STORMONT COMMITTEE FOR EDUCATION

Departmental Briefing on Primary School Funding 5 th October 2007  

Witnesses for the Department were led by Louise Warde_Hunter Head of Early Years, Youth and School Finance Division. Also present were Katrina Head of Raising Standards, Catherine Daly Head of Finance and Alastair McIlroy Head of Schools Finance Branch.

Louise opened with a presentation outlining the present funding position. From the outset she acknowledged the differentials between Primary and Post-Primary funding. She went on to recap on the present position, provide information on the mechanics of the Common Funding Formula, identify the other funds which schools receive and indicate the present position under Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR). She explained that under the LMS scheme all schools have a delegated budget. The scheme had to be transparent and easy to administer.

With reference to the Primary Phase she explained in more detail how extra funds were earmarked for schools giving examples such as School Improvement, Making a Good Start, Extended Schools and Revised Curriculum for Foundation and Year 1 pupils.

She stated that the Department were concerned about the funding gap with Post-primary and were seeking to reduce differentials but under CSR such improvements could only be incremental.

Since the Common Funding Formula (CFF) they had increased the AWPUs and introduced the Small Schools Support Fund but it would take time to break down differentials.

The Committee Chair, Dominic Bradley made the point that under LMS there was no guarantee that funding would be used for teachers. He asked could there be modifications of LMS to target specifics, particularly involving a more strategic approach to primary school funding to address individual educational issues when there was social deprivation.

The reply to this was that the situation reflects the historic setup. The Department was trying to keep a stable situation. It was still seen as advantageous for a Principal/Board of Governors to allocate resources.

At This point Peter Robinson interjected by saying that as staff costs represented 85% of budget it actually provided schools with very little flexibility.

Basil McCrea then made the following points; the present situation was not really working. It led to teacher stress it also contributed to pupil anti-social behaviour. Nobody understood how the present system worked and it was difficult to make a case for its continuation.

The answer from Louise Warde-Hunter was that the UTU letter was very helpful in understanding the current situation.

Basil McCrea said that he had met with Primary School Teachers in North Belfast . They told him that there was difficulty in getting joined-up thinking involving a multi-agency approach. There was also a lack of parent/pupil interaction regarding education. He then asked the question, how do you get long term sustainable funding?

This was answered by setting up cross department cohesion.Basil asked how this would be co-ordinated.

Ken Robinson made the point that the current extra funding was a sticking plaster approach and was used to fund difficulties. How could you reward schools good practice?

The answer was good practice could be recognised through community based successes.

Mervyn Storey questioned the efficient use of existing funds. Is there an issue of how money is being used? Is the money being properly focussed?

The answer was the RPA/ESA would provide the means to make most efficient use of resources.

Dominic Bradley asked about evidence based research as mentioned by the previous presentation by the GTC. Was there evidence about class sizes?

The answer was that this would to be taken back to the Department.

Dominic Bradley said that up to known they system was initiative heavy, there was no strategic co-ordination, was there guiding vision within the department?

The reply was there was a vision to educate every child in Northern Ireland to be best possible standard.

Dominic then asked, what was the strategy to get there?

The reply was again – RPA.

The question from Dominic as to who was going to provide this strategic vision was met with the reply - the Minister.

Dominic then referred to the UTU letter regarding the Revised Curriculum and asked, for what areas were the Department looking for extra resources?

The reply was for the Foundation Stage, ICT and the 14-19 agenda which also involved DEL.

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