NICCY Response to NI Curriculum Review 2025

We advise that any reform of the Curriculum should be informed by the first General Comment of the UN Committee for the Rights of the Child (‘the Committee’) which provides authoritative guidance to governments on the aims of education. The Committee advised that:

• Education must be child-centred and empowering. This applies to the curriculum as well as to educational processes, pedagogical methods and the environment where education takes place.
• Education must be provided in a way that respects the inherent dignity of the child and enables the child to express his or her views in accordance with Article 12 (1) and to participate in school life.
• Education must respect the strict limits on discipline reflected in Article 28 and promote non-violence in school.
• Education must include not only literacy and numeracy but also life skills such as the ability to make well-balanced decisions; to resolve conflicts in a nonviolent manner; and to develop a healthy lifestyle, good social relationships and responsibility, critical thinking, creative talents, and other abilities which give children the tools needed to pursue their options in life.

The full response can be downloaded at the right-hand side of this page.