An updated perspective on the Cuts to Education and the Consequences for Children and Young People in Northern Ireland.

In response to the deep cuts to Education that were announced between March and June 2023, nine academics launched a collective response on the consequences for children and young people at Currie Primary School. The cuts to education in 2023 were imposed against a backdrop of the collapse of the NI’s power-sharing Executive. Many of the cuts were imposed without meaningful public consultation or an opportunity for the children and young people (CYP) at the sharp end of the cuts to share their views. The cuts were numerous and dramatic and will have a ripple effect for children’s access to education for years to come. The biggest consequences will be borne by the most disadvantaged children who have lived through the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing Cost-of-Living emergency. The UN Committee for the Rights of the Child urged senior civil servants to withdraw the NI Budget and the Children’s Law Centre launched (ongoing) legal proceedings on the operation of section 75 protections with regard to the budget. Our ‘rapid response’ report sought to pull together the latest evidence to increase political and public consciousness on the short and long-term implications of the extensive cuts to provision for disadvantaged CYP across several areas that our research expertise in law, social policy, child rights, education and psychology. We concluded that the cuts would increase poverty, widen existing educational achievement gaps, further exacerbate NI’s mental health crisis and send Special Education Needs provision beyond the brink of collapse.

This response to the Programme for Government seeks to update the content of the report published in June 2023. It includes the latest evidence and outlines the sustained consequences of the cuts to education and the insufficient investment in measures that will tackle poverty and educational disadvantage and underachievement.