Ulster Unionist Education spokesperson Danny Kinahan MLA has called on the Education Minister to practice what he preaches. Mr Kinahan was speaking following John O’Dowd’s announcement of plans to give greater legal powers to the General Teaching Council to deal with poor performance and remove teachers from the register where necessary.

Mr Kinahan, who is also Vice-Chair of the Stormont Education Committee, said:

“Whilst I welcome moves to make it easier to remove failing teachers, I have to point out the fact the Minister himself is failing in his role.

Some of the key principles of leadership are building a team and looking out for its well-being and in this – as in so many other areas - the Minister’s record is one of failure.

In all too many cases our teachers are demoralised by the weight of non-teaching work they must undertake and they are left with the feeling that no-one in authority is listening.  Whilst there are unions and government appointed bodies, there are virtually no non-institutionalised forums to really hear their concerns.

Today the Minister announced that he was bringing in an OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) team of experts to assess his and his department’s work.  I am tempted to say that we have already had enough studies and strategies and what we need is action.

The Minister’s record on Leadership is one of failure. Leadership is about more than issuing orders or diktats. It is about bringing people together, working to build consensus as to the way forward and then bringing people with him.

If the Minister is serious about opening up his Department and our Education system to close scrutiny then the review must be genuinely free of Ministerial interference and in that case he should brace himself for some very inconvenient truths.”