IPPN

Published: 18 October 2023

As school leaders, we want to promote quality learning, teaching and assessment for all pupils in our schools. While Rule 126 of the Rules for National Schools sets out the general requirements for teacher planning and preparation, teachers use their professional discretion to decide how to plan and prepare.

As a new school year is now well under way, it may be timely and important to review the practices in our schools in relation to preparation for teaching and learning.

Some key points to consider as part of this review:

• There needs to be agreement at school level about planning approaches and documentation.
• Engagement at class level and review each year is recommended.
• Teachers to agree on a template/format that all will use. This makes it far easier for the principal to review and sign off on planning.
• Should include the approach to planning work during planned and unplanned absences.

There is a clear link between the quality of learning achieved by the pupils and the quality of the teacher preparation. The DE Inspectorate highlights a strong correlation between lessons deemed to have satisfactory learning outcomes and the quality of the preparation for the lesson (Incidental Inspection Findings 2010, DES 2010).

Planning forms one part of teacher preparation. The planning resources made available by the National Induction Programme for Teachers (NIPT) are a suite of materials providing practical support for the planning and preparation process. One example is the Short-term Planning and Preparation Guidelines.

Planning and preparation go hand-in-hand as per Circular 45/2019 Primary Language Curriculum-Support and Implementation. When we speak about preparedness to teach, we ask ourselves whether there is sufficient clarity around the

• learning to be achieved by the pupils
• specific approaches chosen by the teacher to support pupils in achieving those outcomes
• teaching approaches and rich learning experiences to be provided
• way in which the teacher will assess and monitor pupils’ progress.

Given the changes to the new curriculum, the templates used by teachers for short- and long-term planning will probably need to be reviewed. For example, PE now comes in under Wellbeing, the new strands and elements of the new Primary Maths Curriculum and the 3 pillars of SSE planning are among some of the changes.

Resources

There are a number of useful resources available, including:

NIPT
Short-term Planning and Preparation

NCCA
Guidance on Preparation for Teaching and Learning launched in April 2021, aims to make planning and preparation more purposeful, useful and practical for teachers and school leaders in all school settings.

Guidance on Preparation for Teaching and Learning

Preparation for Teaching and Learning

Oide
Templates for long- and short-term classroom planning and thematic planning (PSDT website)

IPPN
There is a wide range of curriculum and planning-related resources submitted by members available in the Resources/Curriculum & School Planning section of ippn.ie.