Agenda for Convention on Education agreed by Government
- Foilsithe:
- An t-eolas is déanaí:
Earlier this week, Minister for Education and Youth Hildegarde Naughton secured Government approval for the agenda for the Convention on Education.
The Convention agenda consists of four key questions with a particular focus on the future of education.
The questions have been informed by the National Conversation which ran from mid-January to early April. The Conversation involved three elements: a national survey which received over 42,000 responses and almost 500 submissions; 10 School Community Engagements in which 171 adults and 256 children and young people participated and four Regional Events which saw almost 190 representatives from local organisations and community groups give a wider societal view.
The Convention agenda has been informed by an independent analysis and consultation with a diversity of stakeholder voices in the regional events.
The questions that the Government has asked the Convention to discuss are:
QUESTION 1
What should a shared vision for education for all be for the remainder of the 21st century? In drafting that vision, the Convention is asked to consider:
- The values and aspirations that should underpin the vision
- The people in the system and the relationships between them – children and young people, parents / guardians, school staff, leaders, wider community
- Supporting children and young people of different abilities
- Children and young people as citizens today, and as active participants in society into the future, including the workforce
- Maintaining an appropriate balance in leveraging the opportunities that new technologies offer to support inclusive approaches to high quality teaching, learning and assessment on the one hand, and safeguarding against the threats and risks that they can pose on the other to wellbeing and critical thinking skills
QUESTION 2
- What will be the most supportive and inclusive balance between recognising thresholds in students’ growth and development on the one hand, and recognising and celebrating the many ways in which they all achieve on the other?
- With this in mind, how should we reimagine curriculum to ensure it is adaptable and flexible to enable all children and young people to participate meaningfully in education, including in schools, and in society over time?
- How should teaching, learning and assessment be supported and facilitated to realise this ambition?
QUESTION 3
What kinds of structures, systems and supports would enable the education workforce to develop, sustain and refresh the system’s responsiveness to the typical and unique needs of children and young people, as well as their hopes and ambitions? How could pathways in education, in particular schools, connect better with each other?
QUESTION 4
- What would we need to do in and around our schools to build strong links with communities, to support the development of creative, critical, civic and democratic participation and engagement in our learners, and to contribute to resilient and sustainable communities across Ireland into the future?
- What do we need to do to step forward and maintain momentum towards this ambition?
These questions reflect some of the themes raised during the National Conversation, such as inclusion, technology, teachers and staff being a core strength of our system, wellbeing as a foundation for children and young people to thrive and education that prepares children and young people for the life. This is with a view to forming a set of recommendations in relation to a shared vision for education in Ireland into the future. They will inform the long-term strategy for the education system, ‘Our Schools, Our Future’.
Minster Naughton said:
“Cabinet agreement on the agenda for the Convention on Education this week marks a significant milestone in this important national process. It is really encouraging to see so many people eager to contribute their views and play a meaningful role in shaping the future of education in Ireland. Importantly, for the first time, the voice of the child will have equal weighting within this Convention, ensuring that young people are directly heard in decisions that affect their education and their future.
“I met with Convention participants at their introductory session in Athlone last month. The energy in the room was unmistakable, with a strong sense of purpose and a shared commitment to driving real, positive change in our education system. This agenda will provide a clear framework to guide discussions over the remaining sessions of the Convention. The insights, deliberations and recommendations that emerge will play a central role in informing my department’s long-term strategy, ‘Our Schools, Our Future’.”
Concluding, the Minister said:
“With 150 participants, this Convention represents one of the largest exercises in deliberative democracy ever undertaken in Ireland. I want to sincerely thank each participant for their continued dedication and for the significant commitment they have made to shaping the future direction of Irish education.”
Notes to Editors
The Convention on Education
The Convention on Education is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for children, young people, parents, educators and wider society to help shape Ireland’s education system for decades to come.
The application process for the Convention ran from mid-December 2025 to mid-January 2026. Membership of the first three groups, children and young people, parents and guardians and school employees and early years educators was based on stratified random sortition.
The Convention is chaired by Professor Anne Looney. It is meeting on four weekends across 2026. There was an introductory weekend in March, which will be followed by further weekends in May, September, and November 2026
The Convention comprises 150 people across 4 groups:
- Children and young people (30 people)
- Parents and guardians (30 people)
- School employees and early years educators (30 people)
- Education stakeholders (60 people)
The last Convention on Education took place over 30 years ago. The 1993 National Education Convention was led by Professor John Coolahan. This convention represented a major democratic debate on the future of the Irish education system.
The 2026 Convention will focus on primary and post-primary (secondary) schools, the transitions within education, looking at what is working well, what challenges need attention and what changes may be needed in the years ahead. Recommendations from the Convention will inform a new long-term Department of Education and Youth strategy for education in Ireland, ‘Our Schools, Our Future’.
The National Conversation
The National Conversation was launched in mid-January and ran until early April and was an opportunity for everyone across the country to have their say on the future of education in Ireland. The Department of Education and Youth designed the process to be as inclusive as possible, with a number of different ways in which people of all ages could share their views with us on the future of Irish education.
A national survey ran from mid-January to the end of February and saw over 42,000 responses and almost 500 written submissions. In addition to the survey, the Department of Education and Youth ran a series of school community engagements from mid-January to mid-February. These events took place across the country, where department staff met with children and young people, school employees and parents and guardians to get a greater understanding on their hopes for the future of the Irish education system.
These engagements were followed by a series of regional consultations, where attendees were be asked to give their views on the extent to which these topics raised in the survey and school community engagements offered scope for the most significant issues to be discussed in the Convention. Outputs from these engagements and the submission process informed the agenda agreed by Government earlier this week.