Ulster Unionist South Antrim candidate, Danny Kinahan has said there is more to be done to prepare children for life after school.

Mr Kinahan, who chaired the All Party Parliamentary Group on Education at Westminster, was speaking after it published a report; ‘How well do schools prepare children for their future?’

Danny Kinahan said:

“It has been a pleasure of mine to serve as the Chair of the APPG on Education over the last two years, where I have been able to feed in my experiences from Northern Ireland, but also learn lessons on how the education system operates across the UK.

“While education is a devolved matter, there are shared challenges which affect us all in every part of the United Kingdom.

“A shortage of students adequately trained to pursue careers in STEM subjects is a common theme, and we must do our utmost to encourage participation and remove barriers, particularly for women who tend to be underrepresented both at A-level, higher education institutions and in future careers in STEM subjects.

“Likewise, a tighter budgetary context across the UK has meant that more responsibilities are being placed on teachers who often take on these burdens with no extra pay. An increasing teacher workload is problematic, which can lead to pupils not getting the best outcomes, as teachers are forced to spend too much time on needless bureaucracy, rather than being free to motivate and inspire young people to embark on the pathways which will lead them to employment. Ultimately, when teachers are overburdened this takes time away from children in the classroom.

“Indeed, teachers in Northern Ireland are currently on a rolling strike, with too heavy a workload one of their key grievances. This demonstrates that pressure on teachers is clearly a UK-wide issue.

“We must do all we can to support our teachers, to enable them to impart knowledge to our young people, so they have the right skills for life after they leave school.”

ENDS