Controlled schools chief: Study on the cost of division in education could promote a false narrative around funding

At a time when education in Northern Ireland faces critical funding challenges due to a decade’s worth of systemic underinvestment compounded by further cuts made by the secretary of state in his recent budget, Ulster University has released a briefing paper implying that an unsubstantiated £226m can be saved annually by eliminating waste through perceived division in education.

The UU paper caveats that accuracy in calculations is difficult, however it proceeds to provide a final definitive figure, based on an estimate which has then been elevated further for inflationary pressures. Any school leader will tell you they haven’t received an effective inflationary increase in budgets for many years.

The Controlled Schools’ Support Council (CSSC) has raised significant concerns about the assumptions and methods used in the paper and has raised these directly with the university and will raise with the NI Affairs committee this week. DE agrees with CSSC’s analysis of the TE Paper ‘which it considers to be a flawed and oversimplified analysis’ which included vastly overinflating the cost of shared education (on average costing DE £4m per annum, not the £95.6m quoted).

It is vital public funds are used efficiently. Discussion must be based on sound economic fact and analysis. CSSC calls for open dialogue and a refocusing of the conversation in the interests of all children and young people. CSSC (which supports schools including nursery, primary, secondary, grammar, integrated, special and Irish-medium schools) is concerned the headline figures from this paper are forming part of a narrative that inadvertently promotes misconceptions that education is significantly underfunded because of division. The minister of state for NI recently quoted this in Parliament rather than focus on the underinvestment in NI young people in comparison to the rest of the UK.

Mark Baker, chief exec, Controlled Schools’ Support Council