Glengormley High School teacher Lynn Kerr has won a Silver Award in the Pearson National Teaching Awards category ‘Excellence in Special Needs Education 2020’.

Mark Baker, Assistant Director of Education (Education Authority Northern Ireland), was in attendance to present this prestigious award.

Selected from thousands of nominations, Lynn is one of just 76 Silver Award winners across the United Kingdom. Lynn was honoured with the award for her outstanding commitment to changing the lives of the children she works with every day. (more…)

Hazelwood Integrated College has won a Silver Award in the Pearson National Teaching Awards category ‘Making a Difference – Secondary School of the Year 2020’

The Minister for Education, Mr Peter Weir, was in attendance to present the College with this prestigious award.

Selected from thousands of nominations, Hazelwood Integrated College is one of just 76 Silver Award winners across the country and was honoured with the award for their outstanding commitment to changing the lives of the children they work with every day. (more…)

The IEF are delighted to be part of this year’s exciting Good Relations Week line-up, albeit in a slightly different format than usual. This year’s theme, Embracing Our Future, is particularly relevant to integrated education and how learning together can contribute to our society. (more…)

Expert Panel on Educational Underachievement launches NI wide survey

The Expert Panel on Educational Underachievement, appointed by Education Minister Peter Weir in July, has issued a call for evidence from all interested parties through an online survey.

The Panel, established under the New Decade, New Approach agreement, is examining links between persistent educational underachievement and socio-economic background.

The survey is open from Monday 14 September 2020 until midnight on Friday 16 October 2020. (more…)

Education Minister Peter Weir has welcomed a letter from the Chief Medical Officer, Michael McBride, which is being sent to parents and carers of school children today.

The letter outlines actions which should be taken by parents and carers if children develop Covid-19 symptoms. It is being issued alongside a leaflet for parents/carers produced by the Department of Education, with advice on the steps to take if a child, or anyone they live with, develops symptoms. (more…)

The latest paper in the Ulster University series looking at the NI education system outlines some of the challenges facing school Boards of Governors and the ways in which the construction of Northern Ireland’s education system may contribute to these.

The briefing paper, the fifth in the “Transforming Education” series, refers to recent UU research which found that:
“Boards range in size – from eight to 36 members – in respect of the relative size of the school that they govern. In the smallest schools, a BoG can have more members than teachers in the school. A three-teacher maintained rural primary, for example, may have a BoG with nine or ten members”. (more…)