Covid: Funding uncertainty over post-pandemic learning scheme

Funding for a scheme that employs teachers to help children's learning recover after the pandemic is still not in place for the next school year.

This was revealed in a letter from the education minister to schools, sent after term ended.

Money for a counselling programme for primary school pupils is also yet to be confirmed.

A union said children were casualties of the failure of politicians to provide effective governance.

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) also said the timing of the Department of Education (DE) communication had caused "great offence".

The Engage programme was introduced by the department in September 2020 and continued in the 2021-22 school year.

Schools were given money to employ teachers or substitute teachers to provide extra help to pupils whose learning had been affected most by the pandemic and restrictions.

Schools received between £3,600 and £50,000 depending on their size and how many pupils they had who were eligible for free school meals.

Funding for the Engage programme was about £15m in the 2020-21 school year and about £24m in 2021-22.

According to the department, about 1,500 teachers and 600 classroom assistants were employed by schools to provide one-to-one or small group teaching to some pupils from 2021-22.

The Healthy Happy Minds programme meanwhile provided funding for therapeutic and counselling services in primary schools.

Primary schools previously had to arrange and pay for their own counselling for pupils.

There has been a significant rise in young people in mental health crisis seeking help during the coronavirus pandemic.

Schools have also previously reported greater numbers of pupils with mental health issues, some "directly related to lockdown".

Primary schools were also able to use funding from the Healthy Happy Minds programme to provide targeted support for pupils' mental health.

But in her letter to school principals, Education Minister Michelle McIlveen was unable to confirm yet that funding for the programmes would be in place in September.

"I have issued a direction to my officials to continue the programmes until the end of December 2022 in the first instance," she said.

"However, this direction remains subject to the approval of the Department of Finance.

"I fully understand the importance of urgent notification on this issue and can assure you that I will provide clarity on budget allocations as soon as I receive confirmation from the finance minister."

A three-year draft budget had not been agreed before the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) withdrew from the Stormont Executive in February.

A new executive has not been formed because the DUP is refusing to nominate ministers until its concerns about the Northern Ireland Protocol are addressed.

The NAHT said that the uncertainty over the schemes was "very worrying" for schools.

"Given the withdrawal of hundreds of millions of pounds from our schools in recent years, the needs of our children are greater than ever," the NAHT said in a statement.

"Great offence has been felt by school leaders because of the abject failure of the Department of Education to communicate in a timely way or with any degree of clarity."

The NAHT said this had left "principals unable to plan for learning provision and hundreds of temporarily employed teachers uncertain about their employment.

"It is, therefore, infuriating that our children and school services are, yet again, casualties of the failure of our politicians to provide effective governance in Northern Ireland.

"Our politicians are public servants, elected by the public to serve.

"Using the most vulnerable people in our society as leverage in a political strategy has always been and will always be wrong."