DUP 2007 POLICY PAPERS
For the best Education System:
The DUP wants the best possible educational experience for all young people in the province, and to ensure our workforce is appropriately skilled to enhance the local economy. Education provision must be consistent with the needs of pupils, accessible and sufficiently resourced.
There is a wide range of education issues the DUP is determined to address in any new Executive. We recognise the excellent education small schools can provide and their crucial role particularly within isolated rural communities. A comprehensive network of schools is essential, so all children have access to education without travelling excessive distances.
We appreciate the existing overcapacity in schools in unsustainable, and oppose the Department’s current policy on opening new Irish language and integrated schools with as few as twelve pupils.
We support area planning for education, with Boards of Governors being able to decide upon possible joint use of facilities where it is to their advantage. The best informed decisions will be taken at local level rather than within the Department.
In our view those who have the greatest local knowledge and experience should have responsibility for the maximum share of the budget and strategic planning. We support principals having the freedom to improve the services schools provide.
Despite excellent local exam results, there are undoubtedly areas where we must improve. We need to increase the qualifications of those not so academically gifted. Children from areas of social deprivation under-perform. It is important to have more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds doing well.
Urgent action is required to deal with the problem of underachievement. Education must be promoted in the early years rather than waiting until some children have become disengaged. Schools should be free to adjust the curriculum to ensure the education they provide suits the needs of their children.
Too many children especially those from disadvantaged areas leave school without essential skills. It is important to allow children a wide choice of study at Key Stage 3 and opportunities to pursue vocational pathways should be accommodated.
We want to see the status of all schools elevated. Every school must be properly resourced and valued for its specific qualities. Since each child has differing needs, a range of schools offering different educational options is essential for children to develop according to their individual skills.
School budgets are increasingly under pressure. Cutting the costs of administration is essential. We support extra funding being allocated to special needs rather than on the basis of free school meal uptake. The DUP has been prominent in opposing cuts in services resulting from insufficient education and library board funding.
Under the terms of the Belfast Agreement, an unaccountable Sinn Fein Minister was able to abolish the 11+ examination. Direct Rule Ministers have legislated for the removal of academic selection altogether, contrary to the wishes of the consistent 60-65% of the Northern Ireland population who have confirmed their desire to maintain an improved form of selection.
The DUP made the retention of academic selection a pre-condition for the return of devolution. Following our negotiations at St Andrews, in the event of restoration, pupils can still be placed on the basis of academic ability.
The Department of Education has confirmed, “If a restored Executive and Assembly cannot agree on new arrangements or on the content of new admissions criteria regulations, each school would have to determine its own criteria. These could include academic selection, on a basis chosen by the school.
In the interests of the children and their parents, there is a clear expectation that the Assembly will work to end the uncertainty about future arrangements as soon as possible and ensure that an effective admissions system is put in place.”
Clearly the DUP does not want schools setting their own criteria to become a permanent arrangement but it at least offers a safeguard, and will encourage other parties who have so far refused to engage genuinely on finding realistic common arrangements for the whole province.
We believe pupils should be placed at schools which best enable them to develop to their full potential. We recognise the benefits grammar schools and academic excellence bring to our local economy, and oppose the introduction of selection by social connection or ability to pay.
Any new method of testing should be less stressful than the 11+, and assessment must be externally based. Computer adaptive testing has been suggested as an option. This would seem to address many of the objections against the 11+, in that it would not be high stakes, nor open to tutoring, and would tie in with the normal curriculum. Proposed pupil profiles would prove time-consuming for teachers and immensely subjective.
Local universities have worked hard to be open to all but variable top-up fees could deter potential students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The cap on student numbers in Northern Ireland means there are already higher entry barriers, and we oppose further disincentives for students wishing to remain in the province.
