In the new Junior Cycle there will be two qualifications. One, a replacement for the current Junior Certificate, will be aligned to Level 3 of the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ). The other, designed for students with particular special educational needs who currently can't access the Junior Certificate, will be aligned to Level 2 of the NFQ.
The Level 2 Learning Programmes (L2LPs) and qualification are targeted at a very specific group of students who have general learning disabilities in the higher functioning moderate and low functioning mild categories. The students are small in number (one or two in a typical school) and all have Individual Education Plans (IEPs). The Learning Programmes are built around Priority Learning Units (PLUs) that develop the basic, social and pre-vocational skills of the students involved. In addition, students following L2LPs undertake 2 short courses which have also been aligned to Level 2 of the NFQ.
The L2LPs have been developed with schools already working with this group of students.
Short courses for Level 2 Learning Programmes
We worked with schools in developing a toolkit for teachers which contains support material in the form of Guidelines, Case studies from schools that have implemented L2LPs, sample videos of classroom practice, useful links and the online Level 2 Planning Toolkit. The toolkit will continue to be built up over time and can be accessed using the links below.