SCHOOLS SHAKE-UP IN THE SIX COUNTIES | SERVING CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE, NOT INSTITUTIONS

Delivering real change in education

JOHN O’DOWD MLA - Education Minister in the Executive

NELSON MANDELA once said that education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.
It’s a maxim that successive Sinn Féin ministers from Martin McGuinness to Caitríona Ruane and now myself have taken into office with us.
Education is central to the egalitarian ideals of Sinn Féin’s political project. While Ireland’s education systems have in the past borne some of the responsibility for reproducing inequality, Sinn Féin believes an Irish education system can be an essential instrument for the building of a new Ireland of equals.  That is what we mean when we say ‘Educate that you may be free’.
At times the pace of change may not always be what we would like it to be but the record of successive Sinn Féin Education Ministers in the Northern Executive shows, without doubt, that our policies are working. We have delivered real change within the education system here – change which is driving up the educational attainment of our young people, eradicating inequality in the system and challenging deprivation in our communities.

Just some of the initiatives overseen by Sinn Féin ministers include:-

• Pre-school provision for every child whose parents want it;
• Introduction of primary school uniform grants;
• Expansion of the Sure Start programme to cover at least the top 20% most disadvantaged wards;
• Unprecedented and massive investment in Irish-medium education;
• Abolition of the 11-Plus;
• The Extended Schools programme which targets additional support on schools serving the most deprived areas;
• Introduction of the Education Maintenance Allowance;
• Repeated extension of the free school meals criteria to enable more and more hard-pressed families to benefit.

We have introduced a radical and coherent set of policies designed to improve educational outcomes for young people and to address the root causes of pupils not achieving to their full potential. We have concentrated and protected investment where it is most needed – in the classroom.
Those efforts are bearing fruit.
In 2006, the number of school leavers achieving the recognised benchmark of five good GCSEs (including English and Maths) was 52.6%; by last year, it was 59%.
That upward trend in attainment is evidenced across the education system but there is much, much more to do. Four thousand young people still leave school each year without having achieved five GCSEs. Thousands more complete their primary education without the basic literacy and numeracy skills.
That simply isn’t good enough and cannot be tolerated. It is changing that reality which is at the heart of steps that I am taking as Education Minister and which I recently outlined to the Assembly.
The fact is that we cannot and should not tolerate sub-standard education for any of our children and young people. Too many schools do not have the capacity to give children the educational experience they deserve. They have lost the confidence of the parents, pupils and communities they were built to serve.
I intend to tackle this problem of failing schools upfront. Schools that are failing our children will not be allowed to continue to fail. They will either have to improve or they will be closed.
Let me be clear: this direction of travel is not prompted by budgetary concerns. Yes, I am dealing with a greatly reduced budget and that has certainly focused minds and hastened the pace of change, but this is not about money – it is about doing the right thing for the future of our children. Indeed, in many cases I am simply implementing and expanding on existing policies. If I had all the money in the world, the fact is that bad schools should still be closed.

I realise that the out-workings of this process will present challenges in local areas, particularly when schools which have perhaps been part of the fabric of an area for many years are faced with the prospect of closure.
However, our focus must remain on the needs of the children and young people for which the education system is supposed to serve, not the needs of an institution. If a school – any school – is continuously failing our young people, it should be forced to change or forced to close. That is a message that none of us should be shy about taking into our local communities: ‘Children before Buildings!’
I want to stress that this isn’t simply a numbers game. A small school isn’t necessarily a bad school so I want to allay any concerns there are regarding the future of smaller schools, particularly in rural areas.
The fact is that each school will be assessed against a number of criteria, of which enrolment numbers is only one consideration. The others are: ‘Educational Experience’; ‘Sound Financial Position’; ‘Strong Leadership and Management’, ‘Accessibility’; and ‘Strong Links with the Community’.
I am confident that when the schools estate is measured against those criteria, we will emerge with a system that is sustainable in the long-term and which puts the needs of children and young people at the forefront.
These are challenging times for education in Ireland and there are undoubtedly many difficult decisions ahead but they are also exciting times. This is a time of change, radical change for the better, and that is what we as republicans are all about.
To return to the words of Nelson Mandela, we may not be changing the world just yet but for thousands of our children and young people we are changing their world – changing it for the better.