Education Bill undermines system: UUP
The Ulster Unionists are the Bill’s strongest critics, saying that it will centralise power and undermine grammar schools.
Education is one of Stormont’s most contentious policy areas due to the academic selection debate and strong political backing for each of the school sectors. The current Education Bill has met with particularly strong opposition from the Ulster Unionists.
The Education Committee, as a whole, refused to consider the employment-related clauses of the Bill after a dispute over the heads of agreement. That deal had said that the ESA would be “the single employing authority of all staff in all grant aided schools” but it also stated that boards of governors could “continue to employ and dismiss members of staff”.
The committee wrote to the Department of Education and OFMDFM three times to ask for amendments which would resolve this problem. Neither department responded.
Pressed by agendaNi, the Department of Education refused to clarify why it had not responded to the committee. A spokeswoman said that “political discussions on this matter are ongoing.” The department did clarify that boards of governors will continue to “hire and fire” staff.
Sceptics have claimed that the Bill does not treat all sectors fairly.
Firstly, only the controlled and Catholic maintained sectors will have representatives (as of right) on the ESA. “The membership arrangements preserve the existing rights in law of the transferors and trustees,” a departmental spokeswoman said. “No other interest has such rights.” Representatives of other sectors were free to apply for other seats through the public appointments process but there was no guarantee that they would be appointed.
Secondly, the voluntary grammar sector will not have a formal sectoral body (to represent its interests) but all other sectors will.
The department confirmed that the Minister had “no plans” for a voluntary grammar sectoral body but refused to be drawn on the reasons for that approach. The spokeswoman said that the policy decision was taken on 14 December 2011 and was “consistent with the heads of agreement” agreed between the DUP and Sinn Féin.
The absence of a voluntary grammar sectoral body reflects Sinn Féin’s opposition to academic selection. The Governing Bodies Association says that the Education Bill undermines the ‘voluntary principle’ as their schools will no longer employ their own staff and, as a result, they will have less influence over their budgets.
The UUP voted against the Bill at its second stage. Its education spokesman, Danny Kinahan, wants more clarity on the relationship between schools, boards of governors and the ESA. While the Bill “in theory” devolved more responsibility to governors, he claimed that decisions would still need to be approved by the ESA.
Kinahan wants to include a ‘local management body structure’ in the ESA with as much power as possible transferred to schools. It points out that the Finnish and South Korean education systems are high-performing and also highly localised.
Kinahan and Jim Allister have both questioned the involvement of OFMDFM, which has no experience of education policy. Mervyn Storey, though, sees the OFMDFM-appointed tribunal as providing an added protection for grammar schools.
Responding to the UUP’s suggestions on the Finnish and South Korean systems, the department said that the Minister “regularly considers models of best practice internationally”. Asked for a more specific response, it confirmed that the Minister had not considered either of those systems of governance. He felt that the current Bill “is the best solution for the particular circumstances here.”
