Education Minister Launches TransformED Strategy For NI Schools

A new strategy designed to reform and improve education delivery in Northern Ireland has been launched by Education Minister Paul Givan.

The TransformED strategy, described as the most systematic transformation in over a generation, focuses on curriculum, assessment, qualifications, school improvement, and tackling educational disadvantage, with significant investment in teacher professional development.

"This strategy represents a break with what has gone before," said Minister Givan. "For too long we have focused on structural issues in Northern Ireland and simply relied on our highly qualified workforce to continue to produce excellent outcomes. The heart of education lies in the classroom. We need to put aside these tired, old conversations and focus on what children learn, how and for what purpose. Now we must focus on investing in and supporting high-quality professional development for our school leaders and teachers and relentlessly improving curriculum, pedagogy and assessment."

The strategy includes a ten-point plan for delivering educational excellence, available on the Department's website. This plan draws on best practices from high-performing education systems globally. "To ensure that our education system is world-class, we must be willing to learn from the best-performing education systems globally," Minister Givan stated. "This new strategy sets out our determination to learn in a sophisticated way from those countries which outperform us at present. It identifies the core elements of excellence that are common across high-performing jurisdictions and uses these to inform the way forward in Northern Ireland."

To address current weaknesses, the ten-point plan has been developed based on lessons from effective and rapidly improving school systems worldwide.

Minister Givan announced upcoming announcements on assessment, professional learning, literacy, numeracy, and school improvement. "Over the coming weeks I will make a series of important announcements about assessment, professional learning, literacy and numeracy and school improvement. The work on these is already at an advanced stage."

To support implementation, two school principals' panels have been established to provide input on key policy issues.

"Our aim is to ensure our education system is truly world-leading – excellent, equitable, inclusive and able to meet the needs of all children and young people in an ever-changing world," concluded Minister Givan. "This ambitious reform programme has the potential to transform education in Northern Ireland for a generation."