To ask the Minister of Education for an update on actions he is taking to address teacher workload.

Mr Givan

At the end of April 2026, I published the workload action plan. That plan translates the recommendations of the independent review panel into practical, deliverable and time-bound measures. The plan addresses each of the 27 recommendations either fully or in part with clear ownership, governance arrangements and timescales for delivery. Importantly, the plan also includes a number of significant measures that go beyond the panel's recommendations, including the provision of additional administrative support for schools and the full roll-out of generative AI to streamline routine tasks. Members will be aware that the Northern Ireland Teachers' Council (NITC) unions have notified the Department that they are in dispute over the workload action plan. The Department remains committed to resolving the dispute through meaningful and constructive dialogue, and there will be ongoing discussions between the Department, management side of the Teachers' Negotiating Committee (TNC) and the NITC trade unions in an attempt to reach a resolution and thus avoid industrial action. We are also engaging the services of the Labour Relations Agency (LRA) to help with the conciliation process. While the ongoing dispute may result in delays to certain aspects of delivery in the action plan, reducing the workload of teachers and school leaders remains a priority. In parallel with further engagement with the NITC, we will therefore continue to progress the actions in the published plan where implementation is possible in the current circumstances.

Mr Givan

We very much want to support SENCOs. That is part of the wider SEN reform approach that we need to see in our schools. The Member, like other Members, will know that demand is increasing, yet we have a finite resource available to help. One of the recommendations of the report suggested that wider administrative support be provided to schools. Such an administrative function would assist the whole school rather than one element of the school exclusively, and that could help reduce the burden of the paperwork that can be involved. We need to ask, however, what information that is being sought is absolutely essential and whether that is appropriate and proportionate to enable effective decisions to be taken. I want to be in a situation in which we do not need our young people to come through a statementing process because their needs have been identified in early years. I want schools to have the resource available to make that intervention, which can be provided not just to children with statements but to those who have additional needs but have not been through a statementing process. Reform is therefore required, but one of the 27 recommendations seeks to address schools' administrative workload by providing support to enable that burden to be lifted.

Mr Sheehan

There is a clear disconnect between what the Minister says and the reality of what teachers are dealing with. Will he explain why, if his plans and proposals are working, teachers are being balloted on industrial action on the issue of workload?

Mr Givan

It is an area that I have had to navigate, as have many previous Education Ministers. Industrial relations is an area that needs ongoing work. I have outlined how we can address it, but I come back to saying that, when workload was undefined, trade unions struggled to specify the challenge. They said so to me, and I replied, "Let's set up a three-member panel, and you appoint one of your members to sit on it", which they did. A senior industrial trade unionist was their representative. The panel made 27 recommendations that I am seeking to take forward, yet there is still a dispute. We need to work through the implementation of the recommendations, some of which will be impacted on if industrial action is invoked and we cannot then reform some of the burdens. I very much want to work with the trade unions. That is why, tomorrow, our team will sit down with the Labour Relations Agency as part of the conciliation process. I have reached out to the LRA and asked it to engage — I have gone through the process and am therefore seeking external support — and we have until the end of the summer to make further progress. I hope that we will be able to do so, as that will ultimately be in the interests of everybody involved.

Mr Brooks

The list of actions that the Minister has given shows his commitment to reducing workload. How will the roll-out of TransformED assist in that?

Mr Givan

TransformED has many strands. Many of those who were involved in developing TransformED and, in particular, the curriculum are local practitioners. I thank the more than 70 local teachers from different sectors who sat on the 13 subject working groups. The curriculum is now out for consultation, providing an opportunity for people to engage in the process. The outworking of the curriculum aspect of TransformED will be a reduction in teacher workload. The current curriculum is vague, high-level and abstract and requires a lot of interpretation for the teaching profession to deliver lesson plans. The new curriculum, however, will have greater specific content. We are also seeking to develop materials that align with the teaching aspect. It will help teachers to manage their workload and will be a more effective way of taking forward the curriculum. It will also help with the processes for assessment and qualifications. We have many subjects that require a heavy workload for controlled assessment. That places a burden on a lot of teachers. As we move forward, assessment processes will be aligned with qualification reform. That will free up our teachers to do what they do best and what they went into the profession to do: teach, without being encumbered by ineffective curriculum, assessment and qualification processes that have contributed significantly to their workload.

Mr Burrows

Does the Minister agree that the issue of workload is connected in part to teachers having to deal with a small number of disruptive pupils who cause a disproportionate amount of disruption, creating a lot more work for teachers, and that it is vital that there is the capability to swiftly and firmly deal with the small minority of disruptive pupils in our schools?

Mr Givan

The trade unions have also raised with me the issue of managing behaviour in our schools and the different practices that exist across Northern Ireland. That is why we will move forward with an independent review of behaviour-management practices in our schools. I hope to make progress on that in due course. We need to make sure that there is an effective way of managing behaviour. Ultimately, there will be disruption, but you have to minimise that. You cannot allow the overwhelming majority to be negatively impacted on by disruption. I encourage Members to engage with the schools that piloted mobile phone-inhibiting devices. I am so passionate about removing mobile phones from our schools because the schools that operated and consistently applied the technology have seen a notable decrease in poor behaviour, an increase in academic output and a decrease in wider community engagement. That is because you no longer have messages going from students at school to their parents and the parents coming unannounced to the school, which can lead to tensions at entry points to the school, and you do not have videos and photographs being taken that end up on Facebook, which then creates further tension. All of that has to be managed by our schools. That has been one small but impactful measure that we have taken forward. I await the independent evaluation by King's College of the policy that I wanted to introduce.