What is a fortnightly plan?
A fortnightly plan — also called short-term planning or recorded preparation — is the two-week outline of what you intend to teach in your classroom. It is a requirement for all primary school teachers in Ireland under the Department of Education's guidelines.
Unlike a lesson plan (which covers a single lesson in detail), a fortnightly plan gives you a broader view of the subjects, curriculum content, activities, and assessment approaches across a full two-week block.
What should be in your fortnightly plan?
The NCCA's 2021 guidance on Preparation for Teaching and Learning gave teachers more flexibility than many realise. Your recorded preparation doesn't need to follow a rigid template. But at minimum, your fortnightly plan should include:
- Dates — which fortnight you're covering
- Subjects — what you're teaching this fortnight
- Curriculum content — content objectives (1999 curriculum) or Learning Outcomes (redeveloped specifications) you're addressing
- Learning experiences / activities — what the children will actually do
- Assessment — how you'll know if they're learning
You don't need separate sections for differentiation, integration, linkage, and resources unless your school has decided to include them. The NCCA guidance explicitly moved away from prescribing those sections.
Step-by-step: writing your fortnightly plan
1. Set the frame (2 minutes)
Fill in the basics: dates, class level, and the subjects you'll cover this fortnight. Most teachers cover the same core subjects every fortnight — English, Gaeilge, Maths — and rotate through others. If that's your pattern, carry forward the subject list from your last plan and swap out the rotating subjects.
2. Select curriculum content (5 minutes)
This is where most time usually goes. If you have a long-term plan, your monthly content should already be mapped — your fortnightly plan is just selecting the specific content objectives from that allocation.
If you don't have a long-term plan, work through the curriculum in sequence: pick up where you left off last fortnight. For each subject, select 2–4 objectives or outcomes. You don't need to cover everything; you need to cover what's realistic for two weeks.
A note on the parallel curriculum: You're likely using Learning Outcomes for English, Gaeilge, and Maths (from the 2019 and 2023 specs), and content objectives for everything else (from the 1999 curriculum). Make sure you're pulling from the right version for each subject.
3. Add learning activities (5 minutes)
For each subject, note 2–3 activities. These don't need to be elaborate:
- Shared reading and discussion of a class novel
- Paired work on number problems using concrete materials
- Group research on a local history topic
- Outdoor observation and recording for Science
- Drama improvisation exploring a theme from SPHE
Write in plain language. Your plan is a working document for you — not a lesson plan for someone else to follow.
4. Assessment notes (3 minutes)
For each subject, note how you'll assess learning:
- Teacher observation during group work
- Oral questioning
- Written task or worksheet
- Self-assessment checklist
- Pupil conferencing
You don't need a different approach for every subject every fortnight. If your primary method is teacher observation and oral questioning, say so once and note exceptions.
What makes a fortnightly plan actually useful?
The best fortnightly plans aren't the longest. They're the ones you look at during the week:
- Fits on one or two pages. If it's longer, you're over-documenting.
- Uses language you'd actually say. Not curriculum-speak — what you'd tell a colleague.
- Reflects what you'll realistically cover. Plan 80% of what you'll teach, not 120% of what looks impressive.
- Connects to last fortnight. A quick note like "continuing from: fractions (halves and quarters)" keeps the thread.
How Plean Éasca helps
Plean Éasca's fortnightly plan builder lets you select subjects and curriculum content directly from the NCCA curriculum — no searching through PDFs. For each subject, the AI generates week-by-week activities, differentiation, and assessment. When you're done, export the whole plan as a Word document.
The result is a fortnightly plan that takes minutes instead of a Sunday evening, and one that's genuinely useful in the classroom.