NEEDS Schools Conference 2025

The inaugural NEEDS Schools Conference 2025 brings together students, teachers, researchers, and stakeholders in education to celebrate and reflect on the first year of the Negotiating the Essentials for Education in Democratic Societies (NEEDS) research project. Celebrate the authentic experiences and learning of students engaging in the NEEDS Negotiated Learning Junior Cycle Short Course through poster exhibitions, presentations, videos and more.

This collaborative conference will showcase how the students and teachers across our 4 NEEDS schools have engaged with Negotiated Integrated Curriculum (NIC), a curriculum design process which explicitly places student voice at the centre of curriculum-making, empowering students to shape what, how, and why they learn. In their first year, participating schools have embraced the flexibility and affordances of NIC in NEEDS to co-construct rich, authentic educational experiences.

Through the experiences of students and teachers, the conference will explore the transformative potential of co-constructing curriculum grounded in students’ lived experiences, personal and global concerns, and democratic values. Early insights from the study will also be presented, with space for critical discussion around how schools can create the conditions for authentic student voice, agency, and Global Citizenship Education.

This conference is an opportunity to hear directly from students and teachers as they share their experiences of designing and enacting meaningful learning together as co-inquirers, reimagining curriculum for democratic education and education through democracy. Join us as we share the successes, challenges, and how schools are creatively addressing them in NEEDS.