AQW 7107/22-27

Mr Nick Mathison
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 21/02/2024
Answered On Date: 29/02/2024
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Education how he will ensure that all (i) schools; and (ii) youth services deliver anti-discriminatory practices, such as opportunities to celebrate cultural and linguistic diversity, different genders, sexualities and abilities, as recommended in the Children’s Law Centre Report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Answer:

In schools, the curriculum plays a role in shaping children’s and young people’s dispositions and provides the opportunity to explore diversity and inclusion. The Addressing Bullying in Schools Northern Ireland Act 2016, which came into effect in 2021, requires schools to record incidents or alleged incidents of bullying type behaviour, their motivation and their outcome.

The Youth Service has a long history of actively promoting anti-discriminatory practices within youth centres and through a range of focused programmes.