Posts tagged ‘Education’

: A viability audit for schools

Monday, October 10th, 2011
Education is to change “from this moment on,” John O’Dowd has stated. agendaNi examines his plans for the system. A viability audit within six months will identify schools experiencing difficulties in enrolments, standards and financial feasibility, following an announcement by the Education Minister. Schools will be judged against the six principles in the sustainable schools policy which have not been implemented rigorously to date: quality education, a stable environment, a sound financial position, strong leadership, strong links to the local community, and stable enrolment...[full story]

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: Freezing student fees

Monday, October 10th, 2011
The decision not to increase tuition fees for local undergraduates will not be replicated for students from England, Scotland or Wales who are considering studying here. Meadhbh Monahan reports. Capping student fees at £3,465 will cost the Executive £85 million over the next three financial years: £15 million in 2012- 2013; £30 million in 2013-2014; and £40 million in 2014-2015. The recurring shortfall will then be £40 million. The Department for Employment and Learning will contribute £41.5 million. This will be matched by the Executive by ‘top-slicing’ the budgets of eight...[full story]

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: New school year viewpoints

Wednesday, September 7th, 2011
Assembly spokesmen and voices from the sector put forward their aims. Trevor Lunn MLA Alliance I believe it is crucial that we urgently address the issue of early years education. We need a strong and coherent early years strategy which will help all our children maximise their potential. Another key priority for Alliance is promoting and delivering more shared and integrated education in Northern Ireland. We need to tackle division in education to help deliver a shared future, address the duplication of services and stop money being wasted on segregation. Urgent progress also is...[full story]

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: Botanic Primary School

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011
Peter Cheney visits Botanic Primary School to find out how it educates a mix of local and foreign-born children. South Belfast has long been known as a melting pot and today’s mix is very clear in one of its inner city primary schools. Botanic Primary’s 185 children come from 23 different nationalities and speak 21 languages. Fifty-five per cent of the enrolment is white and indigenous with 45 per cent coming from indigenous ethnic minority or foreign backgrounds. A controlled school, it was established in 1939 and has always had children from overseas backgrounds, whose parents...[full story]

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Posted in Culture, Education, Reform, Social | No Comments »

: Churches in education

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011
Rev Ian Ellis, Secretary of the Transferor Representatives’ Council, explains the main Protestant churches’ role in education. Joint Protestant-Catholic church schools, he suggests, can encourage more sharing. Why should the Protestant churches have a role in education? The Church of Ireland, and Presbyterian and Methodist Churches in Ireland have historically had a significant role to play in education in Ireland. They were original owners and managers of church schools which in Northern Ireland were transferred into state control following partition in 1921. In return for this...[full story]

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: Mervyn Storey – top priorities

Friday, January 28th, 2011
Education Committee Chair Mervyn Storey outlines the challenges facing the sector as dissolution nears, and discusses his personal views and the committee’s work with Emma Blee. “There has been a massive breakdown in trust and that has allowed organisations to retract into very defined, well held positions,” Mervyn Storey remarks. With the education system in disarray and a dissipating relationship between the department and education’s key stakeholders, he says it is difficult to find a way forward to deal with many of the challenges. Taking up the chair of the Education Committee...[full story]

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: The value of learning – John Hayes

Monday, December 6th, 2010
UK Skills Minister John Hayes shares his thoughts on education with Peter Cheney. “Learning matters because it changes lives,” John Hayes remarks. His enthusiasm for education is clear throughout the conversation but he also warns that falling behind in skills will hold back the UK’s economic recovery. Visiting Northern Ireland for the first time, he has just addressed the Institute of Careers Guidance’s conference. As education is devolved, Hayes’ remit covers England and also representing the UK in meetings with skills ministers from other national governments. The 2006 Leitch...[full story]

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: Schools and sizes

Monday, December 6th, 2010
Hundreds of schools in Northern Ireland could be under threat of closure due to low pupil numbers. agendaNi looks at the debate around school viability. A map, based on Department of Education statistics, has highlighted the number of schools that are below enrolment targets and therefore considered “unsustainable”. Under targets set out by the department, the number of pupils for a primary school to be deemed viable is 140 in urban areas and 150 elsewhere. For post-primary schools the figure is 500 pupils for years eight through to 12 and 100 at a sixth form in an 11-to-18 school. The...[full story]

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: Education ‘is integrating’

Friday, December 3rd, 2010
Caitríona Ruane talks to Peter Cheney about how she perceives the education system’s main divisions and her views on shared schooling. Progress is being made on “integration and integrating” in education, according to Caitríona Ruane, but she claims that focusing on the Catholic-Protestant divide is too narrow a view to take. Her three years as Education Minister have been dominated by the transfer controversy and she has rarely commented on the province’s segregated system of schools. Ruane counts the ongoing reform process as her main achievement. Many people, she acknowledges,...[full story]

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: School building underspend

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010
Despite generous funding for school buildings, £107 million was not spent and money is now in shorter supply. agendaNi analyses the underspend. The Audit Office has found a “pressing need to progress” capital investment in schools after major under-spending. Its ‘School Design and Delivery’ report explains that £107 million set aside for school building work between 2005 and 2010 was not used. The money was sent back to the Executive’s central funds. Most of the underspend took place under direct rule, with the devolved Education Minister making sure that almost all the...[full story]

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Posted in Education, Finance, Infrastructure | No Comments »

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