1. The general aim of education is to contribute towards the development of all aspects of the individual, including aesthetic, creative, critical, cultural, emotional, intellectual, moral, physical, political, social and spiritual development, for personal and family life, for working life, for living in the community and for leisure.
2. The Junior Certificate programme aims to
• reinforce and further develop in the young person the knowledge, understanding, skills and competencies acquired at primary level;
• extend and deepen the range and quality of the young person’s educational experience in terms of knowledge, understanding, skills and competencies;
• develop the young person’s personal and social confidence, initiative and competence through a broad, well-balanced general education;
• prepare the young person for the requirements of further programmes of study, of employment or of life outside full-time education;
• contribute to the moral and spiritual development of the young person and to
develop a tolerance and respect for the values and beliefs of others;
• prepare the young person for the responsibilities of citizenship in the
national context and in the context of the wider European Community.
3. The Junior Certificate programme is based on the following principles:
• breadth and balance: in the final phase of compulsory schooling, every young
person should have a wide range of educational experiences. Particular attention must be given to reinforcing and developing the skills of numeracy, literacy and oracy. Particular emphasis should be given to social and environmental education, science and technology and modern languages.
• relevance: curriculum provision should address the immediate and
prospective needs of the young person, in the context of the cultural,
economic and social environment.
• quality: every young person should be challenged to achieve the highest possible
standards of excellence, with due regard to different aptitudes and abilities and to international comparisons.
The curriculum should provide a wide range of educational experiences within a
supportive and formative environment. It should draw on the aesthetic and creative, the ethical, the linguistic, the mathematical, the physical, the scientific and technological, the social, environmental and political and the spiritual domains.