The Education System in Northern Ireland 2019

1. The Education System in Northern Ireland 2019 Saints and Scholars IPS May 2019

2. The Department of Education is responsible for the administration of pre-school, primary and post-primary education in Northern Ireland. Education Authority has responsibility for ensuring adequate education provision in their areas. • The Department for Communities has responsibility for further and higher education. • In Northern Ireland it is compulsory for children to attend school between the ages of 4 and 16.

3. Primary education Primary school • Foundation Stage • Primary 1, age 4 to 5 (equivalent to Reception in England and Wales) • Primary 2, age 5 to 6 • Key Stage 1 Primary 3, age 6 to 7 • Primary 4, age 7 to 8 • Key Stage 2 Primary 5, age 8 to 9 • Primary 6, age 9 to 10 • Primary 7 age 10 to 11

4. Secondary education: Secondary school or grammar school • Key Stage 3 • Year 8, age 11 to 12 (equivalent to Year 7 in England and Wales) • Year 9, age 12 to 13 • Year 10, age 13 to 14 • Key Stage 4 • Year 11, age 14 to 15 • Year 12, age 15 to 16 (GCSE examinations) • Secondary school, grammar school, or further education college • Sixth form • Year 13, age 16 to 17 (AS-level examinations) • Year 14, age 17 to 18 (A-levels (A2))

5. Northern Ireland education system • The education system in Northern Ireland (NI) has some important differences to the one in England and Wales. For example, religion still plays a large part and there are no Sats.

6. Northern Ireland – key differences in education • While the school year in NI also starts in September, the child’s age on 1 July (rather than 1 September, as in England and Wales) determines when they start school and what school year they are in. s old.

7. NI schools name their year groups differently from the rest of the UK: P1, P2P3 P4, P5, P6 ,P7 . • The earliest a child can leave school in NI is at the end of the June following their 16th birthday.

8. Types of school in Northern Ireland • Religion still plays a large part in the education system in NI. Although integrated education is expanding and the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE) has been set up to accelerate this, Protestants and Catholics are largely educated separately, particularly in the non-selective schools.

9. Integrated • These schools invite Protestant and Catholic to come together with other traditions to improve their understanding of one another, their own cultures, religions and values. • Each grant maintained Integrated school is managed by a Board of Governors consisting of trustees or foundation governors along with parents, teacher and DE representatives. • The BoGs of a grant maintained Integrated school is the employing authority and is responsible for the employment of staff. • DE has a duty to encourage and facilitate integrated education.  With funding from DE the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE) promotes the strategic development of Integrated schools and provides advice and guidance to all Integrated schools, both Controlled and grant maintained.

10. NI Curriculum

11. Testing in Primary School • Assessment of school children by their class or subject teacher provides information about how your child is doing. An assessment lets teachers see your child's progress. A teacher can use assessment results to identify ways to help pupils make more progress in school and learning. • Teacher assessment • Teacher assessment allows a school to report information to a child's parent. It can help older children choose examination courses they will study and qualifications and careers they will seek. • Assessment also helps schools to set targets and measure their performance. This information lets government monitor the performance of the schools’ system generally. • Key Stage assessment - Levels of Progression • Literacy and numeracy are at the centre of the curriculum.  The importance of these skills is emphasised through the cross-curricular skills of Communication and Using Mathematics .

12. Standardised tests

13. Selective Education at 11+ • There are also a smaller number of partially selective schools in England. In Northern Ireland, secondary education is predominantly based on academic selection, although a number of comprehensive schools also exists. Selection is carried out by an exam taken in the final year of Primary school. Most of Northern Ireland operates a selective secondary education system, with pupils transferring at 11 or 12 either to grammar schools (about 40% of pupils) or secondary schools. • Parents can choose the school they would like their children to attend and all those who apply must be admitted if they meet the criteria.

14. Selection by academic ability at 11 is not fair, but it is fairer than non-academic-selection. It is true children from middle class families have much higher proportion to pass the 11+ than the children from poorer family. But money has always been influential in a child's education. You can close state grammar schools, but someone may send his child to fee-paying school. You may close all kind of grammar schools, but someone with money is still able to get his child private coaching after school, or even send them abroad. • With the existence of grammar schools, at least some of the lucky children from poorer families will be able to receive comparable education as the children from rich families; without grammar schools, children's education is really money dependent. In the end, the abolition of grammar schools will increase the social division by destroying some of the poorer children's only hope to establish themselves. Ming-Jieng,

15. KS3 11-14 • Areas of learning - post-primary curriculum • The current post-primary curriculum includes Learning for Life and Work, which is made up of employability, personal development, local and global citizenship and home economics (at Key Stage 3).  The post-primary curriculum also includes religious education (RE) and the following areas of learning: • language and literacy • mathematics and numeracy • modern languages • arts • environment and society • physical education (PE)

16. KS4 14-16 • At Key Stage 4 pupils follow courses and work towards qualifications, such as GCSEs. This means that some of their curriculum’s structure will change. However, schools still need to meet the statutory requirements of the Northern Ireland Curriculum. Every pupil needs to experience a curriculum that is:

17. GCSE • In the United Kingdom, the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification, generally taken in a number of subjects by pupils in secondary education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. • Each GCSE qualification is in a particular subject, and stands alone, but a suite of such qualifications (or their equivalent) is generally accepted as the record of achievement at the age of 16, in place of a leaving certificate or baccalaureate qualification in other territories. • Studies for GCSE examinations generally take place over a period of two or three academic years (depending upon the subject, school, and exam board), starting in Year 11 for the majority of students, with examinations being sat at the end of Year 12

18. A Levels – Academic route • A-levels. A-level, or “Advanced Level” is a grade of education that is offered by educational institutions such as schools and colleges and is an accepted form of qualification. A-levels are generally a two-year course, with AS levels being obtained within the first year. • Student normally study four subjects in Year 13 and Three in year 14. Results in A levels determine university entry

19. FE Colleges – post 16 • The FE colleges are the main providers of vocational and technical education and training in NI and play a central role in raising levels of literacy and numeracy and in up-skilling and re-skilling through a broad range of courses.

20. University entry • In August 2018 in England, a record 27.9 per cent of the 18 year old population have been accepted to university though UCAS. In Wales 26.3 per cent of young people will be starting an undergraduate course, also a record. In Northern Ireland, the entry rate is 28.1 per cent. 25.9 per cent of all Scottish 18 year olds were accepted into university .

21. Routes into teaching • To teach in a primary or post-primary (secondary) school in Northern Ireland, you must have a degree and a recognised teacher training qualification. All teachers are required to register with the General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland (GTCNI). • There are two routes available to prospective teachers: a four year undergraduate Bachelor of Education (BEd), or a one year Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE). Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes are available from the following universities and colleges in Northern Ireland: • Queen’s University School of Education • Saint Mary’s University College • Stranmillis University College

22. Teachers salary • All teacher receive the same salary irrespective of what sector they teach in eg a Nursery teacher with the same number of years service receives the same salary as an A level teacher .

23. Salary Scales • The average Teacher salary in Northern Ireland is £34,919. This is 22.7% more than the average national salary for Teacher jobs. The average Northern Ireland Teacher salary is 7.4% more than the average salary across Northern Ireland.

25. Pay increase of 4.25% • Teachers in Northern Ireland are to be offered a 4.25% pay rise backdated over two years, BBC News NI understands( May 2019) . • For a teacher at the top of the current upper pay scale on £37,870, for example, that would mean a pay rise to £39,497 plus back pay to 1 September 2017 of about £2,000. • A new teacher on £22,243 would see their salary rise to £23,198 and receive more than £1,000 in back pay.