Right to education 

Full-time education in Northern Ireland is compulsory for all children between the ages of 4 and 16. Under Section 45 of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986:

‘The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable to his age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.’ 

Parents have the right to educate their children at home. See ‘Home education’ in the article ‘Organisation of the Education System and of its Structure’.

Individual rights 

The Human Rights Act 1998 gives individuals in the UK a clear legal statement of their basic rights and fundamental freedoms. With regard to education, the Act gives everyone the right to an effective education. Parents also have the right to ensure that their religious and philosophical beliefs are respected in their children's education.

Both the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 control how personal data is processed and used by organisations, businesses and government. While the GDPR is a regulation of the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, the Data Protection Act updates data protection laws in the UK and extends these laws to areas which are not covered by the GDPR. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives individuals the right to access recorded information held by public sector organisations, including grant-aided schools. The Information Commissioner's Office provides advice for education providers on how to comply with the relevant data protection and freedom of information legislation.

Equality legislation 

All public bodies are bound by equality legislation, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of:

• age
• disability
• gender reassignment
• marital or civil partnership status
• pregnancy and maternity
• racial group
• religion or belief
• political opinion
• sex
• sexual orientation.

Under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, public authorities have statutory duties to have due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity between the nine equality categories (of persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status or sexual orientation; men and women generally; persons with a disability and persons without; and persons with dependants and persons without). They must also have regard to the desirability of promoting good relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group.

Special educational needs (SEN) policy, as underpinned by legislation (the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 and the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (Northern Ireland) Order 2005), places emphasis on educating children and young people with SEN alongside their peers in mainstream schools, wherever possible. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 amends the 1996 Order by placing specific duties on education and health and social services authorities to address the needs of children and young people with SEN. It also strengthens the rights of parents and children and of young people over compulsory school age within the SEN framework. 

For more information on how this legislation applies to education bodies, see the Chapter ‘Educational Support and Guidance’.

Education policy priorities 

The Department of Education (DE) has a statutory duty, under Section 64 of the Education Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 1989, to encourage and facilitate the development of integrated education, which brings together children and staff of different faiths and none in one school. In addition, under the Shared Education Act (Northern Ireland) 2016, the DE and the Education Authority (EA) are required to encourage, facilitate and promote shared education, which brings together children and young people from different religious and socio-economic backgrounds.

The Department of Education’s draft Business Plan for 2020/21, sets out its six corporate goals:

• Ensuring continuity of learning for children and young people during the COVID-19 pandemic
• Improving the wellbeing of children and young people, including supporting those who are vulnerable or who have special educational needs
• Increasing access and improving the learning environment for all
• Raising standards and tackling underachievement to ensure learners get the best possible education
• Developing the education workforce
• Transforming the education system to ensure high quality, sustainable education for the 21st century

See the Chapter on ‘Ongoing Reforms and Policy Developments’ for further information on current education policy priorities in Northern Ireland, and an overview of priorities related to specific phases of education.

Article last reviewed December 2020.