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Ulster Unionist Education Spokesman Basil McCrea has asked for an urgent answer from OFMDFM as to whether Minister Ruane broke the Ministerial code when she presented her statement on Education without taking it to the Executive. Mr McCrea has received Ministerial confirmation from across departments that Ministers were not consulted on the statement.

After it emerged that Sammy Wilson from the DUP thanked the Minister for advanced notice of the statement, Mr McCrea also said the matter re-inforced the need for a meaningful coalition, not a carve-up between the two parties.

In a statement Mr McCrea said,

“Remember the row over Margaret Ritchie’s decisions on the CTI money? Only last week Minister Ruane decided to ignore the Executive and press ahead with a statement on education. This illustrates the double standard that the Ulster Unionist Party and the SDLP were referring to in October. There is clearly one law within the Executive for Sinn Fein and another for the SDLP.

I saw no evidence of Ministers jumping from the front benches to the back benches to challenge Caitriona Ruane on her statement, which by any reading of the Ministerial Code was well out of order (her statement being both cross-cutting as well as signigficant). But on an issue as important to the community as education, and the post primary aspect of it in particular, how can it be that Ministers in a government only hear about this either on radio or receive an e-mail a few minutes before the statement is delivered, yet Sammy Wilson can thank the Minister for Education for advance notice?

I have asked for and will receive in the next couple of days an answer from OFMDFM as to whether the Education Minister acted in a manner that breached the Ministerial Code. I believe she has.”

UUP Cllr and Education Team spokesman Marion Smith has expressed her complete frustration at the lack of clarity in Education Minister Catriona Ruane’s latest statement on the transfer procedure.

In a statement she said “This Minister has yet again shown her tendency to talk in generalities and to virtually ignore the practicalities. Her latest statement is full of fairly meaningless rhetoric and completely lacking in any sense of reality. Schools and parents are extremely uncertain about the future and this statement does nothing to clarify things for them.

“In her statement the Minister signals the end of the present transfer test. Few will regret its passing as it is clearly now well past its sell-by date. The problem is that she has still not clearly spelt out what will replace it.

She talks in very general terms about a move to key decisions being taken at the age of 14 rather than 11. However any such change would have major structural implications for schools and there is absolutely no indication of haw this would be achieved of the time scale involved and the cost. Some people have welcomed the suggestion of the change to 14 on the grounds that it is already working well in Craigavon. However in her statement the Minister clearly indicates there will be no selection even at age 14 and that completely undermines the present arrangements in Craigavon where there is selection for grammar schools at age 14.

Cllr Smith went on to suggest that the Minister had lost a golden opportunity to think radically about how the system could be changed for the better. She added, “ most of us do accept that some change is needed. However the way forward must be based on a system which effectively matches the aptitude of children with what particular schools can offer.

In her obsession with political dogma the Minister has completely ignored these more practical possibilities and seems hell bent of wrecking all that is good in our schools. She also appears to be ignoring the need for the legislative changes which will be necessary and how she can get these through the Assembly. Indeed in our wonderful new age one would have thought that a change of such magnitude would be a matter for the whole Executive rather that being decided on the whim of one somewhat detached Minister.”

Ulster Unionist Education spokesman Basil McCrea said Education Minister Catriona Ruane’s announcement today was made without Executive approval, without proper debate in the Assembly and was consequently a unilateral decision that flew in the face of DUP Manifesto commitment that:

“The DUP forced the Government to back down on its plans to scrap Academic Selection. We will ensure that pupils still can be placed at schools on the basis of aptitude and ability”, and ”The DUP made the retention of the transfer test a precondition for the return of devolution.”

In a statement Mr McCrea said,

“It is my understanding that even senior officials in the Minister’s department were not consulted on this statement, nor were her colleagues around the Executive table. This statement today is also sneakily and deceptively contrived to avoid proper debate on the floor of the Assembly.

This is no way to do business on such an important matter for the parents and children of Northern Ireland.

This announcement also puts paid to the ridiculous assertion from the DUP post St.Andrews and in their 2007 manifesto that Ministers would not be able to act unilaterally.

I pressed the Minister if any of these proposals would require cross-community support, despite repeated attempts to get a definitive answer, none was forthcoming indicating that the Minister does not consider cross-community support either necessary or desirable. So much for democratic Ministerial accountability”

Rev Dr Robert Coulter, the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member for North Antrim and UUP Stormont Commissioner, has been given assurances from Stormont Minister Sir Reg Empey that there will be more probes into the Province’s literacy levels.

Rev Coulter, the UUP’s Health Spokeman, asked Sir Reg, the Employment and Learning Minister, what consideration had been given to conducting surveys of literacy performance in Northern Ireland, compared to the types of measurement available in England?

Assemblyman Dr Coulter said: “The Minister touched on a matter that is at the heart of his Department’s current considerations.

“He said the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) was last conducted in 1996 — with its results published in 1997 — and is due to be held again in 2011 or 2012.

“Importantly, the Minister recognized IALS is an international standard, which means Northern Ireland will have the opportunity to measure our performance against other countries.

“However, it has also emerged the time between the last survey and the next one is too long, which means that we are a bit blind about our current position.

“I was informed other research was conducted in England, although not on a comparable basis.

“It is also clear for the Department of Employment and Learning to carry out a full IALS survey, or invent another method, would be exceptionally time consuming and expensive.

“Consequently, Sir Reg emphasized his Department is closely examining alternatives to provide some early indication as to whether we are winning or losing the battle on essential skills.

“Although the figures for throughput are positive and above target, the danger is that Northern Ireland is adding to the cohort in the community who do not have essential skills and are out of school.”

Assemblyman Dr Coulter said the entire community should be concerned about this situation and it would continue to be a big issue for the future.

“I warmly welcome Sir Reg’s assurances his Department is urgently examining that issue for the obvious reasons,” concluded Dr Coulter.

Ken Robinson MLA, Ulster Unionist Assembly Member for East Antrim, a member of the Assembly’s Education Committee and a former Headmaster, today described the latest figures from Save the Children and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation as “sobering.”

The report said that children in disadvantaged areas were turning away from school as early as age nine.

“The problem of negative attitudes towards school and education sets these children on a road to disadvantage for the rest of their lives. Disadvantage is a self-perpetuating experience. Negative attitudes to education lead to disadvantage and that in turn leads to more negative attitudes towards education. Somehow, we are going to have to break this inter-generational cycle of deprivation.”

“One aspect of this issue worries me. That is the view that this is just inner-city deprivation. It is well beyond the bounds of the inner cities. It also effects the big re-housing estates in the towns around Belfast – in Antrim, Newtownabbey, Lisburn and elsewhere. There is also the problem of rural poverty and low educational expectations and job prospects in isolated rural communities.”

“There is, I believe, a very significant loss of talent to our overall community from our failure to adequately address these related problems. One of the biggest challenges facing the Assembly is how we deal with this underachievement. So many educational headlines are grabbed by the Grammar School and selection issues, that this problem of low attainment and low achievement and its persistence in areas of high unemployment and low incomes is being missed.”

Rev Dr Robert Coulter, the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member for North Antrim and UUP Stormont Commissioner, has welcomed the news from an Executive Minister that more emphasis will be placed on developing Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths subjects, commonly known as STEMs, in schools and college.

Assemblyman Dr Coulter secured this commitment from the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment during ministerial question time at Stormont.

Dr Coulter added: “This is an area which is personally close to my heart given the fact I spent 18 years as a lecturer in the further education sector, and served on the further and higher education committee in the first Assembly in 1998.

“I had asked the Minister if he had any plans to liaise with his fellow Ministers in the Department for Employ­ment and Learning and the Department of Education in order to encourage entrepreneurial awareness in schools and further education colleges?

“The Minister clearly recognized my interest in this area and I got an assurance of the importance for parents and schools that Northern Ireland should place a greater emphasis on STEM subjects.

“I also obtained the assurance the Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment is fully engaged with the Department for Employment and Learning and the Department of Education and is liaising with them in their work to review the position on STEM subjects and to produce a strategy.

“The Minister’s assurances are especially welcome because the decline in the number of students who opt to take science-related subjects at an early age is a matter of concern.

“I equally welcomed the Minister’s commitment that his Department is fully engaged in the work that is being led by the Department of Education and the Department for Employment and Learning to review the position on science, technology, engineering and maths subjects, and to produce a strategy for their development through schools and further education colleges.

“What is of great importance for the pupils of Northern Ireland is that this work should identify progression routes to higher education and employment as well as emphasise links to wider economy’s skills and innovation needs,” said Assemblyman Dr Coulter.

Ulster Unionist Education spokesman Basil McCrea today asked the Education Minister whether she agreed with CCEA that the latest date for a decision on a transfer test is January 2008 and whether she intended to address the issue or merely run down the clock so that no discussion is possible.

Mr McCrea posed the question during Ministers question time in the Assembly today amid growing concerns from parents and teachers that the question of what will replace the transfer test is still hanging in the air with only 73 days to go before academic selection becomes obsolete.

In a statement Mr McCrea said,

“We need to know if the Minister agrees with deadline set by CCEA. There are few things more important to parents than the educational future of their children and the Minister’s delay in making a decision is causing worry and distress to many.

Minister Ruane is putting everyone in a very unfair position by refusing to enter into a debate on this. It is very unreasonable, with just 73 days to go before academic selection is consigned to the dustbin, to ask people to be patient.

Either the Minister knows exactly what she is going to do and that she is so confident about her plans that she doesn’t need to tell anyone or she is being driven by a political agenda to do away with academic selection but doesn’t have a clue what to replace it with. All this stalling leads me to believe that she is not on top of her brief.”

Rev Dr Robert Coulter, the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member for North Antrim and UUP Stormont Commissioner, has said parents and schools should co-operate throughout the constituency to ensure children had a nourishing breakfast at the start of each day.

Assemblyman Dr Coulter, who is party health spokesman, said: “The World Health Organisation found in a study of eating habits there is a direct link between student performance and having a healthy breakfast.

“In Britain, only 65.8 to 66.1 per cent of boys and 60.1 to 60.2 per cent of girls eat breakfast. So significantly fewer school children here eat breakfast before school than in most developed countries, yet nutritionists tell us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” explained Dr Coulter.

“Though the WHO survey did not extend to Northern Ireland, I believe our children’s diet here would be fairly similar to that of Scotland with a similarly high level of junk food,” added Dr Coulter.

“It is interesting that in Scotland, which has a high level of academic success in Britain, also has the highest rate of eating breakfast. There the percentage of boys and girls eating breakfasts was well above the national average. The Netherlands had the highest rate, but Britain fell behind Lithuania, Russia and Latvia, which have a far lower per capita income,” added Dr Coulter.

“Research has found that eating breakfast has an effect on children’s energy levels and ability to study. The WHO findings come amid concern over a deterioration in the quality of diet and a rise in obesity, often said to be caused by snacking on unsuitable food.

“The United States, which has an even higher rate of childhood obesity than the United Kingdom, was among the bottom two to five countries for eating breakfast at each age stage.

“I believe that parents and schools should combine forces to ensure that children receive a hearty breakfast before they begin the day’s work.

“A good breakfast would be far more important than a school lunch since most schoolwork is completed in the morning session and since that is when the children need maximum brain-power,” said Assemblyman Dr Coulter, himself a further education lecturer for 18 years.

Rev Dr Robert Coulter, the Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member for North Antrim and UUP Stormont Commissioner, has called on the community to “throw their full weight” behind this year’s Anti-Bullying Week.

Assemblyman Dr Coulter, who is also UUP Health Spokesman, added: “In calling for the community to give its total backing to this very necessary initiative, I would also thank the schools and the police in the constituency for all their efforts in stamping out the scourge of bullying – and I certainly pledge my full support for this worthy campaign.

“Bullying has become one of the great social evils of this new millennium and must be combated head-on in every forum. School bullying especially can never be justified under any circumstances.

“The hard reality is that if bullying is not properly stamped out, it can leave lasting emotional, mental and even physical scars on the victims right through their adult lives.

“Bullies themselves must be left in no doubt they could face the full rigours of the law if they do not desist from their heinous actions. I would particularly call on all responsible parents to support Anti-Bullying Week, which runs from 19th to 23rd November.

“If they find their child is the victim of bullying, it is their moral duty to seek as much assistance as possible in helping the child.

“Likewise, if they discover their child is involved in bullying, such parents have an equal moral imperative to take responsibility and prevent their child from further bullying activities.

“I would also urge the parents and relatives of victims of bullying to work closely with the schools and the police and not be tempted to take the law into their own hands,” said Assemblyman Dr Coulter.

Ulster Unionist Education spokesman Basil Mc Crea today met with a large number of classroom assistants who were picketing Parliament Buildings, Stormont.

In a statement Mr McCrea said the assistants didn’t want to be in this position but felt nobody was listening to them or their reasons for striking,

“I was struck today by the sheer numbers of classroom assistants who came to picket Stormont and try and lobby politicians. These are not militant workers but just ordinary people who want a fair wage for a fair day’s work.

Many I spoke to are visibly upset at being put in the position where they have to strike and deny the children, many with special needs, of their valuable skills and teaching skills.

The fact that they are striking is down to a failure of dialogue. Many assistants complained that they couldn’t get hold of or meet with the key decision makers in politics and as a result are feeling marginalised, ignored and consequently misunderstood.

I understand that the Education Minister herself avoided meeting 100 assistants at a school in Craigavon by cancelling her visit. This is no way to treat people. I offered the assistants my support and that of my party and we will continue to try and resolve this dispute to the satisfaction of all.”