The Junior Certificate School Programme is a national programme sponsored by the Department of Education and Science and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.
The Junior Certificate School Programme is based on the concept that all young people are capable of real success in school and that they can have a positive experience of school. The goal of the Programme is to ensure that students continue in full-time education having achieved success in the Junior Certificate examination, and develop a positive self-image in the process.
Schools are offered a flexible framework that includes time for teachers to meet, a profiling system that involves achievable learning targets, and a process for acknowledging student success. The frame promotes a cross-curricular approach to encourage and motivate students’ engagement with learning. A school-wide approach to literacy and numeracy development is also part of the framework.
It is hoped that through their involvement in the Programme the students will:
- Experience success
- Enjoy a broad curriculum
- Develop a positive self-esteem
- Develop a sense of belonging
- Improve basic skills in literacy and numeracy
- Improve school attendance
- Realise possibilities of progression
- Have a positive record to bring home
- Achieve a final positive record of achievement
The Junior Certificate School Programme follows the curriculum framework set out for the Junior Certificate, and all students sit the Junior Certificate examination. Every subject area has its own range of subject statements and associated learning targets. Cross-curricular statements extend beyond the range of subjects, sometimes cutting across the skills needed in many of the subject areas.
A team of teachers identifies the specific needs of their students and chooses a number of achievable learning targets both within and beyond their subject areas. Once short-term achievable learning targets from the Student Profiling System have been agreed by those teachers, the students are informed of short-term goals they are aiming toward. The students track their progress, in their folders, with the help of their teachers. Achievement is acknowledged and rewarded at each stage.
Celebrations
Celebrations involve schools acknowledging and publicly affirming students’ achievements throughout the year, and take place at Christmas and the end of May. Students, teachers and parents attend and student work and folders are displayed.
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