Keep our schools world-class

Policy Overview

• Fair funding model for all schools.
  
• Build more new schools in the next 5 years.
  
• Modernise curriculum for the 21st Century workplace.
  
• Widen access to breakfast and homework clubs.
  
• A cap on school uniform costs.
  
• Restructure special educational needs services.
  

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Key Objectives

• Fair Funding Model for All Schools

  

  We support shared education in Northern Ireland, but we do not believe that one sector deserves more funding than another.

  No child’s education should suffer because of this. We will ensure that pressure is kept on the UK Government to uphold their New Decade New Approach commitment ‘to financial flexibility to re-profile funding provided as part of the Fresh Start Agreement for shared and integrated education’. Community engagement is central to developing a bottom-up approach to shared and integrated education. Without community buy-in, the transition to shared and integrated education is not feasible.

• Build more new schools in the next 5 years

  

  Environment has an important part to play in education and our schools and places of learning must be fit for purpose, now and in the future.

  The DUP Education Minister has already announced a £794 million investment for 28 new schools benefitting some 25,000 pupils.

  We are committed to building more new schools across Northern Ireland in the next 5 years, with a focus on better utilising technology within the classroom.

• Modernise curriculum for the 21st century workplace

  

  As society changes, so too do our places of work. We support the increased promotion of vocational and digital based subjects

  in both secondary and grammar schools and combining traditional education with day-release schemes to learn vocational trades first-hand, whilst also ensuring that young people leave education with basic Maths, English and IT requirements. As our workforce becomes increasingly digital, our education system needs increased support to ensure that children from Key Stage 1 and up receive the best coding training possible.

• Widen access to breakfast and homework clubs

  

  Breakfast and homework clubs are invaluable to both tackling educational underachievement and supporting working parents. We support the continuation

  of the Extended Schools Scheme with enough funding to ensure that there are places for all pupils who wish to avail of this. There is a greater role for community based after schools’ clubs as an additional way to widen access to these clubs and a place to development our library network to encompass new approaches to tackling educational underachievement and building up digital capability.

• A cap on school uniform costs

  

  The cost of school uniforms can be extortionate, a problem that is increased depending on the number of children in a household. This can cause both financial difficulties and unnecessary concern to many families across Northern Ireland.

  We support a cap on the cost of school uniforms.

• Restructure special educational needs services

  

  Children in Northern Ireland deserve the opportunity to reach their full potential. For some, this may require additional support.

  We support measures to improve early intervention and diagnosis for those with Special Educational Needs to ensure each child has the necessary support. We will commit to introducing mandatory training on Special Educational Needs during all teaching degrees, with updated training to be provided to all current teachers. We also need to modernise and expand the Special School estate with more school builds to support those need them.

• Support Well-being and COVID recovery for our children

  

  Our DUP Education Ministers have invested heavily in programmes such as Engage, extending School Counselling (Health Happy Minds) and Well-being funding for schools but we need to recognise that some children are still coping with issues related to their experiences during lockdown. We will continue to prioritise these programmes that have been so effective in supporting our children through the pandemic and beyond.

• Improve educational outcomes for our most disadvantaged students

  

  Over the last assembly term the numbers of students achieving 5 GCSEs (A* - C including English and Maths) has increased 7%. In 2016/17 it was 69.6% increasing

  and to 76.2% in 2020-21 with alternative awarding. This represents good progress but more needs to be done to support students who are struggling.

  We have continued to focus on this priority whilst other political parties have used it as a sound bite .We will commit to supporting these students through the sound recommendations made by the Expert Panel in Educational Underachievement in their ‘Fair Start’ report.

• Focus on the Early Years

  

  There has been significant and sound research to suggest that the Early Years are key in a child’s educational journey. Parents need supported to understand that early language development and play are very important. Early intervention is key and funding needs to support this ambition.

  We will commit to a new-targeted programme of support for children under two years old and we will work with the Department of Health to achieve this.

  This will be themed around the Sure Start Development Programme.

• Coding in Primary Schools

  

  We know that the workplace is changing and therefore our children need to be prepared to for that changed environment. More jobs will rely on digital skills and underpinning many of these will be the ability to code. We will establish Coding pilots for Primary Schools alongside partners in industry. These will be evaluated to test the best method for teaching

  our children how to code in a fun and informative way.

• Reduce bureaucracy and administration for schools

  

  A schools primary focus should be on the education and support of its children but we know the demands on Classroom Assistants, Teachers and Principals has risen steeply over the last two years. We want to devolve more decision making powers to schools, especially with regard to procurement and purchasing.

• Support for more Outdoor Play

  

  One of the lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic has been the rediscovery of the outdoors for adults and children alike. We have already provided a significant investment of £2 million this year to assist schools to enhance their outdoor learning spaces and provide good quality play equipment.

  Outdoor play has proven educational benefits and is also effective at developing other skills such as teamwork and problem solving for children. We want to develop and support schools as they repurpose their outdoor space. We will now establish a fund for schools to support them in creating better outdoor spaces surrounding their school and also work with partners such as Forest Schools to allow those in urban areas with less access or space to realise their ambitions in this area.

• School Lunches

  

  We have learnt through COVID-19 the importance of ensuring that children get at least one hot meal a day. We need to ensure that primary school children have

  access to a free, healthy and nutritious meal. We need to be ambitious in this area and therefore we will work to seek to do more.

• Review of home to school Transport

  

  We will examine this important area for many children in Northern Ireland who are limited at the moment in which school they can attend because of the inability to get free transport. This will open up a level of parental preference not realised yet in Northern Ireland because some parents simply cannot afford to take their children to a particular school because of the distance of travel. The party will lobby the Executive for additional funding to support this new scheme.

• Achievements in Education

  

  The DUP, through its Ministers, has delivered a number of key education objectives. While progress has been made we recognise there is much more to do.

  • The DUP has increased the number of Nurture Units in Northern Ireland over the last mandate by 100% with the number now standing at 62. These units support some of our most vulnerable pupils.
  • We supported schools during COVID-19 with an additional £149m of funding
  • Our DUP Ministers have increased funding for some of our most vulnerable members of society with spend on children with Special Educational Needs rising by 77% during this mandate.
  • We have introduced during this assembly term the most progressive School Starting Age legislation within the UK. The School Age Bill will provide real choice to the parents of many thousands of children born in April, May and June each year and also to premature children who would have been Young for Year if born at term. No longer will any child in Northern Ireland be required to start school a year earlier due to their premature birth.
    
  • We created the Engage programme to support children coming back to school during COVID-19. Our DUP Education Ministers have invested more than £42m in this scheme.
    
  • Our Ministers introduced the 1st Northern Ireland wide report into Educational Underachievement and have now implemented the majority of the action points from the Fair Start report.
    
  • We introduced the first Holiday Hunger scheme in Northern Ireland and also rolled out the “period poverty” pilot for schools.
    
  • We created the Primary School Counselling pilot “Healthy Happy Minds” with a direct investment of £7m.
    
  • We have introduced mandatory CPR training into the Curriculum for all pupils aged 11-14 with CCEA and the Education Authority working closely with the British Heart Foundation and the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service to develop guidance, resources and training.
    
  • As part of the NI100 celebrations the Department of Education rolled out a specific programme to give students a better shared understanding of the last 100 years of Northern Irelands’ history and also provided funding directly to schools to allow them to mark the event.
    
  • As part of our commitment to reforming education we have delivered an “Independent Review of Education” which is due to report next year.
    
  • In 2020 and 2021 our Ministers provided the funding for free summer schemes across all schools in Northern Ireland.
    
  • The Department is currently rolling out a programme for the Queens Platinum Jubilee. This will not only provide resources to mark this historic event but also will provide funding directly to schools to allow them to mark it.
    
  • The Childcare Sector – DUP Ministers have supported the sector with £36 million being paid to childcare providers, to enable the sector to remain viable and childcare places to be available for families, at a time when the essential role played by early education and childcare to our broader society and economy was demonstrated more clearly than ever.
    
  • We have provided 20,000 digital devices to all statutory Nursery, Primary School, EOTAS centre, Special School and Post Primary teachers.
    
  • In 2021 we invested £21m investment in the provision of education in Special Schools. 17 Special Schools benefited from the funding providing 61 additional classes, the recruitment of approximately 60 additional teachers and 145 additional classroom assistants.
    
  • This year we have provided £2 million to assist schools in enhancing their outdoor learning spaces and provide good quality play equipment.