The chair of Stormont’s education committee has accused Paul Givan of failing to deliver investment in PE (physical education) despite recently acknowledging the discipline’s importance in schools.
Nick Mathison highlighted how in early December the DUP education minister had pledged to “target areas of learning across the curriculum for investment, including PE, science and technology and drama”.
The Department of Education’s £10m curriculum-led capital investment programme for schools aims to “facilitate a large number of high-impact, lower-cost projects”.
Mr Givan said there was “very strong evidence” that inadequate facilities were “having a key impact on the delivery of PE in our schools” and that the programme would see a call launched for outdoor covered sports spaces for primary schools and synthetic pitches and sports halls for post-primary schools.
But according to Mr Mathison, the minister’s response to a written assembly question reveals that he is “in fact not delivering any investment in PE this year”.
The Alliance MLA said education was under huge financial pressure and that any investment in the sector is “to be welcomed and encouraged”.
However, he said Mr Givan needed to be “clear and transparent when announcing funding initiatives”.
“It is clear that a new capital programme which he characterised as having a ‘focus on PE’, and as being about ensuring PE is ‘positioned at the core of the curriculum’ is in fact not delivering any investment in PE this year,” the Strangford representative said.
“Rather, the £10m fund contains £1m of recycled funding announcements on defibrillators and mobile phone pouches, which had already been well publicised, with ministerial statements to the assembly being devoted to them.”
The chair of the education committee said the main investment announced by he minister “is in outdoor play and computers”.
“While these are important, the minister should be clear what his new funding package is actually going to deliver,” Mr Mathison said.
“There are also questions about how the funding will ensure that settings get what they need, and not what the minister has decided is best for them.”
A statement from Mr Givan’s department said the funding for defibrillators and mobile phones was a “small element” of the curriculum-led programme.
“The majority of funding this year will be targeted on outdoor play equipment and computers for schools,” it said.
It said there would be a call for PE facilities “in the coming weeks”.
The department said funding for play equipment would be provided directly to schools, enabling them to choose the items most needed.
