Reforming the Northern Ireland Curriculum: Why Now Is the Right Time

The recently published Strategic Review of the Northern Ireland Curriculum (Crehan, 2025) has sparked timely conversations across the education sector. Led by Lucy Crehan, the review concluded that Northern Ireland’s curriculum, first introduced in 2007, no longer meets the needs of a changing society. It calls for a rebalancing of knowledge and skills, better structure and improved coherence to support all learners.

This blog outlines why change is essential, highlights key findings from the review, explores the benefits for families, and addresses potential drawbacks.

Why the Curriculum Must Change

Lack of clarity and coherence

A central criticism of the 2007 curriculum is its lack of specificity in what pupils should learn and when. This has led to wide variation in delivery between schools and classrooms, particularly at primary level, where only 47% of teachers report access to a whole-school curriculum document (Crehan, 2025, p. 38). Without clear sequencing of content, pupils often struggle to build knowledge progressively, making transitions between key stages more difficult.

2. Educational inequality

The review also highlighted growing disparities in outcomes, particularly for pupils with special educational needs, those learning through Irish and children from disadvantaged backgrounds (Crehan, 2025, pp. 6–7). Flexible implementation has inadvertently widened the achievement gap by placing too much emphasis on individual teacher judgment and not enough on system-level coherence.

3. Performance stagnation

While primary school pupils in Northern Ireland have performed well in recent international studies that assess reading and maths ability in younger children, the situation becomes more concerning as pupils move into post-primary education.

In the most recent global assessments that compare 15-year-old students across countries, Northern Ireland’s outcomes have stopped improving and, in some areas, have started to decline. This is particularly noticeable in mathematics and science. Pupils in Northern Ireland now perform worse in these subjects compared to their peers in England and in the Republic of Ireland.

This suggests that although the early stages of education in Northern Ireland are strong, something is going wrong in the middle and later years of schooling. Pupils are not maintaining the strong progress seen in primary school, which points to possible weaknesses in how the curriculum is structured or delivered as children get older.

Diversity and inclusion

Curriculum reform is also necessary to reflect a more diverse society. While 93% of Northern Ireland’s schools remain single-denomination, public support for integrated education is growing—71% now say they support mixed schooling (LucidTalk, 2023). A more inclusive curriculum that represents different cultures, languages and identities is essential for social cohesion.

What the Review Recommends

The review sets out a vision for a new curriculum that is purpose-led and knowledge-rich. It proposes a structured national framework with clear expectations, designed around five key principles (Crehan, 2025, pp. 6–8):

Purpose-led – aligned to revised aims and objectives
Knowledge-rich – sequencing key concepts and skills over time
Coherent – ensuring continuity across year groups and key stages
Specific – focusing on depth of learning, not coverage
Inclusive and flexible – able to adapt to different school and community contexts

A new taskforce would lead implementation, backed by professional development, curriculum research officers and updated school inspection processes (Crehan, 2025, p. 9).

How This Will Benefit Families

For parents, a clearer curriculum will allow better support at home. Parents will know what their children are learning and when, enabling more meaningful engagement.

For children, especially those in under-resourced communities, the new framework promises a more consistent, structured experience that supports confidence and long-term success. It may also help tackle persistent attendance issues—post-COVID attendance fell to 91.7% overall and just 87.7% in non-grammar post-primary schools (Crehan, 2025, p. 18).

For society, the curriculum has a key role in fostering mutual understanding. A reformed curriculum can reflect shared values, include diverse histories and challenge stereotypes, which is particularly important in a post-conflict context.

The Long-Term Gains

Reform has the potential to:

Raise attainment across all groups by strengthening core knowledge
Close educational gaps through consistent curriculum access
Lighten the workload for teachers by offering high-quality resources and clearer expectations
Support social mobility by making school content more transparent and equitable

As Crehan (2025, p. 7) states, a knowledge-rich curriculum “forms the foundation for complex thinking skills” and enables young people to make informed decisions throughout their lives.

Potential Drawbacks

However, challenges remain. These include:

Teacher autonomy – while some may welcome clarity, others may feel restricted
Cost – professional development, curriculum research officers and new materials will require sustained investment
Implementation risks – without reform to assessment and accountability, changes may falter
Time pressures – rushed reform could undermine teacher confidence and quality

Conclusion

Northern Ireland is at a turning point. The strategic review acknowledges the strengths of the current curriculum—such as its skill development and flexibility—but argues persuasively that clarity, coherence and knowledge must now take precedence.

To succeed, curriculum reform must be aligned with updates to assessment and accountability, fully resourced, and implemented through collaboration with teachers and school leaders. Families, too, must be engaged in the process to ensure the curriculum meets the needs of all children.

If delivered well, this review could lay the foundation for a generation of capable, informed and confident learners ready to shape Northern Ireland’s future.