Northern Ireland needs to build almost 300 extra classrooms to cope with the soaring student population, a new report has claimed.
Research from public sector procurement specialist Scape shows a sharp rise in the number of school-age children, with an extra 7,332 pupils expected to start secondary school in 2020/21.
According to the report, the 9.4% rise means Northern Ireland urgently needs to build the equivalent of eight new schools to accommodate its pupils.
Ulster Teachers Union General Secretary Jacquie White warned that a failure to take action and to let class sizes spiral out of control would be damaging for Northern Ireland's young people.
"Class size is one of the most effective and best proven tools for boosting pupil achievement, yet class sizes are spiralling,” she said.
“This is a retrograde and very worrying trend, especially at a time when we need to be maximising our young people’s potential to compete on what is now a global jobs and economic market.
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“Teachers are now being expected to cope single-handedly with substantially increased pupil numbers – and remember these could be pupils with learning or behavioural difficulties as the Department promotes its policy of Special Educational Needs inclusion.
“It is vital that schools have the resources and teachers the support to ensure our children get the best possible educational chance in life. It is in their interests – and the interests of Northern Ireland in the long term.”
Scape's report, The School Places Challenge 2019, also found the cost of maintaining school buildings has rocketed, with budgets for the academic year expected to be blown by around £33m in 2018/19.
Northern Ireland’s Department of Education announced in May 2018 that up to £60m would be made available to 25 existing schools through a current School Enhancement Programme (SEP), for much-needed accommodation upgrades.
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Funding of between £500,000 and £4m is available through the SEP for projects aimed at refurbishing or extending existing buildings.
Mark Robinson, Scape Group Chief Executive, said: “Northern Ireland needs to build hundreds of school classrooms in a short time frame, and local authorities across the country continue to feel the strain.
“The issue of school places delivery is likely to be exacerbated in the coming years if we do not think and act more creatively now. Good schools are the bedrock of our society, and there can be no room for error."
Scape Group’s recommendations on how to tackle the School Places Challenge
1. The adoption of off-site construction as the main method of building for all new schools and extensions would ensure that they are built faster than traditional methods. If modular can grow in scale, building schools will become more efficient and cost-effective.
2. A fairer education funding model for local authorities, which ensures that they can work with central government to set budgets that reflect local need. In particular, local authorities should play a part in judging and approving free school proposals to make sure that new schools are established where they are most needed.
3. Greater collaboration between councils and developers to make sure secondary schools are built in major urban extensions and developments first, through agreements between developers seeking planning permission and the local planning authority.
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