UCU takes the ‘Make Education Count’ campaign to Stormont

UCU’s event in the Long Gallery at Stormont on 20 January, highlighted the continuing stark inequalities in educational attainment and opportunities depending where you live in Northern Ireland.

UCU produced 18 constituency profiles, each containing forty statistics regarding further and higher education in Northern Ireland. The profiles – produced as a 24 page booklet – highlighted trends regarding further and higher education across the constituencies – for example, the higher numbers of females attending further and higher education across all constituencies, compared with the lower average earnings of females across all constituencies. The figures threw up what people in NI already know – that West and North Belfast perform poorly compared to the more affluent East and South Belfast constituencies (however, even in these areas there are pockets and areas of extreme deprivation). The research also showed that rural and marginal constituencies in border areas were under-performing in nearly all aspects of further and higher educational attainment.

The UCU will use its constituency profile booklet as a base for its election manifesto and continued activity with political representatives in the coming months. This will form the basis for a sustained campaign, linked with both the Ulster Teachers Union and the Irish National Teachers Organisation.

Make Education Count - Stormont lobby, 20 January 2010 (9 photos)
20 January 2010, Stormont
UCU takes the ‘Make Education Count’ campaign to Stormont | http://makeeducationcount.org.uk | Copyright Kevin Cooper

Make Education Count 2010: Sue Ramsay