A union leader in Northern Ireland is calling on politicians to sacrifice ‘pet projects’ and instead prioritise giving schools the funding and flexibility needed to meet children’s needs.

Speaking ahead of his appearance on Wednesday at the inquiry into the funding of public services being held by the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, Dr Graham Gault, national secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT NI, said:

He said: “The year-on-year, cumulative impact of inadequate funding for children in Northern Ireland’s schools has had a devastating impact on the financial situation of our schools.

“Teachers and parents are subsidising basic learning and teaching roles of schools to startling levels and essential services, such as mental health support, are predominantly being funded by voluntary contributions rather than core funding, leaving stark inequities across the board.

“The funds available to employing authorities have, likewise, declined to crisis levels, leaving employers unable to provide sufficient support and advice to schools to maintain basic services effectively.

“These factors, combined with industrial unrest associated with continued pay inequity for the wider education workforce and a failure to make enough progress in reducing school leaders’ unsustainable levels of workload, have left our members in a very invidious position.”

Dr Gault directed his attention to the collective failure of politicians by saying: “Every major political party in Northern Ireland has emphasised education in election manifestos, pledging to increase school funding to address rising costs and demand, prioritise the needs of vulnerable children, particularly those requiring support with special educational needs (SEN), invest in school infrastructure and modernise outdated facilities.

“However, these promises have not materialised into sustainable funding increases for schools. Political instability, including prolonged periods without a functioning Executive, has further delayed critical decisions on education funding and reforms.”

Dr Gault said if the government was serious about identifying efficiencies in education, it should consider lessons learned, adding:

“The success of the Engage and Engage II initiatives, which were introduced by the Department of Education in Northern Ireland to mitigate the adverse effects of the pandemic on pupils' learning, should be seriously considered.

“These initiatives aimed to provide additional teaching resources to help schools address learning loss, particularly for vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils. A key element of these programmes, which was integral to their success, was the autonomy granted to school leaders, which allowed them to tailor interventions to their specific school contexts.

“The Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) reported that schools effectively targeted literacy and numeracy support, resulting in measurable improvements in pupil attainment, particularly for those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and that the flexibility and autonomy given to school leaders allowed them to direct resource and interventions appropriately to the specific needs of pupils in their own school settings.

“This approach is eminently sensible and represents a key learning that, I fear, has not fully been grasped, and it means avoiding politically expedient initiatives or departmental pet projects.

“Instead, politicians should direct funding to schools, trust our school leaders and their workforce, and facilitate and support their flexibility to use these resources to meet children’s needs, removing the shackles around procurement and bureaucracy that stifle their creativity and professionalism. If the true educational agenda of our politicians is to achieve the best possible outcomes for children using the stretched and finite resources that we have, we should learn a lesson from the success achieved in the Engage programmes.”