School closures, special needs classroom assistant cuts, and heavy reductions to home transport on cards in education cash crisis plan
Schools will be axed, classroom assistant numbers cut and home transport heavily reduced in an education overhaul announced today, as the sector struggles with a crippling cash crisis.
Education Minister Paul Givan has unveiled a five-year plan for a massive overhaul, including shutting or merging schools across the province as pupil numbers continue to fall due to declining birth rates.
Places that are too small or have too many empty desks are likely to be in the firing line as a new commission is set up to audit pupil numbers in every school, then set out ways “for restructuring the school estate”. Job losses are inevitable, though Mr Givan said teachers will be redeployed where possible.
Meanwhile the amount of money for special needs education is to be chopped back, Mr Givan stating that relying on one-to-one support from classroom assistants “is not always the most effective or inclusive way to meet pupils’ needs”.
Schools will instead be given their own individual budgets that will have to cover all their Special Educational Needs spending, from which they’ll be expected to create “team-based flexible support” for pupils.
The number of children given transport taking them directly from home to school is to be heavily reduced, with Mr Givan arguing the system in Northern Ireland is “more generous than elsewhere in the UK” and should be brought closer in line with stricter criteria employed in England, Scotland and Wales.
The minister also wants to tackle schools that overspend their budgets, stating that although in some places “financial autonomy” works well, others “require stronger oversight to support recovery and long-term sustainability”.
A traffic light system is to be set up to identify schools with the worst debt problems, Mr Givan revealed, while a centralised staffing model similar to that in the Republic will be set up and offered to facilities that have a “significant deficit”.
The delivery of school meals will also be reworked, with a single kitchen preparing food prepared for multiple places in a given area.
In a Department of Education report on the five-year plan, officials argue the massive overhaul is needed as serious cash problems the sector currently faces will get much worse over the next few years, unless substantial and abrupt changes are made.
This financial year, education is £250m short of the money it needs, say officials. Under a three-year draft budget prepared by Finance Minster John O’Dowd, which has yet to be approved, education officials say the funding gap will be over £800m next year and more than £1.15bn by 2028.
“This is a structural funding crisis,” say officials.
Backing up the planned cuts, Mr Givan said 28% of Northern Ireland's primary schools don’t have enough pupils to be considered viable, and the same is true for more than one in five post-primary schools – justifying closures or mergers.
The number of children with a statement of Special Educational Needs has “risen sharply”, he added, up by 65% over the past nine years. Over the same period, he said, spending on special needs education almost tripled.
The minister also stated that in Northern Ireland 27% of pupils receive transport assistance, compared to “only 6% in England and 10 to 15% in Scotland and Wales”.
Unveiled this morning, the five-year plan is currently out for public consultation.
UUP leader Jon Burrows, also his party’s education spokesman, said he’s “profoundly concerned” by the potential impact on children with special needs if classroom assistant jobs are lost, adding the five-year plan as a whole could “decimate our school ecosystem”.
“Classroom assistants are indispensable,” said the MLA. “Across North Antrim, teachers consistently tell me that a skilled classroom assistant is worth their weight in gold.
"The loss of these vital staff would leave many teachers questioning their future in the profession, teaching classes of up to 35 pupils is already challenging enough.
“I urge the Education Minister to stand firm in discussions with the Minister for Finance. These proposals would decimate our school ecosystem.
"I am clear eyed about the need for reform, but any reform must be driven by evidence, not by the constraints of a fantasy budget.”