Keep staff properly informed - Storey

DUP Education Spokeperson and Chairman of the Assembly Education Committee Mervyn Storey has called for all education staff to be kept properly informed of developments during the present period of uncertainty surrounding reforms in the administration of education.

Commenting Mr Storey said "Having failed to bring forward an acceptable model for the proposed Education and Skills Authority, the Minister is now pursuing a convergence agenda which may have merits if approached responsibly and managed properly.

“My party strongly supports the objectives of achieving efficiencies and greater consistency in service provision while maximising resources for frontline services. However we want to see good governance and accountability arrangements underpinning all of this and remain to be convinced of the legality, practicality, transparency and sustainability of the present proposals.

“We are prepared to work with the Minister and her officials in finding the best way forward but in the meantime it is imperative that education staff, the dedicated workforce who actually deliver a range of services to our schools and young people, are kept as informed as possible.

“The Minister and her Department must give greater priority to communicating with staff, who have remained admirably committed through a prolonged period of uncertainty. Our young people are well served by a dedicated education workforce who have shown themselves prepared to embrace change in the name of progress, but they must be treated with respect and every effort made to ensure their morale is not unnecessarily eroded.”

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