Debate contribution: North/South Ministerial Council: Education

Debate contribution by Mr Paul Givan on 26 January 2026.

MLA

Mr Paul Givan

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

26 January 2026

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Ministerial Statement

Heading

North/South Ministerial Council: Education

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5340204

Read the official Assembly record

Text

In compliance with section 52 of the Northern Ireland Act, I make the following statement on the meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) in the education sector held on Friday 23 January. The meeting took place in the Monaghan Peace Campus and was hosted by Minister Naughton TD, the Minister for Education and Youth in the Republic of Ireland. The Minister of Finance, Minister O’Dowd, also attended as the accompanying Minister. Minister O’Dowd has agreed the statement and for me to make it on his behalf. The following main areas were discussed at the meeting: addressing educational disadvantage; special educational needs; digital literacy; and school, youth and teacher exchanges. I will go through each one in some detail. Ministers welcomed the continued progress and cooperation by both Departments on implementation of the agreed programme of cooperation on educational attainment, supported through an allocation of up to €24 million from the Government of Ireland’s Shared Island Fund. The Council noted the update on overall progress by the Department of Education in Northern Ireland on implementation of the RAISE programme with the publication of strategic area plans for each of the 18 RAISE localities and the success of the open call for locality-led projects. The NSMC noted the launch of the RAISE reading with AI research project and Halloween revision support programme. Ministers noted the progress of the teachers' research exchange (T-REX) platform and the Creative Connections arts education pilot programme, which are both now under way. The Council noted the continued progress that is being made in implementing projects supported under the PEACE PLUS programme that contribute to addressing educational disadvantage. Minister Naughton and I recognise the ongoing cooperation between Departments in both jurisdictions and the willingness to enter into constructive mutual assistance on a variety of challenges in the special educational needs sector. The Council noted that both Departments and the Middletown Centre for Autism are assessing the potential for service expansion to respond to current and emergent needs across the jurisdictions. The NSMC welcomed the proposed project to support teacher professional learning on digital literacy, including on misinformation or disinformation and the impact of AI. Ministers noted the opportunities for enhanced cooperation in digital education, particularly in teacher professional learning, curriculum development and digital safeguarding. The Council welcomed the presentation on behalf of the PEACE PLUS ASPIRE shared learning project. The NSMC noted progress made to date in delivering the PEACE PLUS projects across respective investment areas and recognised the joint work that is being taken forward across both jurisdictions. Ministers acknowledged progress made by both Departments and the Mary Immaculate College of Limerick to extend delivery of the teachers' research exchange platform across both jurisdictions and welcomed the announcement of the expansion following the meeting. The NSMC noted the ongoing review of the North/South Education and Training Standards Committee (NSETS), the work being taken forward through the North/South Youth Work Sector Practice Development Hub and developments in relation to the United Kingdom-Ireland Youth Work Forum. The Council also noted the continued cooperation across education inspectorates and welcomed opportunities being explored for cooperation on well-being in education, including the recent positive shared learning event held in Dundalk. The next meeting will be held in spring or summer 2026.

We discussed at some length the benefits of enhancing digital literacy skills. It is part of the findings of the review of Northern Ireland's curriculum that Lucy Crehan carried out. It identified that there is a lack of literacy skills. Therefore, as we take forward the work on the new curriculum for Northern Ireland, digital literacy will have greater emphasis. As we look at artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, we all recognise that there can be benefits, if it is appropriately harnessed, when it comes to helping around teacher workload and in respect of administration. We have been piloting some of those schemes with principals in Northern Ireland already through Microsoft Copilot technology. There are also benefits when it comes to devising lesson plans and carrying out assessment. Undoubtedly, there are opportunities, if it is harnessed appropriately, for AI to have a significant impact. In all the conversation that we had in that meeting, we talked about the importance of safeguarding and effective regulation when it comes to the frameworks in which AI and digital skills need to be taught. That is paramount, and all schools take it seriously when it comes to well-being.

Some of that is being utilised already, with pupils utilising open-source material. It is important that, as technology advances, we respond to the changing environment, and we need to find a way to have appropriate guard rails in place, so that AI is utilised effectively but safely.

As we engaged on SEN, the Middletown Centre for Autism was referenced as being an organisation that helps, particularly with its expertise on autism. The same issues that we have in Northern Ireland, with the exponential growth of the number of children with a variety of educational needs, is replicated in the Republic of Ireland, where they are grappling to find the most effective way in which to provide the resources that will benefit those children and young people. In that meeting, we talked about how we are trying to examine what we do in Northern Ireland. Where work is taking place in the Republic of Ireland, we should, obviously, share all that information. Our officials already engage in that collaboration, but we recognise that there is a need to do more. One of the undertakings from the meeting was that we would seek to find more ways in which to share what we are doing and what we are trying to address, as they are doing in the South. If we can learn from each other, we should learn from each other.

I have been to the Middletown Centre for Autism. For Members who have not been, I commend the facility to them. There is an issue with accessing the building currently, due to some structural challenges for transport and with the road to the building. That was touched on in the meeting. There is an ongoing issue with the assessment of those structural challenges and the work that we can do to try to resolve them. The Member is right to mention the budgetary challenges. We face significant challenges. The South also has restraints on its level of expenditure, although not to the same extent as us. We are trying to identify how Middletown can be utilised more effectively. Obviously, that could relate to potential budgetary issues. As those issues emerge, we will need to address the issue of the allocations that we can make. The Member is right: we are somewhat constrained by the financial resources that are available to us.

It has been an ongoing challenge to try to release the funding for that, but I am pleased to inform the House that we have made significant progress. Shared Island funding of €24 million has been made available to my Department to take forward interventions to address educational underachievement, which is welcome. I will always take funding, from whatever source I can acquire it, to benefit young people in Northern Ireland. Those interventions have been designed for the areas that were selected, which are various. The projects have all been developed. We are at the stage of finalising the letters of offer that will allow us to make progress on RAISE. It is a welcome intervention that will have a meaningful impact on tackling educational underachievement.

I am happy to take the Member's suggestion away. There are different programmes that give young people an opportunity to engage internationally. Those are welcome, where they can be availed of. Part of the meeting referred to the establishment of the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland youth forum, which would allow not just more North/South exchanges but more east-west exchanges, so that there would be greater opportunity to empower young people across the British Isles, and for them to have their voices heard.

The Member raises an important point. I have looked at where Northern Ireland is being outperformed internationally, particularly in measurements such as the programme for international student assessment, the trends in international mathematics and science study and the progress in international reading literacy study. The Republic of Ireland is outperforming Northern Ireland, as are other high-performing jurisdictions, in educational attainment. That is why we are taking forward the TransformED programme. We, as a Department, have to perform statutory functions to ensure that we have an up-to-date curriculum. We also have to consider what the most effective way is of assessing that. It is not just about the substance of what is being taught but about how it is being taught and how you measure that by way of assessment. There are good examples of what the Republic of Ireland is doing in the type of curriculum and teaching that it applies. I absolutely want to benefit from that to enhance Northern Ireland's educational output. That is why I selected a former chief inspector of the Republic of Ireland's education system to be part of the international ministerial advisory panel. It will help to inform the educational transformation work that we are doing here in Northern Ireland.

I thank the Member for the question. Last week, there was the North/South Ministerial Council meeting in the education sectoral format. We also had an East-West Council meeting, which was hosted by the Secretary of State and was held in Belfast. I attended that meeting, at which we discussed taking forward a twinning programme between schools in Northern Ireland and Great Britain. That is an outworking of the Command Paper that the DUP helped to secure. We updated the East-West Council on the progress of that twinning arrangement. I also attended a UK-wide ministerial summit that was facilitated by the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson MP, on artificial intelligence and the opportunities that exist for it to be developed in education. I engage North/South, but I also engage very much on an east-west basis, given Northern Ireland's place in the United Kingdom.

That is similar to what the Member has asked about previously. We know about the dangers of online harm. It is why I support Safer Schools NI's project that encourages parents not to let their children access social media on their smartphone in their early, formative, teenage years. It is also why I introduced the capital programme to limit access to mobile phones. Nine schools are taking part in that pilot scheme. Some Members were critical of that, but the principals who have been engaged are very supportive of it. King's College London will carry out an evaluation of that, which will be independent of the Department and will reflect the effectiveness or otherwise of the approach. In addition, it is why I introduced a clear departmental policy that says that primary-school children should not bring phones to school at all and that, at post-primary level, such phones should not be accessed by children from when they enter school until they leave. That recognises the harm that smartphones can cause to our children and young people in particular. I welcome the public consultation on social media that is being carried out by the UK Schools Minister. I encourage parents to feed into that, but I am also considering whether we should try to address the issue from a Northern Ireland perspective.

The challenge with the RAISE programme has been that some Members have undermined its work and created unnecessary confusion in their constituencies, which led to a legal challenge.

Mr Baker laughs, but he and Mr Sheehan said that the programme was flawed, that it discriminated against disadvantaged communities and that it needed to be taken back to the start and rethought. What were the consequences of their misinformed and ignorant commentary? It was to create the environment for those in their community to decide to take a legal case to challenge the programme. Unnecessarily, Members decided to be critical of it, but the judgement that was delivered on Friday 12 December 2025 dismissed all legal challenges to the Department's methodology for allocating funding under the RAISE programme. The judgement was clear. The court found that the Department had acted lawfully and rationally in developing a Northern Ireland-wide place-based approach to funding, using objective indicators of educational need. That was the judgement of the court, and I am glad that it was presiding over the case, as opposed to Sinn Féin Members. They now ask about the delay in distributing the funding. The reason for the delay was the legal challenge. We are now able to proceed with allocating the funding. The terms of offer are being conveyed in letters to groups, but the case is now being taken to the Court of Appeal. Three days have been set aside for it to be heard in April. We will proceed with the schemes, however, thus allowing West Belfast and North Belfast, constituencies that have needed such interventions, to have funding allocated to them at long last. To the Members opposite, I say, rather than take cheap political shots at the schemes, reflect on the words that you use. Your words generated a legal case that undermined RAISE, which was found to be a perfectly rational and logical programme, as determined by the judge. Not only did those Members delay the allocation of funding but they caused my Department to incur considerable expense — over £100,000 so far — defending its policy. We successfully won that case.

The applicants also got legal aid, so the Department of Justice's Legal Services Agency (LSA) had to provide them with taxpayers' money. Not only is my Department therefore out by over £100,000 so far —

— but the LSA is out funding likely to the tune of £300,000 to £400,000 —

— of taxpayers' money. That money was wasted as a result of Sinn Féin challenging the decision. It politicised a scheme that the courts found to be perfectly legitimate.

Members in the Chamber and people outside of it have talked about the Department of Education budget's reckless waste. I say to Members that there has not been reckless waste. Indeed, I listened carefully to the principals this morning on 'Good Morning Ulster'. A principal of one of Northern Ireland's largest schools said:

"There has been pressure on the system for a number of years. Any sort of extras or frills around the system have been really trimmed back, so there is really nowhere else to go. We are literally down to the core business of learning and teaching, and our biggest cost in all of our schools is our staffing."

I also read today's published statement from the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) about the Sinn Féin Budget. I quote the NAHT's warning, which has been attributed to its president, that John O'Dowd's draft Budget:

"represents the most serious threat imaginable"

to education in Northern Ireland and is:

"wholly detached from the reality inside schools",

yet we have some Members actively encouraging people to take legal cases.

Of the two most significant cases, one was on integrated education, which I won convincingly. However, the cost to the taxpayer was hundreds of thousands of pounds. The other was on RAISE, which I won, but the cost to the taxpayer was hundreds of thousands of pounds. Such activities starve our education system of funding. I trust that Mr O'Dowd, who says that he is listening,

will listen to the principals of the schools in his constituency and to the trade unions who have said that his Budget

represents the biggest threat to education. Mr Baker, do your job, lobby your own Minister and start fighting for schools.

My Department has been looking through some of the recommendations of the Northern Ireland Audit Office report and, indeed, the PAC report. A key recommendation on which I absolutely agree with the Committee is about having planned maintenance programmes in order that we do not have to react. My response to that has been to say that, at the moment, because of inadequate funding, we have to react with emergency-type responses, as Members will know from their constituencies. However, I want us to have planned maintenance so that we do not take that reactive approach. That will provide greater value for taxpayers' money. I am keen to learn from any jurisdiction as to the most effective way of managing the finite resources that are available when it comes to capital expenditure. We know that the Republic of Ireland is in a different place when it comes to budgetary allocation and what is currently available to it. My job is to make the case for the Department of Education. When it comes to our capital, we have not been funded properly over the past number of years — it is not just me saying that; the independent review of education said it — and that needs to be reflected in the budget that we receive. It also needs to be reflected in how we engage with the Treasury. A case needs to be made around the structural underfunding of Northern Ireland for many years. We are still living with the legacy of that. That is why, as we engage in the Budget discussions, I will champion Education, but there is also a need for the Executive collectively to robustly engage with the Treasury and London on the challenges that we face.

As result of devolution, I have been taking actions in areas that were neglected under direct rule and would continue to be neglected if we had direct rule. As a DUP Minister in the Department of Education, I have taken forward work on establishing a controlled sector unit in the Education Authority that has a clear and dedicated focus. The controlled sector is the underperforming sector. It does not have the same level of advocacy as other sectors. There is inequality in how the controlled sector is treated by comparison with others. I have taken steps to do that. I have also consulted on the establishment of a managing authority, for which, when the consultation concluded, we had overwhelming support. I will take a paper to the Executive. We have also taken forward the transformation of our education system through the TransformED programme. That is underpinned by a curriculum task force and by pedagogy — the practice through which we teach the content — and we are looking at methods of assessment. We need that multiple approach to make sure that our curriculum is properly supported by way of content and how it is taught and assessed. Getting those things right will benefit pupils in every school in Northern Ireland but particularly those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds whose parents do not have the same means as others to harness private tuition, get teachers to coach their children and enhance the learning opportunities that they have. The only opportunity that many from a more disadvantaged background have is the limited time in the classroom in front of the teacher. We need to make sure that this is given the best possible support, which will be transformative in helping working-class communities not just from a Protestant background but from every background in Northern Ireland.

I agree with the Member's sentiments. The RAISE programme was grossly misrepresented not just by Sinn Féin but by others. It has now been demonstrated, as Members will see from the outworkings of the specific projects, that it will be targeted at helping address educational disadvantage. That is what underpins it, and the rationale for the selection process has been vindicated by the courts. I trust that Members will now get behind the RAISE programme in their communities and encourage and support the work that it will take forward.

Members will, I hope, reflect over the next number of weeks, as the consultation continues to take place on the Sinn Féin draft Budget, and make sure that their voice is heard loudly that education cannot be underfunded in the way that it has been and that people should express those opinions. I trust that the Finance Minister will be listening, as that voice is being heard clearly from school principals and others.

3,383 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:23 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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