Debate contribution: Independent Review of Teacher Workload Report

Debate contribution by Mr Paul Givan on 28 April 2026.

MLA

Mr Paul Givan

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

28 April 2026

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Ministerial Statements

Heading

Independent Review of Teacher Workload Report

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5509634

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I met a school principal from the Member's constituency this morning.

The Member does not want to hear about a school principal in her constituency. She has her clip for social media, and she is not interested in the response. That is typical of what we get from Sinn Féin. When I met the school principal from the Member's constituency this morning, she had nothing but praise regarding her vocation as a teacher; nothing other than what a worthy profession it is. I say this to Members: let us talk up our education system, not talk it down; let us encourage more young people to come into the profession, not put them off; and let us support them. As Minister, I am supporting them through all of my reform agenda to improve their circumstances, their terms and conditions and the structures in which they operate.

I thank the school leaders who have all been involved in helping me take forward the transformational work. That help has come from school leaders and teachers from every sector: Catholic maintained, controlled, integrated, special schools and Irish-language schools. They are all part of that work and have provided leadership and support. When it comes to curriculum, which I have referenced, on the 13 subject working groups we had over 75 professionals involved from every school. They are providing us with their support, so, when the Member attacks me, she actually attacks the teaching profession, which is involved in that work. Get behind them. Do not talk them down.

I thank the Member for the invitation to visit a number of schools in her constituency last week. It was refreshing to hear what they had to say on the reforms that I will take forward through the support of the teaching profession. The Member touches on a really important point that I have raised around how we can harness artificial intelligence and generative AI, something that, often, many people fear and, at times, rightly so. However, harnessed effectively, ethically and with the appropriate safeguards in place, it can be transformative. We have already piloted that work. We have had two proof-of-concept schemes with school leaders and teachers, working with Microsoft, Google and the Classroom 2000 (C2k) platform. That has proven to be impactful on the schools that piloted the work. We need to build on that. We need to allow that to be developed and rolled out across our education system. The potential behind it is significant. An average reported workload reduction of 11 hours 52 minutes per week per participant is hugely significant for those who participated in the pilot, 75% of whom reported that GenAI had contributed to improvements in their well-being, and 41% of whom reported early improvements in pupil attainment, with a further 38% anticipating future benefits. Strong potential has also been identified for supporting SEN provision and inclusive practices. There are clear benefits in lesson creation, personalised support, automated feedback, qualitative feedback highlighting substantial reductions in lesson planning and a significant impact on school leadership and administrative workload, with almost half reporting time savings related specifically to leadership and management tasks. I believe that there is huge potential for that. That is why I have said that I want to invest significantly in it. We have gone through all of the processes. I would be grateful if the Sinn Féin Finance Minister would sign off on it. It has been sitting in his Department for far too long.

I thank the Member for that question. She is right to highlight the importance of the trade unions. That is why my team have been engaged with them. I have also been personally engaged with them, and the outworkings of the process, including setting up the panel, having the report commissioned and the recommendations in it came about from that engagement. We have gone through the recommendations. We have helped to produce the action plan, and I met them as recently as yesterday and spent time with them. I respect trade unions. They engage with their membership, and I am sure that they will want to formally respond to the action plan in due course. However, the only way that we will be able to make the changes that will improve the conditions is by listening to the profession, engaging with its representatives — both school leaders and trade unions — which I have been doing, and coming forward with plans. They will rightly challenge the Department, the EA and the managing side of the education system. It is their job to do that, but we also need to have that shared responsibility and lead the processes of change over the next period of time. Therefore, I welcome that engagement. It has been constructive, and I publicly thank the trade unions for the engagement that they have had with me on the issue as recently as yesterday.

Digital literacy is hugely important, and the Member will be encouraged by the importance that we place on digital literacy when the new curriculum goes out for public consultation. We are not moving away from skills. Skills are hugely important. Having knowledge and mastery of subject matters is the foundation. Confidence through that subject knowledge allows you to build skills around critical thinking. At a time of increased disinformation on social media, with the advent of generative AI, now, more than ever, we need a strong, knowledge-based education system. That is vital. Through powerful knowledge, you get powerful skills. It is not either/or; it is both. It is hugely important that we do that. The best way to develop skills is by having a powerful knowledge base, and that is the approach that we will take through the changes.

954 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:27 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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