Education and training - from the NICVA Policy Manifesto
Posted by Feargal O'Kane on Feb 12 2007 under Education & training, Policy Manifesto |
Northern Ireland has the capacity to become a learning community which promotes the development of all children and adults. We can move from a society of failure, including selection at the age of 11 and shockingly low rates of adult literacy, to one where everyone can improve their education and skills through lifelong learning.
There is too much focus on academic qualifications on the one hand and excessively narrow vocational skills on the other. We need to emphasise life skills, personal development, independent thinking and the broad skills needed for citizenship and employment. The guiding principles should be respect for human rights, equality and the creation of a shared, prosperous society in Northern Ireland
Resources for adult education need to be rebalanced. Community organisations (including women’s centres, homeless projects, centres for out-of-school young people etc), should be given long-term core funding to promote education and training. They are best placed to reach marginalised and disadvantaged groups, listen to their needs and promote partnerships with statutory education providers.
Publicly-funded facilities such as schools should be available to local people, including older adults. Libraries are important local learning points and centres of information, including internet access for those affected by the ‘digital divide’. The formal curriculum and examinations process should be fully accessible to all.
Education has a crucial role to play in tackling sectarianism and racism. We could move towards a shared society by actively promoting integrated education, with the added advantage of reducing the waste of public resources eg in separate teacher education colleges.
Progress requires joined-up thinking and partnership and co-operation among and between statutory, voluntary and community organisations. In addition to the Review of Public Administration reforms, there should be a single department responsible for education and training in order to create a seamless system of lifelong learning for everyone.
We urge government and political parties to:
- Abolish academic selection and create the entitlement curriculum for all pupils; encourage co-operation among schools and colleges to achieve the best possible education for all children in each area.
- End the discrimination against children with special needs, whose education must be properly resourced whether in a special or mainstream school. Pre-school children with special education needs in the voluntary and independent sectors should receive the same financial and personal support as is available to those in statutory nursery places.
- The Department of Education should publish a clear policy on disaffected children in outof-school projects covering issues including recognition, mainstream funding and access to resources such as in-service training.
- Early childhood deserves special attention because it creates the foundation for later learning. Money spent at this age is a good investment since it can help create contented and well-balanced children who are ready to begin school. Children aged 0-6 should have an enriched curriculum based on play, creativity and the development of social skills. All day care should be provided in a network of extended schools or children’s centres. This could also enable parents to participate more freely in adult education.
- The system of qualifi cations should be simplifi ed within the credit accumulation and transfer framework and an active campaign should be launched to inform the public, including employers, about it.
- Access to further and higher education should be made truly open to all and funding should be allocated to ensure this can happen eg maintenance allowances for low income groups, additional support for disabled people and benefi ts for 16-18 years olds on part-time courses. It is also important to recognise that ‘recreational’ courses are an important route into education and training for adults with low or no qualifi cations and should be funded in the same way as certifi ed courses. There should be no minimum class size for courses promoting basic skills.
- Students should have access to specialist staff teaching English as an Additional Language, which should be treated by the Department of Education as literacy/essential skills work. Access to mother tongues should also be available in schools.
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I would have liked to see some reference to the Bain Review which for the first time requires schools to think about sharing. It is still a fact that integrated schools cater for only 19,000 pupils but that every year they turns away over 500 (5,000 over the past 7 years alone!). I think that parents in the main want their children educated together and we have plenty of good ideas ofhow to do that through innovative methods not just integrated schools. What do you think???