Debate contribution: TransformED NI — Transforming Teaching and Learning: A Strategy for Educational Excellence in Northern Ireland

Debate contribution by Mr Paul Givan on 11 March 2025.

MLA

Mr Paul Givan

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

11 March 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Ministerial Statements

Heading

TransformED NI — Transforming Teaching and Learning: A Strategy for Educational Excellence in Northern Ireland

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4855000

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Today, I am delighted to launch TransformED NI, my Department's new strategy for transforming teaching and learning. Last summer, writing for the Belfast 'News Letter', under the heading "Paul Givan: Change is coming to ensure Northern Ireland has a truly world class education system", I set out my ambitious intention to begin a period of renewal and reform in our education system. Today, that strategy sets out the most detailed and systematic programme of transformation in over a generation, which will make Northern Ireland's education system truly world leading. It provides a pathway to educational excellence that is based on supporting effective teaching and a renewal of curriculum assessment, qualifications and school improvement, all underpinned by a relentless focus on tackling educational disadvantage. Together, those elements form the cornerstone of our education system, yet they have received limited focus or investment during recent decades, and all need reflection, evaluation and improvement. The new education strategy provides a series of coherent and evidence-based actions that will transform education in Northern Ireland, allowing us to learn from and outpace the world's best. We must start the journey to reform our system with an honest understanding of where we are now. TransformED reforms the discussion about education within the wider international context. Put simply, many countries are improving their school systems faster than Northern Ireland is, and they have smaller gaps between the more and less affluent. Our programme for international student assessment (PISA) outcomes and evaluation of the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students from around the world show an education system that has stagnated in recent years. Our outcomes are strong in reading but only average in mathematics and science. As is the case in many systems internationally, there remains a strong correlation in Northern Ireland between socio-economic disadvantage and educational outcomes. The gap is closing, but much, much too slowly. Notably, there are also significant variations in outcomes between schools with similar levels of disadvantage. Some schools are performing strongly but others poorly. Let us be clear: we have been overtaken not just by the East Asian powerhouses or the Scandinavian countries but by our neighbours in England and the Republic of Ireland. That is, perhaps, unsurprising, when action short of strike has left us — for many years — without inspection or effective measures of system and pupil performance. The most fundamental feature of any education system that promotes social mobility is one in which every child can attend a good school. The absence of inspection means that many schools have not been identified for the support that they need. It is incredible that we are currently without any national measure of how our children are performing in the key skills of literacy and numeracy at primary school and Key Stage 3. That is not acceptable, and it makes Northern Ireland an outlier, internationally, in being without basic performance data. Equally, we have not invested in a coherent approach to professional development, nor in curriculum review, advice or resources. It is a similar picture with our qualification system. That is simply not good enough. We are faced with what Martin Luther King referred to as, "the fierce urgency of now". There is a Chinese proverb that states:

"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now".

The time for change is now, and the pace of change will be faster than it was in the past, because our children only get one chance. They cannot afford for us to bring change at a glacial pace while their life chances are limited by our inaction. For too long, we have focused on structural issues, be they academic selection or types of schools, to little avail. The heart of education lies in the classroom. We need to put aside those tired old conversations and focus on what children learn, how and for what purpose. The new strategy represents a break with what has gone before. Make no mistake, this is a far-reaching agenda. It is a vision, a commitment and a call to action. Its message is simple: excellence for every child; high expectations of every child; and success by every child. Positive words cannot be just the title of a strategy. They must be the reality for every school. To ensure that our education system is world class, we must be willing to look beyond our borders and learn from the best performing education systems globally. Countries such as Singapore, South Korea, Canada and Estonia have consistently ranked among the top performers globally. They have achieved excellence not by chance but through deliberate policies, innovative teaching and a commitment to continuous improvement. Learning from international best practice does not mean copying blindly. Every country has its unique challenges and strengths, but by studying what works elsewhere and adapting it to our context, we can create a culture of continuous improvement. That is why I established an international ministerial advisory panel, which is made up of exceptional individuals with international expertise, to support our education system's transformation. Some are from countries that have already transformed their education system, while others are from countries that are beginning that process. They have helped inform the strategy. I am not an education expert, and I do not pretend to be one, but I know that we can and must learn from what works here and across the world. Northern Ireland has some of the most highly qualified teachers anywhere in the British Isles, so we should also have an education system that outperforms the world's best. I want us to have an evidence-informed system that uses the best available research, data and evidence to shape the policies, practices and decisions that will govern our education system for the next decade. Taking such an evidence-based approach requires humility: the willingness to acknowledge what works and, importantly, what does not. The new strategy sets out our determination to learn in a sophisticated way from those countries that outperform us at present. It identifies the core elements of excellence that are common across high-performing jurisdictions and uses them to inform the way forward in Northern Ireland. The strategy is accompanied by a 10-point plan for delivering educational excellence. Through each of the 10 strategic commitments, we aim to learn systematically from the most effective and fastest-improving school systems in the world and to tackle the weaknesses currently identified in our system. We will review and redesign the Northern Ireland curriculum to ensure that every child enjoys an ambitious and knowledge-rich curriculum that develops their learning in a well-sequenced and explicit manner. We will invest in high-quality teacher professional learning and curriculum resources. We will introduce new literacy and numeracy strategies and a new school improvement policy based on international best practice. We will provide a new system of attainment measures for end of Key Stage assessment in order to set high standards for all children. We will take an integrated approach to tackling educational disadvantage in our schools, families and communities. We will introduce legislation to ensure that all learners remain in education, an apprenticeship or training until the age of 18. We will develop a coherent accountability framework for education in order to demonstrate value to government, taxpayers and parents. We will have an excellent teacher for every child, a high-quality curriculum for every school and a core offer of excellence for every parent. Devolution is about making a difference, and, when delivered, the strategy will make a difference. Today is an important beginning, but, make no mistake, it is only the beginning. Over the coming weeks, I will make a series of important announcements about assessment, professional learning, literacy and numeracy, and school improvement, work on which is already at an advanced stage. I have appointed two school principal panels — one for primary schools and one for post-primary schools — to offer insights and advice as we implement the strategy. My Department will also publish a costed implementation plan to support delivery of the strategy over the next number of years. I have asked my officials to prioritise the funding that is needed. It must be the first call on the Department of Education budget. The growing economic powerhouses of the 21st century are those nations that have placed an absolute premium on getting their education system right. Northern Ireland must do the same, or else we will be left behind. The world is indifferent to past reputations and unforgiving of frailty. Complacency is the enemy of progress.

To keep pace with the best education systems in the world, we must refresh and renew. It has been said that it is not the strongest who survive but those who are the most adaptable to change. The cornerstone of effective governance lies in our ability to make informed decisions. By grounding our decisions in solid evidence, we honour the trust that is placed in us, ensure that public money is spent wisely and, most important, create policies that genuinely improve the lives of those whom we serve. If we value education, we must also value and support our teaching profession. I quote McKinsey's famous maxim:

"The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers".

As Minister of Education, I reaffirm my pledge to support teachers at every stage of their careers. I am determined to make teaching in Northern Ireland an attractive, high-status profession where every teacher receives world-class professional learning and development. From initial teacher education to ongoing professional development, we must ensure that every teacher has access to the resources, training and support that they need to excel in their profession. Central to the education strategy is a commitment to invest in a comprehensive approach to teacher professional development. The strategy sets out a series of commitments to provide additional funding for schools to purchase high-quality professional learning, improve access to education research and pilot investment in supporting collaborative professional learning communities. School leadership is also crucial to the success of high-performing education systems. Schools are rarely more effective than their leaders. Regrettably, there are increasing concerns that school leadership is not viewed as an attractive role, and senior leadership roles are increasingly difficult to fill. Providing the right opportunities for leadership development and the right programmes to develop future leaders is crucial in strengthening our education system. That is why the strategy sets out our intention to develop a replacement qualification for headship to support our newly appointed and aspiring principals, strengthen the provision of school-to-school support through a leaders of education programme and develop a professional learning programme for experienced principals. We will also review, strengthen and invest in professional learning for middle leaders. Today, I want to address school leaders and teachers across Northern Ireland directly. I take the opportunity to express my gratitude for your hard work, professionalism and commitment to supporting children and young people. I recognise the challenges that you face each day and the increased pressures that have been placed on teachers and school leaders in recent years. They are the pillars on which we will build our children's future. The strategy represents a critical commitment to invest in teachers and in teaching. I want us to work together to build a culture across our community where education is truly valued. World-class economies prioritise education. They make education a priority, having convinced their citizens that it is worth investing in the future through education and making choices that value education more than other things. I will continue to make the case for increased investment in education as a protective factor in the lives of our young people and as a key driver of improved economic, social and health outcomes. We must be radical if our ambition is to be world-class. The strategy represents a new direction for education in Northern Ireland. We must focus on investing in and supporting high-quality professional development for our school leaders and teachers and on relentlessly improving curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. I approach the task of reform with a sense of ambition and energy. I look forward to working together in partnership with all representatives, parties and stakeholders to transform and improve education delivery in Northern Ireland. My aim is to ensure that our education system is truly world-leading, excellent, equitable, inclusive and able to meet the needs of all children and young people in an ever-changing world. Together we can build an education system that is stronger, fairer and fit for the future. Our children deserve nothing less. I commend the statement to the House.

I thank the Member for welcoming the statement. It should unite Members across the House on what we are trying to do to support every child and every school. That is the ambition behind the statement. Of course, I am happy to work with any organisation that wants to help our children and young people. The Member mentioned those who come from a more disadvantaged background. The strategy is absolutely driven by the desire to ensure that we give the best possible opportunity to those who are not as fortunate as others in our society. Those who are better off have the means to provide additional support outside the school setting. For those from an educationally disadvantaged socio-economic background, school is often their only opportunity. That is why we need to drive up our standards in every school and support every teacher.

I thank the Chairman for welcoming the statement. He is right to highlight the issues to do with professional learning. Our teachers are central to the success of a child's educational outcome. They are the most critical asset that we have in our education system, and everything that we build around the system is to support our teachers. Teaching in the classroom is what will have the most impact, so we need to ensure that we have the most up-to-date international best practices in place in what we teach — the curriculum — and ensure that how it is taught reflects the best practices so that our children get the best opportunity for learning. I want to ensure that the focus for teachers is on how they teach and that our focus is on supporting them through professional learning. Workload issues can often be important, but, if there are workload issues that distract teachers from focusing on the critical work that they do in teaching, we need to address them. That is why we have positively engaged with the unions. We have identified workload issues and have identified and committed to a timeline for how we can address them. I hope that we will be able to make progress on those wider workload issues.

I thank the Member for welcoming the statement. The statement spoke to the need to focus on what I have just outlined, which is that we support every school and every teacher. It is too easy to have a debate about the merits or otherwise of academic selection — I can engage in that, and I can provide my view — but how do we ensure that every school is supported? That is what will address educational underachievement for children in all of our schools. Let us have the focus on driving up attainment in every school. The best way to do that is detailed in the statement that I have made to the House.

I thank the Member for his comments. He speaks, rightly, to the curriculum review. That is absolutely important for what we teach and for making sure that the curriculum in Northern Ireland is refreshed and renewed. The last curriculum that we had was in 2007. That was 17 years ago, and the independent review of education noted that the curriculum had not been subject to a refresh and renew process. Therefore, it is timely that we are having a curriculum review, which I commissioned. Lucy Crehan has been carrying out the work on that review, which will make a series of policy recommendations on the purpose, design, specification and implementation of the curriculum. The review is due to report in May, and my officials are already engaging on what the next steps will be.

Recruitment and retention is one of the key issues highlighted in the document. It is highlighted as an issue in some specific subjects, such as science and technology and design, where there is a challenge, particularly at post-primary level. Having specialist teachers in those areas is key for our young people to get the best support possible in those subjects. Similarly, where you have teacher expertise in the world around us, which is part of the 2007 curriculum, that can be very enriching. If you do not, it is not having the impact that it should. When it comes to recruitment, we need to make sure that our society values the profession highly and that the terms and conditions are appropriate. That is why I increased the starting salary for new recruits from £23,000 to £30,000, put up pay by over 10% for all our staff last year and why I am supporting a 5·5% pay rise this year. We need to show through what we pay our teaching professionals that they are valued. The highest-performing education systems in the world recognise that through terms and conditions. If we are to recruit the brightest and best young people into the teaching profession, they need to be given appropriate terms and conditions and to be valued by our society. They then need to be supported so that, as they go through their professional development, they continue to develop their skills and can see a clear pathway of progression to become middle school leaders and then principals. We will do that only if we can put the right support in place. That is what the statement will do.

I thank the Member for that question. During Question Time yesterday, I touched on the role of allied health professionals, particularly in special needs schools. I met the Health Minister, and we have our officials engaging directly with senior officials in the Department of Health, including the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO). We are looking at the provision of medical support in special schools. The Member is right: there needs to be more accessibility, because our young people are presenting with much greater levels of medical complexities and not just educational challenges. That requires the Department of Health to be part of the solution as we seek to support children who have special educational needs. I published a specific statement in February on special educational needs reform, and there is a delivery plan associated with that. The priority that I have given to special educational needs is evident, which is why there is a stand-alone strategy for it. Today's statement is a high-level strategic document that will be transformative for the education system, and that will benefit every child and young person in all our schools.

I thank the Member for the question. The statement rightly highlights the need for our young people to continue not only in education but in training. When that was taken forward in England, there was higher uptake among young people who wanted to continue in education, so fewer people were not engaging in education or some kind of formal training, be it an apprenticeship or training. I have already committed to introducing legislation on that. That is a piece of work that we will take forward in the Assembly. It is vital that we align what we are doing on our curriculum. We are very much looking at that knowledge-rich approach. It is about developing a mastery of the subject matter. That is not necessarily about teaching a lot more; it is about teaching the subject matter in great detail. When you have command of a subject matter, you develop confidence and can then apply that when you are exposed to new ideas. That is very important and is embedded in the new strategy.

I thank the Member for welcoming the document. She touches on an important issue when it comes to qualifications. We have seen an increase in the different types of qualifications that are offered in our schools. That is why I am committed to reviewing qualifications: we need to ensure that, if a young person takes up a qualification, there is a clear pathway of progression either into further education or, indeed, a career. I am concerned about the proliferation of different qualifications. That is why there will be a review of the qualifications that are available in our schools. We need to ensure that the qualifications that are offered align with the needs of our society and provide clear pathways for young people. There would be nothing worse than a young person completing a qualification and, at the end of a number of years, not having a pathway into employment, further education or training. Qualifications are an important part of the transformation, so there will be work in that area.

That speaks to the issue on which we have engaged with the unions. As part of the offer to do with the increase in pay, there was a clear commitment to address workload-related issues. The Department has provided the unions with detail on how we will take that forward. I am very much of the view that I want our teachers to focus on teaching. That is what today's statement is about. It is about placing our teachers at the centre of what we do in our education system. We provide that support. When it comes to initial teacher training, how do we ensure consistency of approach across our training providers? In Northern Ireland, we are fortunate that we have a small number of providers that deliver excellence. We need to make sure that there is consistency. In other jurisdictions, we have identified a proliferation of different providers that offer low-level initial teacher training, which dilutes the quality. We do not have that in Northern Ireland. We have a good system, but there is an opportunity to look at that again to ensure consistency of what is being taught in initial teacher training and, after that, how to get professional development, because that is a lifelong process, and ensure that teachers get that support. A teacher in Singapore gets 100 hours a year to focus on their own professional development. In other jurisdictions, it is a higher number of hours. When it comes to teachers who engage in senior leadership roles, the time that becomes available is significant. Resource is required to provide that support. In Northern Ireland, we provide Baker days and school development days. There are 10 days for that. How do we ensure that we support teachers' professional development during the 10 days that are available, because there has not been the investment to enable schools to do that as effectively as it could be done? How do we ensure that what is provided is consistent across Northern Ireland, so that every school is able to raise its standards?

As I indicated in my statement, that has to be the priority, because the strategy will impact on every child — children of all abilities, right across all our sectors. It is very much the blueprint for my ministerial priorities. That will then align with the departmental priorities, and the resources will align with that. It will be resourced. My Department is developing a costed implementation plan. It will be in the region of £20 million in the next financial year. The majority of that will be to support teachers in their professional learning. To put it into context: we spend almost £3 billion a year on education. The most critical factor in that is our teachers. If we do not invest in our teachers, we are not ensuring the most effective use of £3 billion. That is why it is vital that we put investment into the new TransformED agenda. There is a clear, well-evidenced plan, but it needs to be resourced. That will be the first priority for my Department. It will be resourced.

All the international best practice now shows that a knowledge-rich curriculum is what will achieve the best outcomes for our children and young people. With detailed knowledge of a particular subject, you acquire the skills because you have the confidence to apply that knowledge. We need to embed into the long-term memory of our children and young people the fundamental things such as literacy and numeracy, which are the building blocks of our education system. A knowledge-rich approach is the best way in which to do that. We have been able to track how other countries that do not follow a knowledge-rich curriculum have declined and how those that do are rising up the international performance measures. It is an evidence-based approach. It is not one that should be viewed through the prism of some ideology. I look with envy at what has happened in the Republic of Ireland over the past number of years. It has been able to drive up its standards. Northern Ireland has not kept at pace. In fact, we have gone backwards. I look at what has happened in England, where it has been able to drive up its standards. Then, I look at Wales. It has been regressive. Scotland, which introduced its own more skills-based curriculum, has now recognised that there are challenges with that and is looking again at the curriculum that it has been following. Our curriculum was set in 2007. It is right that we should refresh it and look at international best practice from the various countries that apply the knowledge-rich curriculum. You can look at China. Then you can look at Norway, Finland — those Scandinavian countries. Then you can look at Estonia. You can look at Hong Kong and at Macau in China. You can see that, across the world, countries with different kinds of Governments of various shades have gone down that route of a knowledge-rich curriculum. We should not spread ourselves so thinly that schools cover a wide variety of subjects, because then we are only scratching the surface. You need to get into mastering the core subject matter, and once you have mastery of that subject, you will apply that and develop the skills. A knowledge-rich curriculum first develops your skills. That is the best way, as evidence shows at an international level, for us to develop our children and young people, which will benefit our society and also our economy.

I thank the Member for welcoming the statement and for her question. What we have to view within our society is that every single child can do well. We should never tolerate a view that, because you have a particular additional need, you are not going to perform well, or that somebody has an inherent talent or ability to be good at maths or they just so happen to be good at English and that is why they perform well. Every single child can perform well with clear, consistent and explicit teaching that is structured and has a consistency of approach across our schools, with our teachers supported to do that at a consistent level. That will drive up the standards for every child. Whether it is children with dyslexia, dyspraxia or other additional needs, we should be striving to ensure that they all get the best possible education, in every setting and from every teacher. That is very much what is driving the ambition that I have for our schools and young people.

I thank the Member for his very kind comments. They are appreciated. I am only supported by excellent people within my Department. There has been a team involved in this, led by Dr Suzanne Kingon, that is driving forward the agenda that I have. I can only do what I do with the best people around me. It is the same in our schools; they can only be taken forward with the principals leading and the best people around them. Your appreciation for the work that I am doing is reflective of the people around me, so thank you for that. The international ministerial advisory panel, as I have said, is made up of exceptional individuals with international expertise to support the transformation of our education system. The panel is made up of the following: Tim Oates, who was a director of assessment, research and development at Cambridge University Press and Assessment; Christine Counsell, a leading expert in curriculum development and a former director of the Inspiration Trust; Harold Hislop, a former chief inspector in the Republic of Ireland and the current adjunct professor at Dublin City University’s Institute of Education; Hardip Begol, a former director of assessment, curriculum and qualifications at the Department of Education in England and currently a board member of Ofqual and non-executive director at Oak National Academy. We also have Daisy Christodoulou, a renowned educational author and founder of No More Marking, a company that works closely with schools in the UK, Australia and the USA to develop new approaches on assessment; Nina Hood, a New Zealand-based educationalist who is academic director of The Teachers' Institute, a new teacher training organisation; and Jennifer Buckingham, executive director of the Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation in the New South Wales Department of Education and a well-known educational author.

The new panel brings together leading global educators to provide strategic insight, advice and guidance. They provide us with valuable insights, drawing on best practice, research and innovations from around the world, and I am deeply indebted to them for agreeing to be part of the panel. They have been able to review the strategy, and they have informed it. We are fortunate to have their global expertise.

In my statement, I indicated that I have also established two principal panels, because we have expertise in Northern Ireland as well. We have a panel made up of principals from primary and post-primary schools. They can provide us with real-time information about how the strategy would work in schools and what its impact would be. Their expertise will be critical to informing the policy and, when giving operational effect to what we are trying to do, ensuring that it is very much grounded in what will work in Northern Ireland.

I thank the Member for his comments and questions. He is absolutely right: when it comes to education, the most appropriate time is that spent in a school setting, but a wider contribution needs to be made and not just by parents. All the evidence shows that parental engagement is vital to how young people engage with our education system. We looked at the approach that has been taken in London of engaging parents. That has helped to drive up parents' aspirations for what they want their young people to become as well as their engagement on school attendance and the amount of homework that is carried out. Parents are critical to what we do, but there is also the wider community response. There are organisations that can help our children and young people outside the school setting. I referenced the importance of that. We have the RAISE programme, which will be important. In the areas in which it will operate, that programme will help to provide a whole-community response to supporting our children and young people.

I thank the Member for his comments. Like many of my colleagues, he has had me visit a number of schools in his constituency. He also organised for me to meet the north Belfast principals' forum, so I know that his personal commitment to supporting our education system is real. That is reflected in comments from the principals in his constituency about his work in that area. The Member is right about the ambitious nature of the strategy. It is ambitious, but it should be, because it is about our children and young people. They deserve the very best opportunity to succeed in life, so the strategy has to be ambitious, and it has to be driven forward. I am determined to drive it forward, and so, over the coming weeks, I will make a series of important announcements on assessment, professional learning, literacy and numeracy and school improvement. We will also publish a costed implementation plan to support the delivery of the strategy over the next number of years. That plan will identify lead organisations, delivery mechanisms and the funding required to put the strategy in place.

I thank the Member for his comments and his open view on the strategy. We need to come at it with that fresh perspective and engage on the issues from an evidence-based perspective. That is welcomed. There will be some areas on which we may disagree, but I think that we can all agree on the direction of travel that has been outlined. It is a high-level strategy, and, as we identify issues that may require referral to the Executive, we will follow the normal processes. I have not been restrained as a Minister by not having a Programme for Government, nor will my ambition to drive forward education in the areas that are not mentioned in the Programme for Government be restrained. I will continue to do that. The strategy is further evidence of my commitment to supporting our education system, our children and young people and our teachers.

I thank the Member for his kind comments. In my statement, I highlighted the importance of inspection. It allows us to identify best practice, and there are some really good examples of best practice in Northern Ireland. Part of the issue with consistency of delivery in every school is that there are schools that are performing well and other schools that are performing poorly. Some of those schools, however, have a similar intake of children, including those from a more socially disadvantaged background. The question is this: why do schools with a similar pupil profile have different educational outcomes? Our inspection regime allows us to get that information, but it also allows us to identify schools that require support. During the period in which we had inspections, following a protracted period of non-compliance for many years, we were able to identify some schools that needed additional support. Child safeguarding issues were also identified, which, Members will rightly feel, should be of significant concern. As a result of inspections, we were able to identify issues, and measures were put in place to address them. Northern Ireland is an outlier when it comes to non-compliance with inspections. It does not happen in the Republic of Ireland, England, Scotland or Wales. Inspections are a vital component of any education system. The current inspection process was changed. It was co-designed with the workforce and the trade unions, and the trade unions welcomed the change. It is deeply regrettable that, as a result of the current action, non-compliance is now taking place. I do not think that anybody in here could sustain a position in support of that, and that is why we need to make sure that inspection processes are not frustrated or restrained. When I met the Children's Commissioner recently, he shared my view. Our children have to come first, and inspection is an important part of that.

I thank the Member for his kind comments about the ambition reflected in the statement. He has raised an issue about EMA funding that does not sit with my Department. I want to make sure, however, that there are no barriers to our children and young people engaging with education. Part of the reason that I introduced the School Uniforms (Guidelines and Allowances) Bill was to make sure that no economic barriers are put in place when decisions are being taken about the schools that our children and young people go to at the transfer stage. As we bring legislation to the Executive and then take it through the Assembly, how we put into effect a compulsory requirement to be engaged in some form of education or formal training will need to be considered.

I thank the Member for his comments. The initial appointments were for a year, but that can be subject to review in due course. They are in place, and, again, I very much appreciate the expertise that the panel is able to share with us as it critically reviews the policies that we are developing. What we have been able to get from the panel members has been invaluable. I get far more from them than they get out of me; I can assure the Member of that. They want to be engaged. Internationally renowned educationalists want to impart the knowledge that they have. They have been very willing to be part of that process. I touched on professional teacher learning. Over the next number of weeks, I will be able to provide more detail on what exactly that will look like and how we will deliver on it. That is key to what we are trying to take forward: providing our teachers with that professional support. It is about attracting young people into the initial teaching colleges; what is taught in those establishments; and what professional support they receive throughout the journey of their career. It includes helping to identify those who want to become middle leaders and then senior leaders. How do we ensure that they are supported in developing themselves to take up those positions? Also, how do we secure the support of principals who may be at the end of their career but can impart great knowledge and mentor other principals? How do we harness their expertise? We have looked at examples in different countries that have been able to use that expertise, and that mentoring has been really helpful in bringing middle leaders and new leaders to a place where they have more confidence and can share their expertise.

6,334 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:12 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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