Minister for Education Richard Bruton has approved a new specification for Leaving Cert Agricultural Science.

The current agricultural science syllabus has been in place for over 40 years and is long overdue an overhaul. The State Examinations Commission will put together a draft on how this new specification will be taught and it is hoped the new syllabus will be implemented across Irish secondary schools by September 2019 at the latest.

The current syllabus is just five pages in length and is not representative of modern farming practices.

There are many key areas missing, such as European and Irish agricultural policy, technology, animal production systems, current grazing techniques and new grass varieties.

Crops such as maize and wholecrop wheat aren’t on the current syllabus while animal welfare and sustainability do not feature largely either.

This is because the present syllabus used in schools was drafted at a time when, for example, baled silage, mobile phone apps and heat detection in cows didn’t exist; areas such as these will be accounted for in the new syllabus.

This approved specification has come about due to the hard work of the Irish Agricultural Science Teachers’ Association (IASTA), Agri Aware, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, the Department of Education and others. The 2017 AgriCareers event takes place on 30 March in the RDS visit www.agricareers.ie.