Ronnie Smith, general secretary of the EIS teaching union, said the publication of the guidelines represented "an important milestone" in the process of implementing the curriculum.

BBC: Teachers schooled on curriculum

Mr Boyd pointed out that Northern Ireland was on the verge of implementing a new curriculum that put an increased emphasis on giving young people the knowledge and skills they would need to become successful as individuals, as citizens and as contributors to the economy and environment.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Northern Ireland | Exam reform may not affect NI

However, in their Learning Together report into the implementation of the curriculum, senior chief inspector Graham Donaldson said there had been "patchy progress" on implementing the Teachers' Agreement, which was intended to enhance individual teachers' professional skills, knowledge and attributes.

BBC: Watchdog gives curriculum warning

Teachers will also be trained to appropriately select freely available ICT tools that suit their own needs in terms of planning, implementing and sharing pedagogical ideas, managing their classroom and organizing the curriculum.

UNESCO: 2013 Open Discovery Space Summer school (deadline for applications: 16 January 2013) | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

The workshop will provide an opportunity to assess the key achievements, lessons learned and challenges from the process of developing comprehensive life skills curriculum on Sexuality, HIV Educative Prevention (LSHEP Curricular) in 2012 and to produce recommendations for implementing the LSHEP Curriculaumincluding setting up a monitoring and evaluation framework.

UNESCO: Reducing HIV-related Vulnerability, Stigma and Risk among Youth Through Education | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization