Thinking Deeply about Primary Education Curriculum Thinking: International Perspectives with Lucy Crehan
Sep 6, 2025
Lucy Crehan, author of *Cleverlands* and an international education consultant, dives into the unique curriculum challenges in Northern Ireland. She discusses the historical context that shapes education there, emphasizing the need for a purpose-driven, coherent curriculum. The conversation reveals the struggles novice teachers face with ambiguous guidelines and contrasts Northern Ireland’s system with those of England, Wales, and Scotland. Crehan advocates learning from international standards to enhance educational practices and improve student outcomes.
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Flexibility Brings Strengths And Costs
- Teachers value the curriculum's flexibility, skills focus, and cross-subject connections.
- Crehan warns flexibility also caused vagueness that fuels variation and transition problems.
Vagueness Causes Gaps And Repetition
- Vague curriculum statements caused wide variability in pupil knowledge and disrupted primary-to-secondary transitions.
- Crehan found some Year 8s recalled almost no primary science while peers remembered lots, showing inconsistent coverage.
Introduce A Clear Core And Optional Resources
- Make the curriculum more specific while preserving teacher autonomy through optional national resources.
- Provide a clearer mandatory core plus non-compulsory schemes that teachers can adopt or adapt.
