Editorial: Schools in Northern Ireland that evade inspections must face fines, as happens elsewhere on these islands

​Teaching unions are upset about plans to fine schools for not having inspections.

They say that the Education Minister Paul Givan's announcement of a public consultation could destabilise "fragile" negotiations over workload.

Mr Givan announced on Thursday the consultation, to strengthen co-operation with the inspection process across schools. It sets out fines of up to £2,500 for failure to co-operate.

Not only is the minister right about the need for this, it is outrageous that there have been so few inspections over the last decade in NI – they only resumed last spring, and were paused again due to industrial action by teachers.

In every other part of the UK, and indeed in the Republic of Ireland, obstructing or non-cooperation with inspection is met with sanction – and in many areas there is a severe penalty up to and including jail.

It is a deeply troubling reflection on Northern Ireland’s workplace culture that such a situation has ever arisen. We were once an industrious part of the UK and respected for our discipline and for our good schools.

We report today on a story that reminds us of the importance of food inspections in restaurants. Could you imagine living in a society in which such inspections did not take place? Would we be so happy to eat out?

It is hard to think of another vital area of public life which escapes scrutiny. In the absence of school inspections there is no external understanding of what is happening in our classrooms and of why some schools fall below par, or even fail. They then do not get the support they need, and their pupils are let down by the system. We also need to see which schools do well, and learn from that.

Paul Givan is to be congratulated from making sure that schools are not able to evade one of their key responsibilities.