News

NI children and young people continue to receive significantly less towards their education than children in England, Scotland and Wales.

The Controlled Schools’ Support Council (CSSC) will present evidence on the education funding crisis in Northern Ireland to the NI Affairs Committee at Westminster at 10.30am with EA and NAHT.

CSSC supports all controlled schools which include Nurseries, Primary, Secondary, Grammar, Integrated, Special and Irish-Medium Schools.

Link to CSSC's response to The Cost of Division in NI paper published as part of the Transforming Education programme.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said: “The Controlled Schools Support Council (CSSC) has recently responded to the “The Cost of Division in Northern Ireland” paper published by Ulster University as part of the Transforming Education (TE) programme funded by the Integrated Education Fund.

Three controlled schools have been recognised for their exceptional pastoral care at a special awards ceremony hosted by the Department of Education and the Public Health Agency.

Tullygally Primary School, Craigavon, Carrick Primary School, Lurgan, and Knockavoe School, Strabane were presented their awards at the Derrytrasna Awards ceremony at Stormont by Dr Mark Browne, Permanent Secretary, Department of Education.

Overall funding for education has already been cut by £70m (2.5%) for the current financial year and the Education Authority has been instructed to identify a further £200m of savings. The solution is future investment in education not the unsubstantiated “£226m” in the Cost of Division paper.

The Department of Education (DE) agrees with CSSC’s analysis of the Transforming Education Paper ‘which it considers to be a flawed and oversimplified analysis’ vastly overinflating the cost of shared education (on average costing DE £4m per annum, not the £95.6m quoted). Read Department of Education NI statement here on the Cost of Division in Northern Ireland paper. 

The critical financial pressures facing education in NI are already starker than elsewhere in the United Kingdom.  Our concern is that the Secretary of State does not recognise that education in Northern Ireland (NI) is significantly underfunded. The impact this underfunding has on the lives of all our children and young people is lived each day by our school leaders and their staff.

Chancellor of Queen's University Belfast Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton presided over an honorary graduation ceremony to mark the contributions of the principals involved in the Limavady Shared Education campus from St Mary’s High School and Limavady High School.

A seat fit for a King! Blythefield Primary School chosen to have illustrated bench displayed at Hillsborough Castle and Gardens during the Coronation.

Today’s report from Ulster University, partially funded by the Integrated Education Fund, states that the significant underfunding in education is due to duplication. CSSC would contend that this is an incorrect assertion and weakens the case for equality of education funding for our children and young people. 

Eight Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the key educational bodies in Northern Ireland have come together to collectively call for sustainable and sufficient funding for the education sector and a clear and comprehensive Education strategy that allows our children and young people for generations to come to have the best possible start in life.