Paul Givan
Lagan Valley · Democratic Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“The EA's enhanced support model has been out for consultation. The Member's party is the largest political grouping on the Education Authority, so his party supported the model's being consulted on.”
“Protections around strike action and action short of strike are firmly established in statute for all workers, including teachers. If the Member is referring to the Education Inspections Bill, let me be clear: nothing in that legislation removes or undermines that right.”
“The issue was covered at length at the Education Committee. The position is still not where it ought to be. When I came into office, the position that I inherited was much worse than it is today.”
“It is an area that I have had to navigate, as have many previous Education Ministers. Industrial relations is an area that needs ongoing work. I have outlined how we can address it, but I come back to saying that, when workload was undefined, trade unions struggled to specify the challenge.”
“That is not a fair characterisation. In fact, I was with Justin McCamphill, the leader of NASUWT, at the launch of the curriculum reform, at which he commended me for it and said that he thought that it was good. I have sat in many a meeting with trade union representatives during which they have said, "This is a good initiative.”
“That is exactly why there is a 16-week consultation period, rather than the normal 12 weeks or the minimum eight weeks; to allow the public and teaching profession to very much engage in that curriculum, which I commend to all Members.”
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“Alongside that, the Bill takes an equally important step in modernising our legislation by removing the long-standing exemption that limits the inspection of religious education. That exemption is outdated and no longer tenable. Religious education is a statutory part of the curriculum and should be subject to the same independent scrutiny as every other subject. The Bill will ensure that it is. It addresses directly the findings of the Supreme Court. <BR /> <BR />The legislation will bring Northern Ireland into line with the expectation of every other jurisdiction in the British Isles, ensuring that inspection can operate effectively, consistently and without obstruction.”
“Obstructing a statutory independent process that is designed to safeguard children and drive improvement cannot and should not be considered legitimate industrial action. It is neither consistent with professional standards nor in the best interests of children. The Bill addresses that gap directly. It will place a clear statutory duty on those in education to cooperate with inspections, removing ambiguity once and for all. Where cooperation is not forthcoming, it will be treated as unacceptable professional conduct to be addressed through the profession's regulatory body, the General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland (GTCNI). <BR /> <BR />That is a proportionate and balanced approach. It establishes clearly and unequivocally that cooperation with inspection is a basic professional expectation.”
“In the meantime, the transitional arrangements that I have introduced will provide low-stake, system-level assessments distributed and marked by the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) — no teacher paperwork, no moderation, no workload. Qualifications reform will provide a significant reduction in controlled assessments, again reducing workload. I will continue to support and empower our vital teaching workforce.”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker. I will pick up from where I left off. <BR /> <BR />My flagship reform programme, TransformED, offers significant opportunities for workload reduction, and we are moving into the implementation stage that will make that a reality. The new curriculum will bring greater specificity and sequencing, taking the guesswork out of what was taught before and what should be taught next. Teachers will be supported through professional development and the provision of high-quality teaching resources. New assessments are aimed at reducing workload and bureaucratic teacher-led assessment.”
“There are a significant number of schools that we need to be able to access so that, collectively, we provide the best possible support. Earlier, a Member mentioned a case in which a child could not be placed in their local school with a sibling and had to travel excessive distances to another school that is able to provide support. We need to provide support in every locality to help meet the needs of children with SEN placements. <BR /> <BR />I assure the Member that everything that I, my Department and EA can do is being done. We are in a better position this year than in previous years, and I am confident that every child will have a placement for September. Some children may require contingency arrangements to support them, but placements should be allocated to those children.”
“The action that we have been taking has been to identify the key areas of need across the Province. It fluctuates depending on the specific need in each locality. We have reached out to those schools, and the EA has been engaging with those schools. That is proving to be productive, and that work is ongoing. <BR /> <BR />When it comes to establishing specialist provision, we provide support for schools to do that. Those schools need to have confidence that they will be supported by the EA when they make their schools available. It is something that we all have to try to address. It cannot be left to the 26% of schools that are currently available.”
“There are still challenges, but we are in a better place this year than we were in the previous two years, and I am confident that, by the time we get to September, every child who needs a placement should have it provided to them.”
“It is an issue that I deal with weekly, and I have introduced various processes, such as identifying schools, writing to schools and seeking their cooperation to see whether specialist provision in mainstream schools (SPiMS) can be established. The work to address that need is ongoing. However, this year presents a better picture than last year, and that was a better picture than the previous year. <BR /> <BR />When I came into office, there was very significant pressure for SEN placements. We have worked to improve the processes to identify the needs. We are doing that in a much more difficult environment, where we have fewer schools available to us with the flexibility for specialist provision and fewer places in our special schools. <BR /> <BR />Therefore, I assure the Member that progress is being made.”
“<BR /> <BR />Furthermore, you cannot strike your way out of workload. By refusing to engage and refusing to work through the issues, you are stuck with the status quo. Therefore, we need to find a way to work through it. I believe that we have the right plan, and people need to put their shoulder to the wheel to take that forward, and then the pressures on our school leaders will improve.”
“Some of them do. A number of recommendations need to be taken forward to release the pressures in respect of information being requested from our teachers. I will say to the Member and to others that some of the trade unions were incapable of identifying some of the workload pressures, but I identified them by setting up a panel, with their agreement, and they had a representative on it. We gathered evidence. We made 27 recommendations, which I am taking forward, but you have to work your way through those recommendations. There is no way to deliver reduced workload and address the pressures by, first, retaining the status quo of a system that is not effective through the current curriculum, qualifications and assessment practice. TransformED, therefore, needs to be worked through.”
“It reflects significant and sustained investment, particularly in the context of the current budgetary pressures.”
“<BR /> <BR />On 28 April, my Department published a workload action plan that translates those recommendations into practical, deliverable and time-bound measures. That plan addresses each of the 27 recommendations. Importantly, the plan also includes a number of significant measures that go beyond the panel's recommendations. Those include the provision of additional administrative support for schools and the full roll-out of generative AI to streamline routine tasks. <BR /> <BR />Taken together, and alongside our continued commitment to partnership with the Northern Ireland Teachers' Council (NITC) and management side, I believe that there is a very clear plan that represents a comprehensive and forward-looking response to those workload pressures.”
“I thank the Member for his question. From the time that I took up ministerial office, addressing teacher and school workload for teachers and leaders has been a central priority of mine. I firmly believe that supporting the teaching profession is essential if we are to retain our talented teachers, sustain strong school leadership and ensure long-term stability. Previous attempts to address excessive workload have not delivered sustainable change. That is why I appointed an independent panel in May 2025. It undertook a comprehensive review of teacher and school leader workload. It provided robust, evidence-informed assessments of the pressures facing the profession and set out 27 recommendations for change across the system.”
“Where it is appropriate for my Department to engage in that work, it will.”
“That is slightly further away than up on the Newtownards side. I was in Castle Gardens Primary School recently. Its representatives talked about the fact that new housing there meant that more young people were now coming to the school. That is a new-build primary school that was built without the housing following, so there was a shortfall in pupil numbers. The situation has since changed, however, and that school now has very healthy pupil enrolment numbers. <BR /> <BR />Wherever schools want to take forward proposals, of course the Department works with them. The proposal in mid-Down is slightly different, in that it is, I believe, for an integrated school, when there is provision in existing facilities to meet the need. That is an piece of work that is being taken forward by those who are involved with that particular school.”
“There is a fine balance to be struck between making provision in anticipation of new housing in which there will be children and meeting the need in the here and now. That is the part of the area planning process for which the managing authorities have responsibility.”
“Wherever there is new, additional housing, the need for that provision must be identified as part of the basic area planning processes that the Education Authority, as the managing authority for controlled schools, and the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) follow. They need to track any demographic changes. Some changes will lead to a reduction in need. As the Member has highlighted, however, the building of new housing creates pressure in an area. How will that need then be met? That is a challenge. There are examples of schools that were built in anticipation of new housing that did not materialise, so those schools have still not reached the appropriate pupil enrolment numbers.”
“I trust that the First Minister will clear it so that there can be a decision taken to allow the funding to be released to my Department to enable me to work with early years providers not just in West Tyrone, which the Member has referenced, but in other constituencies that require that support.”
“There is no doubt that there needs to be more support for our young people. That is why £55 million was ring-fenced for the early learning and childcare strategy. In the draft Budget that was published, that funding stood still, at the same £55 million, which, in effect, was a cut. I have submitted a paper to the Executive, as the strategy now requires £75 million. We therefore need the ring-fenced funding to be increased by £20 million. That identified need of £75 million is not just to continue the funding to provide support, including for Bright Start and for organisations involved in SEN in early years, but for us to be able to do more and expand provision. As I said, my paper is before the Executive.”
“As part of the early learning and childcare strategy that was funded through Executive ring-fenced support, we have made interventions in early years to try to support organisations, not least Sure Start, in many of our deprived areas so that they can make earlier interventions. Need continues to grow, so we need to be able to do more. We have started to provide support, but there are clearly pressures involved in establishing provision in early years settings to accommodate children, who have the right to be supported.”
“The need to address the SEN issue has been well documented. It is about how we get further information earlier. Health professionals, for example, will know through health visits whether there are any issues with the development of a child, but how is that information being shared or, in my view, not being shared with the Education Authority to enable proper planning to take place? <BR /> <BR />Part of the work that I commissioned on assessment was about the need to know in those early years from nought to three what the needs are and how we can make an intervention.”
“However, if you are committed financially — you have a family to support and household bills and so on to pay — it is very difficult to give up your classroom assistant job. We want to help with the professionalisation of classroom assistants. The EA has plans on how best we can do that, including how best we support children with special educational needs. That is the priority: to make sure that we have the right model to support them.”
“Those are all things that we want to provide. A report that was commissioned and completed identified the kinds of challenges that classroom assistants face. It also mentioned the fact that they very much desire the opportunity to develop their professional skill set in order to become teaching assistants and potentially even teachers. It is about how we create that opportunity. We need to find a way to support existing classroom assistants in order to ensure that we enable them to develop professionally. <BR /> <BR />If some classroom assistants want to become more than a classroom assistant, we also need to find ways to enable them to do that. Some classroom assistants whom I spoke to said that the only way for them to become a teacher is to give up their job and go into teacher training.”
“<BR /> <BR />When it comes to employment practices, I know that the EA has been working on providing better employment contract arrangements for classroom assistants. There is variance, and some of that is for good reason. I know that the EA wants to facilitate people who want to move to a 52-week contract, but the budgetary challenges are inhibiting that.”
“The issue is really important to the staff who are affected. Such contracts are established by individual schools when they recruit. Some are term-time contracts, while others run over the 52-week period. I know that requests have been made to move to 52-week contracts, but, because of the current budgetary challenges in the Education Authority, it has not been able to move forward on some of those, despite schools setting out the clear business need and justification for it. I do not think that that is an acceptable position. I believe that our classroom assistants should be supported. That is why we have identified clear pathways to enhance the opportunities for classroom assistants.”
“When I attended the official opening of St Ronan's College in Lurgan, which, with 1,800 pupils, is one of the largest schools in Northern Ireland , the principal and the staff highly commended the intervention and spoke about its transformative impact, for many different reasons, on the school environment. <BR /> <BR />I am conscious of time, Mr Deputy Speaker.”
“OK. I had intended to group my answers to questions 6, 10 and 12. I do not think that I will get to respond to all the Members — apologies — but, because the three questions relate to the latest position on the Department's mobile phone pilot scheme, my response will address them together. <BR /> <BR />The mobile phone pilot in nine post-primary schools across the Province formally concluded at the end of March this year. I sincerely thank all the school leaders who engaged in it. Their feedback was hugely positive. King's College London is carrying out an independent evaluation. I believe that the benefits of that important scheme will be clearly articulated.”
“I thank the Member for her question. Obviously, we recognise the importance of taking the matter forward. As recently as 11 May, I met the Minister of Health to discuss progress on the arrangements that are being made, including the health support required to enable the schemes to operate. I assure the House that officials from both Departments continue to engage regularly, and weekly meetings are held with the Department of Health on the nursing provision that is required to enable the schemes to go ahead. The EA holds a weekly project board meeting to oversee delivery and progress. It is a live operational issue and one that I continue to monitor closely.”
“We have made efforts to provide additional support for young people in non-statutory preschool settings, and I am glad that that has made an impact.”
“We allocated additional funding for preschool settings to employ an extra member of staff so that they did not have to wait for a statement of educational need. Such settings are often the first point at which it could be identified that a young person has a requirement, but, by the time that they have gone through that process, often, they will have left the nursery or preschool setting, which is a lost opportunity to make an early intervention. Part of the purpose of the Department's social inclusion funding was to provide additional support, and I am pleased that the non-statutory preschool settings that I have visited identified that as having been transformative in enabling them to provide support to such young people. <BR /> <BR />Where we can do more, we should.”
“I am happy to look at it. I have been able to visit St Teresa's. I know that it does hugely significant work and that it has led on establishing SPiMS and, in the way in which it has made that available, is a model of best practice for other schools. The principal of St Teresa's is deeply valued in my Department. He sits on my principals' panel and is part of the TransformED work that we are taking forward. I am familiar with the school, and I am happy to look into the issue. I know that there would not be an obstacle on the part of the school, but, if outside inhibitors are preventing the work from taking place, I will be happy to look into that, and I will correspond with the Member in due course.”
“If the EA or the Department has data with numbers identifying precisely what is needed, I will provide it to the Member.”
“I thank the Member for the question, because the withdrawal of allied health professionals is raised with me when I visit special schools in particular because we need to be increasing their number in those settings, not least due to the speech and language communication challenges that exist. We have made some progress with a joint Education and Health oversight group that engages directly between the two Departments on how to provide multidisciplinary specialist support for children with SEN. Local impact teams (LITs) have had their problems, but the underpinning approach, which is to enable educational and health professionals to make such interventions, is the right one, and we have worked with the Department of Health on that.”
“<BR /> <BR />Health colleagues were represented at all levels of governance during the end-to-end review of special educational needs, and that cooperation has continued in the development and implementation of the SEN reform agenda and delivery plan. Both Departments face competing priorities and pressures, yet there is regular and constructive engagement to ensure that our work complements each other and strengthens collaboration, all with a focus on improving outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs.”
“I am committed to continued and practical engagement with Health colleagues to improve outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and their families. I regularly engage with Minister Nesbitt on matters that cross the Education/Health interface, and we met last month to ensure that progress was continuing on the summer schemes. The collaboration between our Departments is underpinned by the Children's Services Co-operation Act (Northern Ireland) 2015, which places a duty on all Departments and children's authorities to cooperate. In line with that, my officials continue to work closely with their counterparts in the Department of Health, the Public Health Agency (PHA) and the health and social care trusts on a range of issues relating to special educational needs.”
“<BR /> <BR />That gives Members a flavour of the extent of the demands. That is why there has not been a call for new SEPs. I would love to be in a position where I opened up for schools to put forward bids for school enhancement programmes, but we are not able to do that because of the significant pipeline of work that still needs to be taken through. Where I have been able to make some progress in recent announcements around SEPs and new builds, I have been able to do that within the funding envelope that is available to me. I want to do so much more, but I am constrained from doing so by the capital allocation provided to my Department.”
“The second call of the school enhancement programme closed to applications in February 2017. Four tranches of projects were announced to proceed to planning. Final announcements were made on 5 May 2020, and a total of 72 projects have been announced across the four tranches. So far, construction has been completed on two schools and is ongoing at three. Procurement is under way for five schools, and construction procurement approval was recently given for nine schools that were at the stage 4 point in the process. A remaining seven schools are at the RIBA stage 4, which is the technical design. There are still seven schools at the RIBA stage 3, which is the detailed design; 11 at RIBA stage 2, which is the scheme design; 26 schools at stage 1, which is technical feasibility; and two schools still at the scoping stage.”
“That will be subject to finance, however, and there is a significant backlog of needs in the schools estate when it comes to new builds and school enhancement programmes. The school is not at that stage yet, however. Let us get it to the point where it is subject to finance with regard to proceeding.”
“The Department has brought the school through the design stages. Members will know that a new build project takes too long to get to the end of the construction phase, but, before it gets into the construction phase, it needs to go through the design process, and it needs to have an integrated design team appointed. St Patrick's has that: it is being developed and taken forward. Other schools are waiting just to have an integrated consultant team (ICT) appointed to them, and, in some cases, we are not able to do that because of insufficient capital funding. <BR /> <BR />The Department will do all that it can to bring this forward to the point at which we are ready to go to out to tender stage for construction.”
“At least, however, it would be there awaiting finance to be released. It is not at that stage yet, but there will be no undue delay on the part of the Department to try to take forward that project for the school.”
“The process is at the design stage 3, but the costs for that school have increased significantly beyond the school enhancement programme threshold. As a Department, we are working through the process to make sure that we can move it to the next stage. That work is being progressed. I cannot give a clear timeline, because some of that will involve feasibility and economic business case assessment. If there has to be an adjustment in the funding associated, we will need to go through the normal processes to seek approval, both in my Department and in the Department of Finance. I can assure the Member that I want that school to be brought forward to the end of stage 4 so that it is at the pre-tender stage. It would then only be subject to finance — I say "only", although that is still a significant challenge.”
“They will shortly be in a position to engage with the school and ensure the project can proceed to the final stage of design. I have made funding available to progress SEP projects through the design stages in order to enable them to proceed to the pre-tender stage. Decisions to release projects to construction tender are then taken on a case-by-case basis, dependent on budget availability at that time. I will continue to make the case for additional Executive funding for Education to allow much needed projects, such as St Patrick’s Primary School, to progress to construction.”
“It was announced on 8 May 2018 that St Patrick’s Primary School in Crossmaglen would advance in design under the school enhancement programme (SEP). The scheme proposal for St Patrick’s is provision of a new extension with a multi-purpose hall, refurbishment of existing buildings, new site access, traffic-calming measures, a revised car park layout and new pick-up and drop-off facilities. The project is well advanced and currently at RIBA stage 3, which is the developed design. However, estimated costs for the scheme significantly exceed the SEP funding threshold. My officials are working closely with the design team to review the costs and to identify an appropriate way forward that best meets the needs of the school.”
“I trust that that will reassure the Member about the processes that are followed in EA. Of course, my Department continually engages with EA on those issues.”
“I thank the Member for that question. I know that the issue of SEN placements and specialist provision is very important to him and to all Members. The EA maintains internal oversight through its senior leadership team. All specialist provision proposals are undergoing, over an eight-week period, a consultation process that engages with relevant stakeholders. The proposals are published on the EA's consultation page. The EA continues to work with all stakeholders when considering proposals in accordance with the established framework and strategic operational plans. A consultation report is then presented to the EA strategic planning and policy committee for approval of specialist provisions. The EA provides a statement of assurance to the Department confirming that appropriate consultation has taken place.”
“I am more than happy to look at the case that the Member has referenced. It is not acceptable if the young person is not able to continue their pursuit of education through the medium of Irish, particularly because of special educational needs provision. It is a challenge for all schools when it comes to SPiMS. We seek to provide support, including financial support, for schools to do that. I do not know the specific reasons in respect of that school. Perhaps there are issues because of a constrained site, but I am only speculating. I am more than happy to look into the individual case that the Member has referenced.”
“Bunscoil Phobal Feirste in Belfast has two specialist provision classes; Scoil na Fuiseoige, which is also in Belfast, operates three specialist provision classes; and Gaelscoil Léim an Mhadaidh in Limavady and Gaelscoil Uí Dhochartaigh in Strabane both have one specialist provision class. The specialist provision in all those schools involves social communication. I apologise if I pronounced any of their names incorrectly, but I wanted to try. Currently, one Irish-medium primary school offers specialist provision across all Key Stages. The remaining schools will be supported to implement additional pathways as their pupils progress through each stage.”
“Ensuring that every child with a statement of special educational needs has an appropriate school placement remains a primary focus for my Department and the Education Authority. The EA has advised that it is continuing to engage with schools in the Irish-medium sector to explore the development of specialist provision. The aim is to increase capacity and create sustainable pathways across all Key Stages, supporting pupils as they progress through school. <BR /> <BR />Four Irish-medium primary schools offer specialist provision, all of which have approved pathways to year 7.”
“I have supported it in developing numeracy and literacy that is bespoke to the immersion of the Irish language. I am supporting the Irish-medium sector in developing a curriculum. The independent review identified that Irish-medium schools were not being supported under the old curriculum. TransformED, which is the policy that Sinn Féin continually opposes for the sake of opposition, gives preferential treatment to the Irish-medium sector in order to develop a curriculum that is fit for purpose. That is why I have appointed a lead adviser for Irish-medium curriculum reform. They have over 25 years of experience in the Irish-medium sector. I will continue, as I said that I would, to be a Minister for all sections of education.”
“It is the added line now, is it not, Members? It is just thrown out to create the anti-Irish narrative that people want to ascribe to the DUP. Not for the first time, Sinn Féin is weaponising the Irish language. It cannot go to its electorate on the basis of anything that it has actually achieved. Where is the A5? The list goes on. Its tactic now is to generate grievance politics and, not for the first time, to use the Irish language as a cultural weapon. People can see through that and see it for what it is. <BR /> <BR />I will continue to support the Irish-medium sector. I have visited many of its schools. I have supported it through the provision of bursaries so that we can address the teacher and workforce shortfall that the Member referred to.”