Education Department opens specialist schools conference

Every child should be given the opportunity to succeed, the Department of Education said today as it welcomed delegates from all sectors of Post-Primary education in Northern Ireland to a conference on Specialist Schools.

Gerry McGinn, Permanent Secretary of the Department of Education, said the conference, which was organised by the Regional Training Unit, marked an “important milestone’’ and stressed the progress being made on the implementation on the new Post-Primary arrangements.

“I understand that there are perceptions in many schools and among the public that little has happened since the Government announced that it had accepted the recommendations of the Post-Primary Review Working Group,” Mr McGinn said.

“Indeed, there are some who seem to think that the decisions on the recommendations have still to be taken. Government has accepted the recommendations and we are now in implementation mode.”

The Permanent Secretary also announced the launch of “Entitled to Succeed”, the title of the programme of reforms running across the Post-Primary Sector.

“The new post-primary arrangements are only one element of a much larger package of closely related reforms,” Mr McGinn said. “Running in parallel and closely inter-linked are the implementation of the new curriculum, the development and enhancement of the schools estate and the continuing development of ICT as a teaching and learning tool. These are being taken forward as a coordinated programme.”

Education Minister Barry Gardner announced in June that a conference on specialist schools would be held in the autumn.

The conference was attended by some 400 delegates from post-primary schools, key education partners, political party education spokespersons and other interested groups.

(MB/SP)