Underfunding, growing class sizes, a shortage of teachers and an urgent need to improve special education needs (SEN) provision are among the major issues facing the north’s education system.
At a time when the education sector continues to struggle, does Paul Givan’s response to the Independent Review of Education provide solutions?
Take firstly the announcement that the compulsory age for leaving school or training will now be 18. This could arguably be seen as one of the biggest changes made to the north’s education system in years.
There are around 14,000 young people in the north not in education, employment or training, which equates to about 7% of 16-24 year-olds.
Leaving school early is often linked to social exclusion and deprivation so by implementing this recommendation from the Independent Review of Education, could we take a step forward in tackling some of these particular issues?
While the idea may be good in theory, so far the proposal lacks detail.
The official statement promised the department “will set out its proposals for education reform in more detail over coming weeks”.
Why not provide the details now? And where will the minister get the funding needed for schools and further education colleges to implement these plans when money is already tight?
Other aspects of the DUP minister’s recommendations that are short on detail relate to special educational needs provision.
While he states the “current system is not working for many children with SEN”, no real answers are provided by the minister and no definitive proposals laid down.
SDLP MLA Cara Hunter noted the minister “only offered warm words today and no concrete proposals”.
Other issues that fail to feature are Irish medium education and how he intends to address issues around relationship and sexuality education.
But one other major note of interest is academic selection.
Mr Givan said he accepted most of the review’s recommendations, but added his department “does not propose to prioritise reform of transition arrangements to post-primary school during the current mandate”.
While this will not come as a great surprise, given the DUP’s long-standing support for academic selection, once again the issue has been side-stepped.
