End the “cruel practice of academic selection” and develop a “school transfer system” designed to ensure “equality and fairness for all students regardless of their background”.
“Respond to the demand” for Irish-medium and integrated education.
“Modernise the curriculum”, including “age-appropriate learning” on climate change and relationships and sex education.
Oversee a careers guidance service that focuses on both “vocational and academic routes” and “tailors advice to the skills, talents and interests of each young person”.
Improve access to further and higher education for all young people, including those with disabilities, from low-income families, with childcare responsibilities and with care experience.
Establish a single education system based on the belief that the current-controlled education sector is “the best example of the way forward”.
The party says its members “value our grammar schools and accept that a form of post-primary transfer is necessary”, but wants research to explore if a new method of transferring Year 7 pupils could be pursued “without a high stakes test at age 10-11”.
Tackle educational underachievement by focusing on the youngest children, including “a digital system which captures every child’s life journey from pre-birth to leaving education”, allowing “early identification” of health, education and wellbeing concerns.
Address the “mental health crisis”, including the continuing “malign influence of the ‘Troubles’”, through “early intervention in Northern Ireland’s primary and secondary schools” and a new emphasis on counselling for pupils
Carry out a review into providing a free meal every day to all primary age children and - also on the cost of the school day - aim for statutory guidance on the price of school uniforms, similar to recent legislation in England.
The party supports the principle of parental choice (including faith-based, integrated, Irish-medium and controlled schools) but would increase the current number of 60 per cent of schools that are “involved in some sort of shared education initiative”.
Support an above-inflation pay rise for teachers and school support staff.
Explore extending the one-year postgraduate route into teaching to two years.
Compulsory study of modern languages up to and including GCSE level.
Establish standard relationships and sex education that is “up to date, comprehensive and LGBT-inclusive”.
Develop “innovative assessment methods” since written assessment “benefits some young people but ignores the skills of others”.
Increase provision of free preschool childcare from 12.5 hours to 30 hours a week.
A “Children’s Future Fund” to invest £500 in each child at birth and another £500 at age 10, to build a fund worth £100 million after 10 years for green, climate change and digital technology to improve the future of young people; families could make their own contributions from age of 16 and choose to withdraw the investment in their child at 18.
Alliance believes that ”‘shared education’, where two or more schools share facilities but do not fully integrate their pupils...is no substitute for integrated education” - which it describes as “a vehicle by which to drive reconciliation in our schools” - and that “sharing must be a first step towards integration, rather than an endpoint in itself”.
Address “concerns regarding the establishment and composition” of the independent review of education panel, “as it should have included non-sectoral experts in order to produce a truly independent review of our education system”.
Aim for “universal full-time provision for all preschool children and a standardisation of the school day for these children”, with a focus on nurture rooms, outdoor learning and play.
Back the recommendations of the review of the use of restraint and seclusion in educational settings and commit to introducing “Harry’s law”, ending the use of seclusion in schools; seeing restraint as a “last resort”; and supporting staff training in “trauma-informed ways to prevent, predict and de-escalate pupil distress behaviours”.
On special educational needs: early access to educational psychologists; mandatory autism training for student teachers; support “the right of children with disabilities to attend a school that is appropriate for them”.
Back a “standardised, evidence-based, inclusive relationship and sexuality education programme through primary and post-primary schools”.
“Proper investment in integrated, non-selective education to provide a universal, accessible, lifelong education system, free at the point of access for all.”
Reverse loss of teacher and classroom assistant jobs in recent years and start to reduce class sizes.
Implement a “free school day” so that children do not have to bring any money to school, voluntary contributions are not expected and the cost of books, trips and materials are covered.
Support “inflation-busting pay rises” for all education staff.
