Schools will be expected to follow learning outcomes detailed in the document, says the Irish Times even if they believe it clashes with their ethos. More latitude, however, will be given to schools in the detail of how these issues are taught and the resources used. It is not clear how parents will be consulted which is required under the Education Act.

One of the ‘learning outcomes’ wants pupils to “recognise the factors and influences that shape young people’s self-identity, such as family, peers, culture, gender identity, sexual orientation, race/ethnic background, dis/abilities, religious beliefs/world-views.”

Another one says students should “appreciate the breadth of what constitutes human sexuality, and how sexual orientation and gender identity are experienced and expressed in diverse ways”.

The final curriculum specification includes some changes from an earlier draft, which referred to gender identity being experienced “along a spectrum”.

A reference to “cisgender” – which defined the term as “when someone’s gender identity aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth” – has also been omitted from the final document.