The Ulster Unionist Party’s Education Spokesperson Danny Kinahan MLA has demanded that the Education Minister do more to ensure that young people leave school with the skills required to succeed in the workplace and indeed life.

Speaking after a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General which assessed progress in improving literacy and numeracy achievement in schools here, found that a very high proportion of pupils are failing to achieve minimal levels in literacy and numeracy, Mr Kinahan said:

“It is quite clear from this report that far too many children are being failed by the education system. There is something badly wrong when after 12 years of Education, two pupils in five are walking out the school gates having failed to achieve even the minimum standard of five a-c passes at GCSE level.

I note with interest but not surprise, the “strong correlation between low levels of academic achievement and free school meal entitlement (an indicator of social deprivation)" and the conclusion that "social deprivation appears to have a greater negative impact on achievement levels in controlled (mainly Protestant) schools than in their maintained (mainly Catholic) counterparts".

This is further proof of the problem, of educational under-achievement by working class Protestant boys which the Ulster Unionist party has been highlighting.  We believe that only through directly targeting social need, will Northern Ireland begin to challenge the current inequity. The only realistic way in which this problem can be resolved is through an immediate reprioritisation of resources.

Last year I proposed the introduction of a pupil bonus scheme, similar to the pupil premium already in place and working effectively in England, whereby schools receive additional money based principally on how many of their children qualify for free school meals. Indeed, the recent Salisbury Report on the review of the Common Funding Scheme went on that proposed the exact same thing. I am now calling on the Education Minister to come forward with concrete proposals as to what exactly he is going to do to address the unacceptable literacy and numeracy levels across Northern Ireland.”