EXTRACT
Northern Ireland
Assembly
Mr Sammy Wilson
Chairperson, Committee for Education
3 December 2007
Mitchell McLaughlin, MLA
Chairperson
Committee for Finance and Personnel
DRAFT BUDGET 2008 - 2011
- The Committee over the last few months has received substantial written and oral evidence and taken a particular interest in the need to reduce the differential in funding levels between primary and post-primary schools. The Committee noted the Common Funding Scheme (LMS) consultation with schools launched in mid-November 2007. This seeks views on the proposal to raise the Age Weighted Pupil Unit (AWPU) for primary pupils from 1.02 to either 1.03 or 1.04. The Committee sees the higher weighting (1.04, which generates only an average annual uplift of £24 per pupil) as a minimum uplift and understand that to have no negative effect on post-primary pupil funding would cost some £6m per annum over the next 3 years. The Committee considers it essential that this money is found. It also welcomes the commitments in the Draft Budget to fund the second day of Teaching Principals’ Planning, Preparation and Assessment (PPA). Again the Committee considers this to be essential funding as this would mainly benefit Primary School Principals where the evidence for PPA is clear. This is only a fraction of the PPA/Leadership and Management time measures emanating from the Curran Inquiry which would cost £44m per year, with the total package of recommendations at over £80m a year. Associated with this, the Committee enquired about the costs of employing Newly Qualified Teachers to cover part of teachers’ productive time and introducing a guaranteed induction year. The Committee were informed that this would cost approximately £19m per year. This was not on the original list of DE bids and the Committee considers it should be given active consideration, along with the issue of using Newly Qualified Teachers (approx. £24.5k) as opposed to experienced teachers (approx. £42k) for substitution teachers.
Yours sincerely