TUV Ards councilor, Terry Williams on Education
 
Conference,
 
Few things better illustrate the failure of devolved government than education.
 
Northern Ireland has one of the best education systems in the UK. Our pupils consistently outperform their counterparts in England and Wales when it comes to GCSE and A’ level results.
 
This year, A* - C grades were achieved by 76.3% of GCSE candidates in our Province. The UK average was 69.1%.
 
Again, when it came to A’ level achievements our pupils finished top of the class with 9.3% achieving A*.  In England and Wales the figure was 8.1%.
 
And yet in recent times Northern Ireland’s education system has undergone - and is still undergoing – radical change.
 
The change which has grabbed all the headlines has been the Sinn Fein/IRA assault on academic selection and the minister’s failure to spend funds allocated to her by executive.
 
However, I want to consider another aspect of the changes introduced since devolution.
 
Over the last few years Sinn Fein and their minister have been agitating for the abolition of Northern Ireland’s five Education and Library Boards.  Currently the minister has refused to reinstate the South Eastern Education and Library and is allowing a non elected group of commissioners to decide what is best for the children in the area.
 
On the 6th July 2006 the board was dissolved because it would not make cuts to special education budget. The DUP, of which I was a member of at that time, promised the officers and the parents present that when the new Assembly was elected they would take the education portfolio and the cuts that were being imposed would be reversed.  Did they? No. They certainly did not. Another broken promise and electioneering.  Despite approaches to the minister she still refuses to reinstate the board.  Did the DUP not tell us that they had ensured no minister would have the ability to go on a solo runs because they were answerable to the assembly?  Her reasons for this action are that all boards will be replaced with a single, all powerful Education and Skills Authority or ESA and the current arrangement will remain until then.
 
 
Historically the Unionists at Stormont have been at best skeptical about the merits of ESA. Here is what the DUP chair of the Education Committee at Stormont, Mervin Storey, had to say about the matter in a BBC report in November 2009:
 
"I am determined to ensure the smooth transition from the education and library boards to a new structure, but if that new structure does not command respect or deliver for education then that will not be put in place."
 
In the same BBC report it was stated that:
“The DUP is opposed to the ESA because it is unhappy with the treatment of controlled schools, attended mostly by Protestant children.”
 
Peter Robinson recently gained a lot of publicity following a speech on education for his advocacy of a single system for both Protestant and Roman Catholic pupils. That speech attracted a lot of media commentary. However, one aspect of this speech was largely ignored. Mr Robinson said:
 
“In the area of education it has been said that considerable savings could be made with the creation of a Single Education Authority.   I still hope that agreement can be reached in moving away from the five Education and library boards to a single authority.  This is not a difference of principle but one of detail and I am hopeful that it can be resolved in the next period of time.”
 
TUV has consistently opposed the creation of ESA. Why? Surely on the face of it a single body replacing 5 ELBs makes sense. You will cut out a lot of the administrative costs for one thing. And that is how the DUP will doubtless seek to portray their policy shift – it’s all about saving money.
 
Is it?
 
The Chief Executive designate of ESA has no background in education. Prior to his appointment as Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examination and Assessment (CCEA) in 2000, he was managing director of the Coal Division of Cawoods Fuels.
 
His time at CCEA was marked by radical changes in the school curriculum. Under his leadership schools moved away from grounding children in the basic subjects of English, Maths and Science to a “progressivist” curriculum where the critical early years are characterized by play rather than learning.
 
Such an education is incapable of being tested. Support for ESA, therefore, is incompatible with support for academic selection.
 
TUV opposes ESA because we support the fundamentals being taught in our primary schools. It’s a pity that others have shifted ground on this vital issue and opened the door to the anti-selection lobby.
 
I commend this motion to the conference.