Overall national education strategy and key objectives 

Northern Ireland Assembly 2017-2022 mandate 

An early election of the Northern Ireland Assembly was held on 2 March 2017. This followed the resignation, on 9 January 2017, of the Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and the subsequent collapse of the power-sharing Executive. Following the election, the Northern Ireland parties were unable to reach agreement on the formation of a new Executive. There followed a period of three years in which there were no executive ministers and the Northern Ireland Assembly did not sit.

In early 2020, following an extended period of political talks, an Executive was formed and ministers were appointed; DUP leader Arlene Foster was appointed Northern Ireland's first minister, while Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill was appointed deputy first minister. The Northern Ireland Assembly reconvened on 11 January 2020.

The return to devolved government in Northern Ireland was on the basis of a deal set out in New Decade, New Approach, a document published by the UK Government and the Irish Government, and endorsed by all five main political parties in Northern Ireland.

New Decade, New Approach sets out the immediate priorities for the restored Northern Ireland Executive, including the following commitments on education:

• The Executive will resolve the teachers’ industrial dispute and address resourcing pressures in schools, to ensure that every school has a sustainable core budget to deliver quality education.
• The Executive will establish an external, independent review of education provision, with a focus on securing greater efficiency in delivery costs, raising standards, access to the curriculum for all pupils, and the prospects of moving towards a single education system.
• To help build a shared and integrated society, the Executive will support educating children and young people of different backgrounds together in the classroom.
• The Executive will establish an expert group to examine and propose an action plan to address links between persistent educational underachievement and socio-economic background, including the long-standing issues facing working-class Protestant boys.
• The Executive will deliver a new special educational needs framework to support young people with special needs to achieve their full potential.

The document also sets out the need for a shared and ambitious strategic vision for the future, to be reflected in an outcomes-based Programme for Government. This will be published by April 2020 and build on the outcomes from the previous Programme for Government (2016).

Decision making 2017-2020

In the absence of Ministers, guidance on decision-making for the Northern Ireland Departments was provided by the UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. The guidance, which was published in November 2018, states that:

'… Northern Ireland Departments will need to take decisions and exercise functions in order to uphold good governance and protect the public interest. This guidance is intended to support NI Departments when considering taking and exercising those decisions and functions’  (p.1).

'Some decisions should not be taken in the absence of Ministers. NI Departments should therefore first consider the public interest of having locally elected, accountable Ministers taking decisions. Any major policy decisions, such as the initiation of a new policy, programme or scheme, including new major public expenditure commitments, or a major change of an existing policy, programme or scheme, should normally be left for Ministers to decide or agree.

NI departments should then consider whether there is a public interest in taking a decision rather than deferring a decision during the period for Executive formation.

When considering whether there is a public interest in taking a decision in the absence of Ministers, principles to be taken into account by senior officers in NI Departments include:

1. the principle that it is a priority to maintain the delivery of public services as sustainably and efficiently as possible, working towards the previous Executive’s stated objective of improving wellbeing for all - by tackling disadvantage and driving economic growth.
2. the principle that the priorities and commitments of the former Executive and Minister(s) should be followed unless there is an exceptional circumstance such as a significant emerging challenge, new strong objective evidence, or significant changing circumstances which lead senior officials to conclude that it is no longer in the public interest to do so.
3. the principle that opportunities should be taken to work towards the 12 outcomes published in the Northern Ireland Executive’s 2018-19 Outcomes Delivery Plan, which is based on the draft Programme for Government developed in conjunction with the political parties of the previous Executive:

Outcome 1: We prosper through a strong, competitive, regionally balanced economy

Outcome 2: We live and work sustainably – protecting the environment

Outcome 3: We have a more equal society

Outcome 4: We enjoy long, healthy, active lives

Outcome 5: We are an innovative, creative, society, where people can fulfil their potential

Outcome 6: We have more people working in better jobs

Outcome 7: We have a safe community where we respect the law, and each other

Outcome 8: We care for others and we help those in need.

Outcome 9: We are a shared, welcoming and confident society that respects diversity.

Outcome 10: We have created a place where people want to live and work, to visit and invest

Outcome 11: We connect people and opportunities through our infrastructure

Outcome 12: We give our children and young people the best start in life’ (p.2-3).

On that basis, officials in the Department of Education (DE), which is responsible for 0-4 provision, primary, post-primary and special education and the youth service, prepared a draft Business Plan for 2019/20, for the consideration and approval of an incoming Minister. Used to guide the Department’s actions, this plan sets out DE’s main aim as that of supporting Outcome 12 of the Outcomes Delivery Plan and, in particular, providing support for children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and improving early years education. The plan is supported by the DE’s six corporate goals:

• improving the wellbeing of children and young people
• improving outcomes for all
• closing the performance gap, increasing access and equality
• developing the education workforce
• improving the learning environment
• delivering high quality education services.

There are 18 strategic objectives within these corporate goals, including to:

• expand the network of sustainable schools
• encourage, facilitate and promote shared education and encourage and facilitate integrated and Irish-medium education
• improve developmental and learning outcomes for children and young people who are underachieving
• secure the greatest effectiveness of the education workforce
• develop capacity and increased coherence in the arrangements for teacher professional learning.

The Department of Education (DE) also has lead responsibility for the Children and Young People's Strategy 2019-2029, which aims to support the rights and improve the well-being of all children and young people in Northern Ireland.

The Department for the Economy (DfE)’s main responsibilities include further and higher education, student support, employment and skills programmes including apprenticeships, and employment rights.

The DfE’s draft Business Plan for 2019/20, again prepared for the consideration and approval of an incoming Minister, and used to guide its actions until a Minister was appointed, includes a strategic objective to 'enhance education, skills and employability'. Actions/commitments under this objective include to:

• develop a skills strategy for implementation in 2020
• have developed and agreed a new ‘Pathways to Success’ Priorities and Action Plan, to reduce the number of young people who are NEET (not in education, training or employment)
• develop, with the DE, a more strategic joined-up approach for 14-19 year old education by progressing the development of a joint DE/DFE ‘Transition of Young People into Careers 14/19 Project’.

Overview of the education reform process and drivers

The education policy making and reform process is complex, bringing together political objectives with evidence and data and the views of experts and stakeholders, including education leaders and practitioners.

Evidence and data 

Policy making by the Northern Ireland Executive is framed by the Northern Ireland Civil Service Code of Ethics, which embodies the core values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality. Objectivity is defined as basing advice and decisions on rigorous analysis of the evidence.

Evidence and data are important in the decision making process. The Northern Ireland Executive regularly commissions research and analysis, including policy reviews. Research and analysis commissioned by the Department of Education Northern Ireland is publicly available.

Information from international large-scale assessments (ILSAs) provides comparative performance measures for school education, and Northern Ireland has participated in: PISA 2018, 2015, 2012, 2009, 2006 and 2003; PIRLS 2011 and 2016; and TIMSS 2011, 2015 and 2019. See the Department of Education’s international research page.

The Department of Education has also participated in an OECD review of specific aspects of the Northern Ireland education system. The OECD’s report on student evaluation and assessment systems was published in December 2013.

UK government resources 

Policy making in Northern Ireland may also be informed by resources provided by UK government departments, such as:

• HM Treasury’s Green Book, which advises on how publicly funded bodies should prepare and analyse proposed policies, programmes and projects to obtain the best public value and manage risks
• Cabinet Office’s Open Policy Making toolkit which provides tools and techniques to create more open and user-led policy.

Equality duty 

All policy making and legislative actions must comply with the Equality Duty in accordance with Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. Guidance is provided by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland. Equality impact assessments provide a way for public authorities to evidence compliance with the law, and impact assessments conducted by the Department of Education are publicly available.

Shared society 

A strategy, published in 2013, reflects the Northern Ireland Executive’s commitment to improving community relations in the context of the country’s difficult political history. Together: Building a United Community placed responsibilities on all government departments.  The strategy, together with annual updates and other actions aimed at good relations, are available via the Executive Office’s good relations and social change collection.

Scrutiny and audit 

Statutory committees of the Northern Ireland Assembly provide an important means of scrutinising policy making.

• The Committee for Education advises and assists the Minister for Education, undertaking a scrutiny, policy development and consultation role with respect to the Department of Education, and playing a key role in the development and consideration of legislation.
• The Committee for the Economy plays a similar role with respect to the Minister for the Economy and the Department for the Economy (responsible for higher education and further education and work-based learning).
• The Committee for Health plays a similar role in respect of the Minister for Health and the Department of Health (responsible for childcare).

In addition, the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) supports the Northern Ireland Assembly in its task of holding the Executive to account for the way in which it spends public money.

Accountability 

Across the education system, educational provision is shaped by the accountability and funding frameworks, and data on student performance informs both institutional self-evaluation and external inspection. 

Article last reviewed September 2020.