Northern Ireland

Overview of Education System

Northern Ireland has a complex educational structure with numerous entities involved in its management and administration. The Department of Education has statutory responsibility for the provision of preprimary, primary, secondary, and special education. The Department of Education is accountable to the Northern Ireland Assembly through the Minister for Education, who is responsible for establishing the department’s policy priorities, managing the education budget and allocation of resources, setting targets for the system, and reporting outcomes to the assembly.

The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations, and Assessment advises the Department of Education on curriculum, assessment, and qualifications, including qualification regulation. The General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland is responsible for the registration of teachers and the regulation of the teaching profession. The Education Authority is responsible for ensuring that efficient and effective primary and secondary education is available. Depending on the type of school, the employing authority for teachers is the Education Authority, the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools, or the individual school’s Board of Governors. Grant aided (publicly funded) schools in Northern Ireland differ based on their ownership, management, and ethos. The four main types are controlled, maintained (mostly Catholic), voluntary, and grant‑maintained integrated.⁴

Schools in Northern Ireland have a high level of autonomy. Overall responsibility for strategic matters lies with each school’s Board of Governors, with the principal responsible and accountable for the day to day operation of the school. Although all grant aided schools are required to follow the Northern Ireland Curriculum, the curriculum does not prescribe teaching hours by subject, and schools are responsible for implementing the curriculum according to their students’ needs and circumstances.

School autonomy is counterbalanced by a system of accountability that includes school inspections and external examinations taken at ages 16, 17, and 18. Schools are required by legislation to set their own targets for improvement—including targets for literacy and numeracy—and to include these in the School Development Plan. A well established system of external school evaluation by the Department of Education’s Education and Training Inspectorate incorporates transparency of procedures and results, with inspection reports published online. The Inspectorate takes a risk‑based approach in determining the frequency of inspection.⁵

Compulsory education spans 12 years from ages 4 to 16. Children who turn age 4 by July 1 start primary school in the September following their fourth birthday. Secondary education is provided in secondary schools and grammar schools, known collectively as post-primary schools. During the 2016–2017 school year, 55 percent of students entering post-primary education attended a nongrammar school, while 45 percent attended a grammar school.⁶

Full time education is compulsory up to age 16, but most young people continue with full time education after age 16. Full time education is free up to age 19 and is provided by post-primary schools and further education colleges. Exhibit 1 shows how the curriculum for the 12 years of compulsory education is organized into stages and how school years map onto UNESCO’s International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED).⁷

Exhibit 1: Stages of the Curriculum in Northern Ireland^a

Stage	ISCED Level	Years	Ages
Primary Education:
Foundation Stage	Level 1	1 to 2	4 to 5
Key Stage 1	Level 1	3 to 4	6 to 7
Key Stage 2	Level 1	5 to 7	8 to 10
Post-primary (Secondary) Education:
Key Stage 3	Level 2	8 to 10	11 to 13
Key Stage 4	Level 3	11 to 12	14 to 15