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 5509682

Text

I thank the Member for the question and for the encouraging comments that he made about aspects of the proposals. It is important that we work through them in order to allow them to be implemented. The benefit will then be accrued to the teaching profession. The Member mentioned workplace violence and poor behaviour in our schools, which is extremely concerning. It happens in all schools; it is not unique to one setting. Principals have raised the issue with me. A clear framework will be established in the action plan, and there is a commitment to publish that by the end of June to recognise the importance associated with it. It should be of concern to all of us that there is workplace violence, including in our primary schools, towards some of our teachers. It is a regular occurrence, not an irregular one. That is not appropriate. There clearly needs to be support for teaching staff and children on whom it has an impact. Parental responsibility also needs to be engaged. Some pupils who show that behaviour will come from challenging backgrounds. Principals tell me that, at times, when they make contact with a child's home, the parents are very defensive of their child, who can do no wrong. Those parents do not want to engage constructively. That is not acceptable. Schools are respected institutions, and our teachers are trusted. We have to place great value in them. When they seek to work through issues, we need to make sure that the supports from outside services and in the home are there in a positive way. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. I stand very much behind our teaching professionals as they seek to address that issue. Behavioural policy is very much something that I will look at. I intend to provide greater clarity on the expectations and consistency of practice across our schools and how we deal with that. The Member is right about EA bureaucracy. That is why a subcommittee will be established in the TNC that will look at identifying what bureaucracy is necessary. We should ask of schools only what is needed, not what is nice to have. Where unnecessary information is being sought, I want to reduce that. Teachers want to focus on what they do best, which is teaching in the classroom. Often, so much of their time is spent dealing with issues other than teaching.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.

Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.03 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.86).
No identity-based framing was identified (0.99).
The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.

This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.

Jev’s structured answers

Probability that each statement is true of this text (0 = no, 1 = yes). A criterion counts as met at 0.60 or above.
Question	Probability	Met?
Identity framing	0.03	No
Sectarian or communal antagonism	0.04	No
Cultural grievance politics	0.02	No
Dog-whistle messaging	0.04	No
Controversy escalation	0.03	No
Legitimate policy scrutiny	0.86	Yes
Overall judgement	0.03	At or below not-flagging threshold

Context and attribution (stance)
Option	Probability
No identity-based framing (chosen)	0.99
Reports or questions it	0.00
Criticises or condemns it	0.01
Adopts it	0.00

Subject area (top five)
Subject	Probability
No identity-related subject	0.68
Education structures, integration and community division	0.28
Gender, sexuality, abortion and related social issues	0.02
Sexism, misogyny, ageism and other equality groups	0.01
Another identity-related subject	0.01

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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