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Children and young people report
Closing the gap
A Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) report has found that over £900 million of funding pledged to the narrowing of the educational attainment gap in Northern Ireland made no “demonstrable difference”.
Closing the Gap — social deprivation and links to educational attainment, the report published by Northern Ireland’s Comptroller and Auditor General Kieran Donnelly, analyses the impact of two Department of Education interventions, Targeting Social Need (TSN) and Sure Start. Of the £138 million of annual funding targeted towards children from socially deprived backgrounds in the 2019–20 academic year, £102 million was accounted for by TSN and Sure Start.
From the beginning of TSN in April 2005, £913 million of funding has been provided, but the report found that the Department does not have any data to “clearly demonstrate” if this funding has improved the academic performances of pupils with Free School Meal Entitlement (FSME). While “educational attainment of all school leavers is improving”, the report states that “progress to close the attainment gap between FSME and non-FSME pupils has been slow”.
The gap in achievement of five GCSEs including English and Maths has “not changed significantly in the last 15 years”, with a long-term trend of a 30percentage point gap having opened up. The gap currently stands at 29 percentage points, as compared to 32.1 percentage points in 2005-06.
Aside from a lack of progress, the report also found a lack of accountability when it came to these funds, with there being no requirement for schools to spend TSN funds solely on supporting their pupils from socially deprived backgrounds. The report found that the Department “has not collated information on the use and impact of TSN funds” and that “a new TSN Planner, designed to capture such information, has had very low uptake”. Only 6 per cent of schools provided a return of the TSN Planner for the 2018–19 academic year.
Donnelly said: “I understand that improving educational attainment is more than a matter of providing funding and that a broad range of factors contribute, including school leadership, classroom teaching, and parental and community involvement. However, for over 15 years, targeted funding totalling hundreds of millions of pounds has been provided to support disadvantaged pupils and close the attainment gap.
“It is simply unacceptable that the Department does not have adequate information to establish how these funds have been targeted by schools or the effectiveness of the interventions used… The issues raised in my report must be addressed urgently in order to maximise outcomes for pupils, and value for money for taxpayers.”
Other key findings in the report include:
• 50 per cent of FSME school leavers achieved at least five GCSEs including Maths and English in 2018–19, compared to a departmental target of 60 per cent.
In comparison, 79 per cent of non-
FSME leavers achieved at least five
GCSEs including English and Maths.
• There has been a persistent gap between FSME and non-FSME pupils in Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 in
Communication, Using Mathematics and Using ICT. Targets for the percentage of pupils achieving the expected level were missed in both
Communication and Using
Mathematics in Key Stages 2 and 3.
No targets were set for Key Stage 1 or for Using ICT.
• Provision of Key Stage assessment data is a statutory requirement, but the report found that only 14 per cent of primary schools and 15 per cent of post-primary schools provided assessment data for the 2018–19 academic year. This was blamed on the industrial action taken
£913 million of Targeting Social Need funding provided to schools in the 15 years between 2005 –06 and 2019–20.
6% of schools that input information to the Department’s TSN Planner for the 2018–19 academic year.
49.5% of school leavers with Free School Meal Entitlement (FSME) achieving at least five GCSEs A*–C (or equivalent) including GCSEs in English and Maths in the 2018–19 academic year, compared with a target of 60 per cent.
by teachers that ended on 28 April 2020.
• As part of the New Decade, New
Approach agreement, an expert panel was commissioned to examine the links between persistent educational underachievement and socioeconomic background as a matter of priority. The expert panel provided an interim report on its findings in April 2021 and are expected to submit their final report and action plan to the
Education Minister by the end of May 2021.
The report also states that, as of the 2018–19 academic year, the Department is not meeting its own targets set out under the 2011 strategy Count, Read: Succeed — A strategy to improve outcomes in Literacy and Numeracy. The strategy sets out targets “for the levels of achievement expected in the long term if the Department was to be successful in meeting its aims of raising overall standards of achievement in literacy and numeracy and closing the gap in achievement”.
With no targets set for Key Stage 1, performances in Key Stages 2 and 3 during the academic year 2018–19 were below all of the milestones targeted by the Department.
Usel’s U Shred NI secures major government contract
Leading social enterprise Ulster Supported Employment Ltd (Usel), which provides employment for people with disabilities, has won a major contract to shred and recycle sensitive documents for the Northern Ireland Executive.
Usel’s subsidiary U Shred NI secured the three-year £317,000 contract to destroy confidential documents held by Stormont departments and other key government bodies, with the shredded documents recycled to create new paper products.
The company, which has implemented the strictest industry compliance and security measures, is one of the first to win Northern Ireland government tender opportunities reserved for organisations dedicated to supporting disabled and disadvantaged people in the workforce.
Usel Chief Executive Bill Atkinson says the contract will reinforce Usel’s position as a key provider of employment for people with long term health conditions and disabilities.
Adding: “We are delighted to have been awarded this contract, which has allowed us to further extend our provision having been awarded several significant contracts over the year. This contract will allow us to secure jobs for people with disabilities or health conditions during this difficult time with the opportunity to create further jobs in the future.”
Social value
Finance Minister, Conor Murphy MLA, recently visited the Usel manufacturing and recycling base in Belfast to view its operations and said: “It was great to see first-hand the impressive set up and to be able to meet some of the staff. Delivering maximum social value from public procurement is one of my key priorities and I am delighted that by awarding this contract we have been able to support this social enterprise which is supporting people with disabilities and health-related conditions into employment.
“The awarding of this £317,000 contract will provide job security for those working within the organisation as well as potential employment opportunities for
others and highlights that social enterprises have the skills and experience to deliver significant contracts to our public sector.”
It is expected that the contract will help create up to 15 new green jobs for U Shred NI, which was formed in January 2020. U Shred NI currently employs 16 people in a state-of-the-art operation that disposes of confidential material in a secure environment and recycles it in line with Usel’s commitment to green principles and the circular economy.
Scott Jackson, Head of Manufacturing and Recycling at Usel, says that the contract is the largest secured by the new subsidiary to date and something the organisation view as a launch pad for winning more contracts in the public and private sectors.
U Shred NI already provides shredding services for councils, schools, banks and a range of blue-chip companies and smaller businesses.
Green economy
Usel has plans to continue to expand U Shred NI to become the largest social enterprise confidential waste provider in Northern Ireland. The confidential shredding industry is currently worth £10 million per year in Northern Ireland and with the Stormont Executive’s increasing commitment to the green economy, this is set to grow even further.
Jackson says: “We are dedicated to recycling as much material as possible to reduce the reliance on landfill. 100 per cent of the pulped documents will be sent to paper mills in Great Britain to make products such as napkins, kitchen roll and toilet paper.”
As an organisation, Usel is committed to the green economy and their shredding service can be an asset to companies looking to fulfil their Corporate Social Responsibility commitments by reducing waste and providing jobs in the local community.
“Everything we do centres around developing a greener society while at the same time creating a brighter future for people with disabilities by providing sustainable jobs and excellent training and support. We are delighted to be working with the Executive and look forward to partnering with other businesses and organisations looking to reduce their waste through our secure confidential document shredding service,” adds Jackson.
Usel: six decades dedicated to helping the most vulnerable in society
Usel, was formed in 1962 with the aim of providing supported paid employment for people with disabilities within its Belfast manufacturing base.
It is the largest direct supporter of people with disabilities and health related conditions and trains, supports and employs up to 1,200 people across Northern Ireland every year.
The company uses the social enterprise model, tackling social issues and reinvesting its profits back into expanding its workforce. For every £1 invested Usel, £18 is created in social value.
As well as U Shred NI, it runs a number of other successful social enterprises including three Ability Cafes at Belfast Zoo, Lady Dixon Park and the Spectrum Centre; Usel Recycling Solutions reprocessing mattresses, carpets, furniture, plastics and cardboard; Manufacturing Solutions, making mattresses, bedding and bespoke kit bags for the emergency services and SMARTPAC, a customised sewing service.
Usel has won several major contracts in recent months. Recycling Solutions recently won a tender to process Mid and East Antrim Borough Council’s cardboard waste. All the material is baled and sent to England to make new cardboard boxes and products.
The company also provides training programmes such as STRIDE (Support and Training to Realise Individual Development Employment) which helps hundreds of people with disabilities and health related conditions find work throughout Northern Ireland every year.
Usel’s head office and main base includes a 65,000 square foot factory situated on a three-acre site in Cambrai Street in North Belfast. It also has offices in Derry/Londonderry, Portadown and Ballymena.
During the Covid pandemic, Usel staff provided a range of support services to help some of the most vulnerable people in Northern Ireland. They offered support and training to find employment; virtual social activities, including cooking demonstrations, online yoga, and quizzes for those isolated in their homes and expert tips on how to stay safe and healthy.
The company runs a highly successful manufacturing, recycling and employability business and is in partnership with organisations to provide support to get people back into employment, operating a range of training programmes that assists people with disabilities to gain the qualifications and skills required for sustainable employment.
Usel Chief Executive, Bill Atkinson says: “We would like to appeal to companies seeking to recruit to offer opportunities to someone with a disability or health condition. We can provide a range of training programmes to ensure they are ready for work. The people we work with are highly motivated and want to work and have the skill set to do a great job for any willing employer.”
For more information about all Usel’s services visit www.usel.co.uk
While it is difficult to measure the impact the switch to remote learning has had on children and young people, one evident trend is that those who entered the pandemic with the fewest academic opportunities are on track to exit with the greatest learning loss.
Described as a global experiment, remote education, necessitated by the pandemic, has taken many forms as nations sought to manage the spread of the virus within their own restrictions. Pinpointing the outcomes of remote learning for children and young people has proven difficult when considering the many variables, not least the different lengths of school closures, different delivery methods and differing levels of accessibility.
While it is obvious that remote learning has brought benefits in relation to access to education that would not have existed had schools simply remained closed, the overwhelming indication from research is that remote learning remains a poor substitute for being back in the classroom and that students have paid a heavy price in lost learning.
A common theme emerging from current research is a divide in relation to remote education outcomes.
In February 2021, the Republic of Ireland’s Central Statistics Office (CSO) offered some insight into the divide when it published data in relation to the impact of school closures on students’ learning and social development, informed by input of more than 1,600 parents.
The data sought to capture opinions on the different outcomes for different age groups within education. It suggests that the negative impact of school closures is less prevalent when moving down the sliding scale of age groups, for example, almost half of parents with a child in fifth or sixth year of secondary education reported a major negative impact on their learning, compared to just over a third for the whole of secondary education. These figures fell further when assessing the impact of school closures on primary school children, where almost 15 per cent reported a major negative impact.
Looking at it from another perspective, the data outlines that only 9 per cent of parents with a child in fifth or sixth year reported a positive effect of remote education on their child’s learning and this figure fell significantly further for children in junior cycle secondary education, where the rate was just 1.5 per cent.
Disadvantage
However, research carried out globally would suggest the need for closer analysis, not just of the outcomes for children and young people of different ages, but also the impact on the different levels of disadvantage.
A report by McKinsey and Company has sought to look into the cost of remote working on pupils, with a particular focus on vulnerable students. Unlike the CSO data, the McKinsey report surveyed teachers, recognising their unique viewpoint in “deciphering the long-term impact of this protracted learning experiment”.
UNESCO estimates that by mid-April 2020, 1.6 billion children were no longer being taught in a physical classroom and while it is recognised that many nations used different timelines in relation to school attendance
Ireland: Impact of enforced school closures on student learning by school cycle in the Republic of Ireland, February 2021
Secondary school
Primary school
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%
Major negative Moderate negative Mild negative No impact Positive Source: CSO
restrictions and that within that there were various models and experiences of remote learning, the broad consensus was that remote learning is a poor substitute for being in the classroom.
Recognising the value of face-to-face learning, amidst the pandemic, The World Health Organization released guidelines which states that school closures should be “considered only if there is no other alternative”.
A trend recognised as a result of teacher feedback from various nations is that while remote learning has improved as schools adopt best practices, it remains difficult for students who struggle with issues such as learning challenges, isolation or lack of resource.
“Teachers in schools where more than 80 per cent of students live in households under the poverty line reported an average of 2.5 months of learning loss, compared with a reported loss of 1.6 months in schools where more than 80 per cent of students live in households above the poverty line,” the report stated.
Although different countries reported different experiences of the effectiveness of instruction once classes went online, one of the most telling trends is an almost universal outcome that teachers in private and wealthy schools are more likely to report effective remote learning, access, and engagement. In a score out of 10, of the teachers surveyed, those who taught in public schools gave remote learning an average global score of 4.8, which compares to a 6.2 average rating by those who teach in private schools, where it is assumed there is better access to learning tools.
This disadvantage trend is analysed further in assessing the scale of poverty within public schools. Teachers working in high-poverty schools flagged an ineffectiveness of virtual classrooms, rating it just 3.5 out of 10, a finding which feeds into concerns that the pandemic has exacerbated educational inequalities. Teachers in wealthy and private schools reported a much higher rate of students logging in and completing assignments, linked to higher levels of reporting that their students were more likely to report that their students were well equipped with internet access and devices for remote learning.
The report adds: “The full impact of this unprecedented global shift to remote learning will likely play out for years to come. For students who have lacked access to the tools and teachers they need to succeed academically, the results could be devastating.”
Global: Student engagement with remote learning by share below poverty line % of students
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
<20% >80% 100% Average
McKinsey teacher sentiment survey: 28 October-17 November 2020
Keeping children and young people safe online
In February 2021 the Department of Health, on behalf of the Executive, published a much-delayed Online Safety Strategy and Action Plan for Northern Ireland.
The creation of such policy has been on the cards since 2015 when the then Executive commissioned the Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland (SBNI) to develop a strategy and action plan in recognition of the nature and scale of the challenge and associated risks. However, development has been extensively delayed on a number of occasions.
Entitled Keeping Children and Young People Safe: An Online Safety Strategy for Northern Ireland 2020-2025, the strategy aims to be an enabler rather than limiter of children and young people’s access to the online world, empowering them to access the educational, social and economic benefits of the online world, “safely, knowledgeably and without fear”. The objectives of the Online Safety Strategy are to support the crossgovernment action plan by:
• reflecting emerging evidence of good practice in online safety approaches;
• engaging with existing online safety mechanisms in the UK and beyond, seeking to add value to existing work rather than duplicate;
• educating and empowering children and young people, and those responsible for their care, to facilitate their informed use of digital technology;
• educating children and young people on how to manage and respond to harmful online experiences, while ensuring they can access age-appropriate support services, including recovery services, should the need arise; and
• facilitating the meaningful participation of children and young people, parents, and carers, and those who support them, in relevant policy and service development.
Estimates suggest that Northern Ireland aligns with Office of National Statistics (ONS) statistics showing that 100 per cent of households with children across England, Scotland and Wales had internet access in 2018. OFCOM reported in 2019 that 83 per cent of 12- to 15-year-olds own a smartphone and 99 per cent spend 20.5 hours online per week.
The Strategy recognises that with increased use of online also comes increased concern and an evidence base of increasing levels of incidents including the likes of cyberbullying, grooming and exploitation.
OFCOM estimates that 69 per cent of 12- to 15-year-olds have a social media profile, as do 18 per cent of 8- to 11year-olds, despite the minimum age being set at 12.
There is no legal or universally recognised definition of ‘online safety’, but the Strategy offers the definition of online safety relating to all engagement in the online world. “It means supporting and empowering children and young people to engage in online activities in an educated, safe, responsible and respectful way,” the document states.
The UK Safer Internet Centre classifies risks in the categories of: content, contact, conduct and commercialism. The Strategy drills further into factors identified as having a potential impact on the types and level of risks faced by children and young people online and these range from gender, through to experience of care and political opinion.
Importantly the Strategy recognises the importance of not just equipping children and young people with knowledge in relation to avoiding online harm but also their parents and carers, those who support them and those who provide services for them.
In 2018 Barnardo’s reported that parent use of digital devices at home may negatively impact their parenting. The report highlighted that parents with a child aged up to three in their house and who had high use of digital devices were less likely to feel like a good role model; more likely to have no rules in place to limit their child’s use of digital technology; and more likely to allow their child to access content alone for longer periods of time.
Three key commitments outlined in the Strategy are:
1. Create a sustainable online safety infrastructure for Northern Ireland.
2. Educate children and young people, their parents and carers and those who work with them
3. Develop evidence-informed quality standards for online safety provision.
A three-year action plan has been developed to support the Strategy. In relation to infrastructure, the action plan’s commitments for year one include the development of a central repository for online safety information and facilitation of signposting and strengthening links between Northern Ireland and wider UK and global online safety structures. Year two ambitions are for enhanced education for schools on technical provision and year three will see the identification of new actions for a further year four and five of the plan.
On educating children and young people, their parents, and carers and those who provide services, the plan aims to embed a culture of online safety within schools, colleges and children and youth services and organisations. Additionally, it will seek to skill up practitioners who work with children, young people, and families.
On developing evidence-informed quality standards for online safety provision, the plan proposes to facilitate better understanding of the scale of the problem through research and data collection. Also, it has specific actions for strengthening self-assessment processes for online safety, including the promotion of the use of good practice audit tools across Northern Ireland.
Beyond the three years of the plan, the policy envisages the potential introduction of an accreditation scheme for online safety training delivery organisations.
Key commitments to action
Engagement of the Child Protection Senior Official’s Group to oversee online safety – year 1
Development of a core set of online safety messages for children and young people, parents, and carers, in conjunction with key stakeholders – year 1
Review of current reporting pathways and referral mechanisms to support services when issues arise, and development of an agreed reporting pathway to enable children and young people to access support if needed – year 1
Review current curricular content on online safety –Promote and embed consistent messaging regarding online safety in the curriculum – year 2
Online safety training needs analysis for practitioners working with children, young people and those who care for them – year 1
Review of current inclusion of online safety content within third level education courses where students will eventually work with children, young people or parents/carers – year 3
Develop metrics to determine how we measure if children are being kept safe online. – year 1
Schooling neglect
With some schools choosing to temporarily move away from academic selection in response to the pandemic, an opportunity exists to abolish the practice entirely, writes the ICTU’s John O’Farrell.
Every five years or so, this column gets on its high horse about academic selection. What has prompted this return to the subject is the image of teenagers from Protestant working areas being scooped for attacking police and torching a double-decker bus, and the imminent release of a report by an ‘expert panel to examine the links between educational underachievement and social disadvantage’.
The panel was established under New Decade, New Approach and is approximately the sixth such panel established since the Belfast Agreement. Speaking in the Assembly, the Education Minister Peter Weir said: “I have been involved in the issue of educational underachievement, in particular for Protestant boys in receipt of free schools’ meals, since 2012. I have been passionate about addressing this persistent problem ever since.” Back in 2012, the then Education Minister John O’Dowd was challenged by DUP MLA Paul Frew on “how he plans to increase the number of working-class Protestants who can go on to participate in higher education”. After reciting the familiar grim statistics about the declining chances of reaching third level for (1) Protestant (2) boys on (3) free school meals at (4) nongrammar schools, then explaining what new departmental initiatives are underway, the Sinn Féin Minister raised the stakes:
“There is also an important role to be played by unionist political leaders in raising educational awareness and aspiration in socially deprived communities. Continued academic selection in the interests of selective schools does not benefit the education or the needs of Protestant pupils from deprived backgrounds.”
A more recent report from the UNESCO Centre of Education at Ulster University found “little evidence that social mobility is increased by academic selection” and that “the current arrangements for school transfer at age 11 contribute to the social and financial costs of a stressful process that serves to benefit a few (generally already privileged with access to tutoring) pupils, while damaging the life-chances of a large proportion of the school population”.
The paper adds to O’Dowd’s direct critique of politicians unwilling to change the system: “It is hard to escape the observation that many of the political class responsible for making decisions on the future of selection, will themselves be the products of the same grammar school system that they seek to defend, and their children in all likelihood also attend such schools.” Peter Weir went to Bangor Grammar.
While it is unfair to criticise children for
their parents’ choices for their schooling, there ought to be an expectation of some reflection when adults with power confuse their lives with others who were less fortunate. Twenty years ago, when this debate got properly underway, the grammars’ champion was that formidable barrister Robert McCartney QC MP, whose path to greatness took him from the Shankill to Cultra, via Grosvenor Grammar School.
Bob used to argue that anyone could follow his path, and that the 11+ was a ladder and not a barrier. Where Bob’s argument falls down is the brilliance of Bob himself, as anyone who came into his orbit will attest. The fierce drive of his self-belief earned his fortune, but the same confidence that his was the smartest voice in the room delivered him of his reputation as ‘not a teamplayer’, to put it mildly.
Bob’s nemesis on this matter was another Shankill boy, the late David Ervine, who long despaired of the products of schools along that road. In 2011, in dedication to him from his protégé Dawn Purvis, she led a comprehensive demolition of the theory and practice of grammar schools as any panacea for working class Protestants. “If we use this viral crisis to persuade those schools which abandoned selection this year to make that permanent, then we are saying that more of us are in it together, and that does not require the wisdom of another ‘expert panel’, but the will to do the decent thing. Abolish academic selection, for good.”
Among the conclusions of A Call to Action was this warning:
“High post-16 educational drop-out rates are internationally linked to lowwaged economies, where insecure, highly-changeable, unregulated employment predominates. Large swathes of the UK and Northern Ireland economies have been run on a lowskilled equilibrium. The motivation of young people within the education system is inextricably linked with the degree to which the economy can provide work opportunities with attractive remuneration and career prospects in stable companies in wellregulated trades and industries. The dearth of productive opportunities makes the public sector, by default, the career of choice for too many of our most talented people.”
Since then, we have had a decade of austerity and ‘rebalancing’ the economy away from that sanctuary of decent jobs in the public sector. Decent jobs are around in fintech and other graduate-level services and low-paid jobs are plentiful in retail, services, and hospitality, but all are scarred by insecurity. There seems little in the middle. And then we had the pandemic.
There are places in Northern Ireland that need ladders. We have the data and the indexes of multiple deprivation. We know the blackspots like Strabane and the Creggan. We know the ‘problem estates’ around Carrickfergus and Ballymena and west Belfast. We know that we can’t fix every one of these at once, but we can do things which make things better, and that itself ‘sends a message’.
If we use this viral crisis to persuade those schools which abandoned selection this year to make that permanent, then we are saying that more of us are in it together, and that does not require the wisdom of another ‘expert panel’, but the will to do the decent thing. Abolish academic selection, for good.
