Debate contribution: Education Inspections Bill: Second Stage
Debate contribution by Mrs Cathy Mason on .
- MLA
- Mrs Cathy Mason
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 1 June 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- Education Inspections Bill: Second Stage
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5581670
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Unlike the Minister, I stand here today in support of our hard-working teachers and school staff, who go above and beyond every day for our children and young people, despite the growing pressures that they face. It is clear that the Bill is an attempt to intimidate and punish teachers who dare to engage in lawful industrial action. The Minister's bullish conduct and language against trade unions today have made that much more evident, conflating the issue of inspections with the punitive crackdown on teachers. The Minister wants to sanction teachers who take part in action short of strike. The DUP wants a charge of unacceptable professional misconduct levelled against teachers who exercise their right to industrial action. It wants teachers who dare to challenge them struck off. Teachers and unions will take no lectures from the Minister on safeguarding when he has failed to protect all children. He failed to protect children when he removed the guidance for transgender young people. He failed to protect children when children with SEN were placed in settings that do not meet their needs.
He failed to protect children when many vulnerable children are still left without a school placement.
I am 100% for real. That is coming from teachers.
The Minister also failed to protect children when he denied girls the basic human right of being allowed to wear trousers to school. He failed to protect children who are sitting in classrooms with rain coming in through the windows and holes in the roof. He failed to protect children when some staff working with the most vulnerable children are without AccessNI checks.
Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle.
For the Minister's information, the first five paragraphs of my content are directly related to the Bill, as is the safeguarding aspect, which the Minister has brought up on numerous occasions. I could go on about where the Minister has failed to protect children, but I do not see where the Minister's concerns for safeguarding are on all of these issues. Unions have repeatedly confirmed that inspections relating to child safeguarding have not been obstructed, so we will not sit here and listen to DUP propaganda on a matter as serious as safeguarding. Safeguarding has been protected, and teachers whom I know take it seriously and have the best interests of their children at heart. At a time when nine out of 10 teachers report experiencing burnout, with workload identified as the primary driver, what does the Minister do?
He tries to silence teachers and undermine their workers' rights, rather than meaningfully engage on the workload crisis, and people can see that for exactly what it is. Teachers are under immense pressure. They are dealing with increasing workloads, growing classroom challenges and a SEN system that is failing far too many children and families, yet, instead of supporting teachers, the Minister has chosen to target their rights. If he truly wants an education system that works, he should focus on the issues that matter most to teachers, families and, most important, our children and young people. I am sure the Minister will continue to dress up the Bill any way in which he wants, but we can see through it. The swathes of teachers who contacted us over the weekend and the concerned parents who see the work that their local teachers do day in and day out can also see through it. I have no doubt that every Member wants children to receive the highest-quality education possible. Effective inspections that support schools, help teachers improve practice and, ultimately, benefit children are an important part of that, but high-quality education is built on a supported, valued and respected workforce. Outcomes for children are not improved by threatening teachers with professional sanctions. Outcomes for children are improved by tackling workload, addressing burnout, supporting schools and ensuring that teachers can focus on teaching our children. Perhaps the Minister should look at his legislative priorities and focus on the urgent challenges that our education system faces. He should scrap his harmful reform agenda, tackle the workload crisis and sort out the chronic backlog of maintenance issues. Punishing teachers for standing up for themselves, their profession and the children for whom they care will not repair a single classroom, reduce the pressures facing teachers or improve the education of a single child.
Some may argue that the Bill can be fixed through amendments. If we genuinely believed that, we would have gone down that route. Let us be honest, however: we have been here before. Members need only look at the School Uniforms (Guidelines and Allowances) Bill. We have already heard about the difficulties with it. This Bill is broken not because of a drafting error but because of its intent. The Bill's intention is not to improve our schools. Its purpose is to intimidate teachers, undermine workers' rights —
— and silence those who speak out against the Minister's failures. That cannot be amended away. Mr Brooks, did you want an intervention?
Is that in the Bill? Is that what we are discussing here today?
Is that what we are discussing here today? Nick, you wanted in.
861 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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