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What Is a Cuntas Míosúil? And How do I Complete It?
The Cuntas Míosúil is a document that causes a surprising amount of confusion. I regularly receive messages asking, “Do you have a Cuntas Míosúil for Second Class for October?” or something similar.
I understand why teachers ask. When you are busy, a completed document can seem like a helpful starting point. However, there is an important difference between an editable short term plan that can be useful for providing teaching ideas and a monthly record student’s actual learning.
In this post, I’ll explain what a Cuntas Míosúil is, how to complete it, and how templates can help, but why you can’t simply buy a completed Cuntas Míosúil off the shelf!
What is a Cuntas Míosúil?
A Cuntas Míosúil (CM) is a monthly progress record. It records the learning that children progressed during the month and the learning experiences that supported that progress.
Your short-term preparation sets out the learning you intend to support. Your Cuntas Míosúil looks back at what actually happened.
For example, you might plan to work on several aspects of reading during a fortnight. Some may progress as expected, while others need more time or a different approach. Your CM should reflect that classroom reality.
This is why a completed Cuntas Míosúil for a particular class level and month cannot automatically serve as your own record. Even two classes at the same level, using the same books, will not necessarily progress in the same way.
What is the purpose of the Cuntas Míosúil?
A CM helps you keep track of learning over time. It can help you identify what to build on next, what needs revisiting and where further support is needed.
It also supports continuity when another teacher takes over a class or group, for example during maternity leave or an extended absence. The incoming teacher can see what children have already worked on and where their learning needs to go next.
The record can also help principals and inspectors review teaching and learning.
What should a Cuntas Míosúil include?
Page 18 of the 2026 Preparation for Learning, Teaching and Assessment: Updated Guidance for all Primary and Special Schools identifies two central elements:
- The learning children progressed during the month.
- The learning experiences used to support that progress.
A brief reflection is optional and can be included if you find it helpful. The guidance also cautions that a lengthy account of content taught does not necessarily indicate effectiveness.
You can read the official 2026 guidance here.
How to complete a Cuntas Míosúil
1. Follow your school’s agreed approach
Start by checking the format and submission arrangements agreed in your school. Some schools use annotated short-term preparation as their monthly record, while others ask for a separate CM document.
The 2026 guidance allows short-term documentation to serve this purpose where the learning and learning experiences are clearly outlined, with whole-school agreement on the structure.
2. Keep notes as you go
I always found it easier to record progress on an ongoing basis during the month than to reconstruct everything afterwards.
A practical approach is to include a CM column in your short-term recorded preparation (all of the short term templates on teachingplans.ie include this). You can mark the relevant focus of learning and add a brief note where needed as the month progresses. Also mark or update the learning experiences to show which ones actually took place.
Make sure the meaning of your marks is clear. A tick should have an understood meaning, and you may need a short annotation to explain partial progress or learning that needs revisiting. It should not imply that every child has fully mastered something simply because it was taught.
3. Review what actually happened
At the end of the month, review your notes and check that the record reflects your class or group.
Perhaps an activity was postponed, children needed more practice, or an unexpected opportunity led to learning you had not originally planned. Include these changes where relevant.
If you use a separate document for the CM, you can draw on your short-term preparation to complete it. Edit the entries so they describe the learning progressed and experiences undertaken, rather than copying all your original intentions unchanged.
When completing the CM, try to distinguish between the learning and the activity. “Completed pages 12–15” tells the reader which pages were used, but gives little information about what children learned. A clearer entry would identify the skill or understanding developed, alongside the activities used to support it.
4. Add a brief reflection if useful
A reflection can help you identify next steps. It might comment on an approach that worked particularly well, a difficulty that emerged or learning you intend to revisit.
It does not need to be long. A few purposeful sentences may be enough.
5. Submit your monthly record
Submit your completed CM in line with your school’s agreed arrangements and deadline. If your school uses annotated short-term preparation for this purpose, ensure the annotations are clear enough for someone else to understand.
Cuntas Míosúil examples
Here are two brief illustrative examples of how the CM might look when completed by annotating short term recorded preparation
Can I use a ready-made Cuntas Míosúil?
A completed sample CM may be useful to help you to understand the layout and level of detail. However you cannot use it as your own CM as it needs to reflect what your own students actually learned and the activities that they actually engaged in.
If you are using sample completed short-term plans and adapting them for your own teaching, you can use them to complete your CM at the end of the month by annotating them indicate what learning was actually progressed and which learning experiences actually took place.
Cuntas Míosúil templates for different teaching settings
All of the short term recorded preparation templates available on teachingplans.ie also include space for teachers to complete their own CM. I have short term recorded preparation and CM templates available for the following:
Special Education Teacher (SET)
Team Teaching Short Term and CM Template
If your school asks for a separate document for the CM (rather than annotating your short terms), a Cuntas Míosúil template can give you a clear structure and save you time setting up your record.
I have blank templates and completed examples (to demonstrate how to use them) available for:
In conclusion, choose the format that suits your teaching context and your school’s agreed approach, and use it to create a clear, manageable record of the learning that took place.
