Language, Reading, and Writing. The elements of each of these strands place a focus on communicating, on active engagement with and exploration of a range of texts, and on acquiring and developing an implicit and explicit knowledge of the shape and structures of language. English aims to develop students’ knowledge of language and literature, to consolidate and deepen their literacy skills and make them more self-aware as learners.

More specifically it encourages all students to:—

• Be creative through language and to gain enjoyment and continuing personal growth from English in all its forms

• Develop control over English using it and responding to it with purpose and effect through the interconnected literacy skills of oral language, reading and writing

• Engage personally with and think critically about an increasingly broad range of spoken, written and multimodal texts

• Develop an informed appreciation of literature through personal encounters with a variety of literary texts

• Use their literacy skills to manage information needs, and find, use, synthesise, evaluate and communicate information using a variety of media

• Gain an understanding of the grammar and conventions of English and how they might be used to promote clear and effective communication.

There is strong continuity with English in senior cycle. This is especially evident in the learning outcomes which emphasise the students’ growing sense of the writing process, their awareness of audience and purpose, their development of genre awareness, and their growing ability to make links, however informal, between texts they study.

Irish

Junior Certificate Irish builds upon the language developed during primary education. The learner’s vocabulary is both reinforced and enriched at this stage and the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) are further developed. In addition the learner’s linguistic and cultural awareness are expanded over the three years of junior cycle. By learning, acquiring and using  Irish, students discover information, develop thinking skills, and express opinions and emotions. Therefore, students are able to manage various demands associated with school, the community, employment, further education and life as a whole.

Students become  involved and engaged in all of the language skills: listening, reading, spoken production, spoken interaction and writing. They discuss, compare and investigate a variety of texts, including literary texts, developing their communication, thinking and critical skills. Students read literature with an insight and imagination not only in the classroom but for their own  benefit as well. As they read relevant texts, the students’ critical ability is developed.

A particular level of competence in the Irish language is required in different employment areas in Ireland and overseas. Government departments and agencies have a statutory obligation to provide services through the medium of Irish. The official and working status of the Irish language in the European Union creates further opportunities for employment. Irish is an advantage for students who  wish to work in these various fields or who want to conduct their business through the medium of Irish.

Mathematics

Mathematics in Junior Cycle  builds on students’ prior learning and focuses on developing increasingly sophisticated and refined mathematical understanding, fluency, reasoning, computational thinking and problem solving. These capabilities enable students to respond to familiar and unfamiliar situations by employing mathematics to make informed decisions and solve problems efficiently.

The specification for Maths in Junior Cycle is underpinned by the conception of mathematics as an interconnected body of ideas and reasoning processes that students negotiate collaboratively with teachers and their peers and as independent learners. Number, measurement and geometry, statistics and probability are common aspects of most people’s mathematical experiences in everyday personal, study and work situations. Equally important are the essential roles that algebra, functions and relations, logic, mathematical structure and working mathematically play in people’s understanding of the natural and social worlds, and the interaction between them.

The aim of junior cycle mathematics is to provide relevant and challenging opportunities for all students to become mathematically proficient so that they can cope with the mathematical challenges of daily life and enable them to continue their study of mathematics in senior cycle and beyond.

History

The study of history is about exploring human experience over time and how that experience has shaped the world we live in today. By asking questions of available evidence, students of history can make rational, informed judgements about human actions in the past and examine why people were motivated to act as they did and the effects of these actions. 

Studying history develops student’s historical consciousness, enabling them to orient themselves in time and place their experiences in a broader framework of human experience.  Being historically conscious transforms the way that students perceive the world and their place in it, and informs how they see the future development of the world

The study of the past allows students to examine the impact of human actions in a wide variety of dimensions, including politics, government, law, society, economics, culture, beliefs and ideas.  The ability to construct and communicate coherent, logical arguments on matters of historical significance, and in so doing utilise skills such as thinking critically, working collaboratively and utilising digital media effectively, is also enhanced by the study of history.

Geography

The study of Junior Cycle Geography enables students to become geographically literate. It stimulates curiosity, creating opportunities for students to read, analyse, synthesise and communicate about their immediate environment and the wider world.  It develops knowledge, skills, values and behaviours that allow students to explore the physical world, human activities, how we interact with our world and recognise the interconnections between systems.

Geography is the study of the Earth’s landscapes, peoples, places, and environments.The study of geography empowers the person to explore and understand the world around them. Engagement with the subject promotes a deep understanding of people and place.  Students develop the skills to read their environment, enabling them to interpret the physical landscape, observe climatic events with an informed eye and discuss world events in a knowledgeable manner. Learning in geography supports students in making informed decisions, giving the ability to make valuable contributions to the economic, social, and cultural life of their communities, localities and countries.  

Geography provides a platform to analyse world events, empowering young people as informed, active citizens. Studying geography enhances students’ ability to engage with issues such as sustainable development, economic systems, hazard management and climate change. The topics experienced help develop students’ awareness and understanding of cultural variations fostering a respect of difference.  Students are growing up in a globalised, dynamic world. Geography provides a medium to explore current events in our world. Students viewing events through a geographical lens are well placed to be part of a generation which can deal effectively with, and mitigate global challenges and rise to related opportunities.

The skills developed through the subject are transferable and will benefit students in study and life. Geography encourages structured inquiry: this critical thinking involves students asking questions, gathering data, evaluating and interpreting, and presenting information.

French

Language learning is accessible to all students and contributes to their cognitive, personal and social growth by enhancing their communicative and thinking skills, as well as their participation in a global society. Being able to communicate in a foreign language is  among the eight key competences for lifelong learning identified by the European Union and European Council in 2006.

The study of French in junior cycle encourages students to:—

• Actively engage in language activities and tasks, developing the capacity to understand written and spoken language.

• Communicate effectively and confidently in familiar contexts through a range of media.

• Develop their capacity to use appropriate structures and vocabulary for the purposes of communication, both written and oral.

• Enjoy a language-learning experience that will facilitate and encourage them to continue learning languages in future.

• Be reflective and autonomous in their language learning, and become actively involved in monitoring and assessing their progress.   

• Appreciate their own and other cultures.

• Develop skills that they can apply to other areas of study and to their lives.

Language learning develops students’ general language awareness. It enhances their ability to analyse how language works, to compare languages, and to reflect on how they learn languages. This has a positive effect on their first language skills and on future language learning.

Religion

Junior Cycle Religious Education focuses on developing knowledge, understanding, skills, attitudes and values to enable young people to come to an understanding of religion and its relevance to life, relationships, society and the wider world. The course is built around three interconnecting strands: Expressing Beliefs, Exploring Questions and Living our Values.  

Religious Education promotes the holistic development of the person.  It facilitates the intellectual, social, emotional, spiritual and moral development of students. Religious Education provides a particular space for students to encounter and engage with the deepest and most fundamental   questions relating to life, meaning and relationships. It encourages students to reflect, question, critique, interpret, imagine and find insight for their lives. The students’ own experience and continuing search for meaning is encouraged and supported.

Religious Education helps to equip students with the knowledge, understanding, skills, attitudes and values to support their life journey and enable them to participate in their communities and in the world as informed, respectful, responsible and caring members of society.  

Visual Art

Visual Art at junior cycle aims to provide the student with a set of personal attitudes and qualities as well as skills and processes and a sense of the aesthetic.Through practical engagement in the areas of art, craft and design students will develop self-confidence, inquisitiveness, imagination, and creativity. They will also develop authentic, real-world problem-solving capacities and the capacity to work over time, as an individual and in groups, on the design and execution of artistic and aesthetic tasks.

Within the safe space of the art class, students will experience the authentic visual art processes of imagining, investigating, experimenting, making, displaying and evaluating. They will sometimes fail, and learn that failure can often be a hugely positive learning experience. Students will develop the knowledge, skills and understanding necessary to produce and to engage with authentic and original art, craft and design work. In so doing, they will begin to develop the visual literacy, critical skills and language necessary to engage with contemporary culture. This will further contribute to the students’ understanding of the rich and diverse roles of art, craft and design in historical and contemporary societies and cultures

Business Studies

Business studies aims to stimulate students’ interest in the business environment and how they interact with it. It develops skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviours that allow them to make informed and responsible decisions with all of the resources available to them, ensuring their and society’s well-being, while becoming more self-aware as learners. 

Business studies encourages students to develop skills for learning, skills for work and skills for life. It supports the development of analytical and critical thinking skills, encouraging students to be problem solvers. It reinforces the development of students’ numeracy, literacy and digital technology skills by providing a real-life context for their application.Studying business helps to equip students with the understanding, skills and attitudes to participate fully in an interconnected world.

Home Economics

Junior Cycle Home Economics develops the knowledge, understanding, skills and values necessary to achieve optimal, healthy and sustainable living for every person as an individual, and as a member of families and society. It is studied through three interconnected strands: Food, Health and Culinary Skills; Responsible Family Living; and, Textiles and Craft. 

The central focus of Home Economics as a field of study is achieving optimal, healthy and sustainable living for individuals, families and society.  Individuals and families in every society are continually faced with new and emergent issues that can impact on their wellbeing. Such issues include concerns relating to food, nutrition, diet and health; family and social concerns; consumer issues; sustainability in the home; responsible family resource management; and textiles and clothing.  In Home Economics, students learn how to address these practical, real world, perennial problems of individuals, families, households and society in socially responsible ways.

Music

Music in junior cycle aims to contribute to the development of artistic awareness and understanding, self-expression, self-esteem, imagination and multicultural sensitivity, and therefore, to the development of the whole person. Students will develop the knowledge, skills and understanding necessary to produce and engage with authentic and original music, that is both theirs and the music of others. In doing so, they will develop the music literacy, critical skills and language necessary to engage with today’s musical world. 

Through engaging with music,  students are offered opportunities to develop new skills, while drawing on their previous experiences.With music, students can immerse themselves intellectually, emotionally, physically and kinaesthetically in the learning experience. Music performance and composition are collaborative and interpersonal activities, where social skills are developed through the sharing of ideas, skills, or instruments. Music can provide an environment for the student where they are safe to explore, experiment and be allowed to take creative risks. The subject can engage students in learning that engages, inspires, challenges, provokes, exhilarates, and liberates.

Materials Technology (Wood)

Junior Certificate Materials Technology (Wood) provides students in the junior cycle of post-primary education with an opportunity to explore their role in making and shaping their environment. It involves the use of a design process, which is a central feature of the subject, through which students undertake tasks that require the use of practical problem-solving skills and the application of scientific and technological knowledge. 

Engineering

Junior Cycle Engineering aims to develop the students' awareness of engineering processes while developing the necessary subject knowledge with the disciplinary skills to engineer products.

The study of junior cycle Engineering aims to:

• Enable students to develop the disciplinary skills and knowledge to engineer an end product

• Enable students to engage in goal-oriented problem solving, creating an awareness of

• Engineering processes

• Develop the necessary skills and apply engineering processes to manipulate material to

• Manufacture a product with efficiency, accuracy, precision and a high-quality finish

• Develop an engineering mindset through the exploration of contemporary engineering

• Developments.

Engineering offers students a lens through which to view the role and impact of engineering within their classroom, community and the world. Through the study of engineering, students will have the opportunity to behave as engineers, and develop an engineering mindset. The engineering process is both reflective and systematic. It is reflective in that students continually test their design and modify it based on what they have learned. It is systematic in that students undertake several characteristic steps in reaching a solution. Students identify problems, integrate ideas for how to solve identified problems, and try to improve the design or devise a better one.

Science

Science in junior cycle aims to develop students’ evidence-based understanding of the natural world and their ability to gather and evaluate evidence: to consolidate and deepen their skills of working scientifically; to make them more self-aware as learners and become competent and confident in their ability to use and apply science in their everyday lives.

More specifically it encourages all students:—

• To develop a sense of enjoyment in the learning of science, leading to a lifelong interest in science.

• To develop scientific literacy and apply this in cognitive, affective and psychomotor dimensions to the analysis of science issues relevant to society, the environment and sustainability.

• To develop a scientific habit of mind and inquiry orientation through class, laboratory and/or off-site activities that foster investigation, imagination, curiosity and creativity in solving engaging, relevant problems, and to improve their reasoning and decision-making abilities

• To develop the key skills of junior cycle to find, use, manage, synthesise, and evaluate data; to communicate scientific understanding and findings using a variety of media; and to justify ideas on the basis of evidence

• To acquire a body of scientific knowledge; to develop an understanding of Earth and space and their place in the physical, biological, and chemical world and to help establish a foundation for more advanced learning.