by Jennifer Kennedy

Created on: May 06, 2008   Last Updated: May 08, 2008

The Enriched Curriculum is a primary school education program, it started of across Northern Ireland as a pilot scheme back in the year 2000, six Belfast primary schools took part in the pilot scheme, as it was obvious that the old teaching methods were not meeting the needs of our young people.

The six schools that took part in the new education program were closely monitored over the next two years by eighty other schools and the Education and Library boards, by April 2004 another 29 schools also brought in the Enriched Curriculum, training was provided for teachers, however for the first few months the new way of teaching was`nt going to be easy, for some teachers very little of their teaching habits would change, but for others teaching methods would change dramatically.

Bringing in the Enriched Curriculum meant that parents would have to be well informed of how their child would be educated and they had to be made aware of how important their role would be in their child's education, as the schools need parents to encourage their way of teaching.
Some schools actually provided courses to educate the parents in how to use the Enriched Curriculum Program at home, so that the children would be learning the same way at home as they are at school. Parents were advised not to worry if their children did not understand the Enriched Curriculum as every child is different and would develop in their own time.

Another good point that The Enriched Curriculum brought is that class room assistants have a more important role in the classroom and also the teachers themselves are now able to have more time with children individually and discover each child`s ability.

The Enriched Curriculum is based on learning through structured play and using phonics, the idea of learning through play is so that the child can enjoy their learning experience, so therefore they will want to learn.

Phonics is used to teach reading, writing and spelling. In school children are taught 44 phonemes (sounds) rather than the letter name, However when you or I were at school we had to learn 1500 sounds, so by using this method children have less information to remember and learning is made easier for them.

In my personal opinion the Enriched Curriculum has proved to be a valuable way of teaching, so popular in fact that many other schools across Northern Ireland also brought in the Enriched Curriculum, my three kids are all primary school age (p2, p3 and p5) and are taught by the Enriched Curriculum, they are all doing extremely well and really seem to enjoy school.

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