The Department of Education (DENI) (Irish: An Roinn Oideachais; Ulster-Scots: Männystrie o Lear)[4] is a devolved Northern Irish government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The minister with overall responsibility for the department is the Minister of Education.
Aim
The department's overall vision is "to ensure that every learner fulfils her or his potential at each stage of development". Its key stated priorities are: raising Standards for all; closing the performance gap, increasing access and equality; developing the education workforce; improving the "learning environment"; and transforming education management.[5]
Responsibilities
The department is responsible for the following levels of education:[6]
As an organisation, its key functions include advising the minister on the determination of education policy, framing legislation, accounting for the effectiveness of the education system, allocating, and monitoring and accounting for resources.
Through the Education and Training Inspectorate, it evaluates and reports on the quality of teaching and learning and teacher education.
Administration of the education system is delegated to a single combined authority, funded by the department:
A devolved minister took office on 2 December 1999. Devolution was suspended for four periods, during which the department came under the responsibility of direct rule ministers from the Northern Ireland Office:
Its functions would be "divided principally" between the Department of Education and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment "in an agreed manner". The proposal was resisted by the Alliance Party,[19] which viewed it as "power grab" by the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin, but was approved on 18 January 2012.[20] No timescale for the abolition was outlined and the department remained in operation, as of late March 2012.
From 2 December 1999 to 25 May 2016, the department was headed by Sinn Féin legislators. It was not until 25 May 2016 that the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)'s Peter Weir became the first non-Sinn Féin politician to head the Northern Ireland Department of Education.