The Northern Ireland Curriculum was introduced in 2007 and covers all 12 years of compulsory education.

Some of its key features include the following:

• It focuses on the learning process as well as the outcomes of education.
• Schools and teachers have more flexibility to decide the topics and approaches that best suit their pupils; ‘the curriculum’ no longer implies a mandatory list of subject content that everyone must cover.
• It gives equal emphasis to knowledge, understanding and skills – so while pupils are acquiring knowledge and skills, they also have opportunities to apply their learning practically.