Our History

The Department of Education and Science, through its Teacher Education Section (TES), established the Junior Certificate Religious Education Support Service to assist schools and teachers with the introduction of the Junior Certificate Religious Education syllabus.

In September 2008, this support service, initially called the Religious Education Support Service, became part of the Second Level Support Service (SLSS). The National Support Officer oversees daily support for teachers. As of January 2009, the hosting responsibilities for Religious Education Support moved from Galway Education Centre, which had hosted since 2000, to Co. Wexford Education Centre, one of the five SLSS regional bases.

The Junior Certificate Religious Education syllabus was introduced gradually, starting with sixty-four schools in 2000 for First Year students. An additional 131 schools began offering the course in 2001, and by 2002, all interested schools had access. Today, the Junior Certificate Religious Education syllabus is available to all second-level schools.

For the Leaving Certificate, a Religious Education syllabus was introduced in phases beginning in 2003 and was first examined in 2005. In recent years, support has focused on helping teachers implement the Leaving Certificate Religious Education syllabus through cluster-based in-service courses.

The schools participating in the phased rollout of both Junior and Leaving Certificate syllabuses represented a wide variety of school types and sizes across the country, with a diverse range of teachers qualified in Religious Education.