8 June 2005
LEGISLATION WILL PROMOTE INCLUSION AND DISABILITY RIGHTS IN EDUCATION SECTOR - ANGELA SMITH
New legislation coming into effect in September this year will, for the first time, counter disability discrimination in education here.
Highlighting the impact of the Special Educational Needs and Disability (Northern Ireland) Order (SEND), during a speech to delegates attending a conference organised by the Association of Northern Ireland Colleges (ANIC), Employment and Learning Minister Angela Smith said: "People with disabilities are entitled to the same rights of access to education as people without disabilities. The SEND Order provides a legal framework under which colleges and universities will be encouraged and required to provide access to the curriculum and create an environment that can accommodate the needs of everyone, including those with disabilities.
"The new legislation represents a significant step forward in promoting inclusion and disability rights in schools and institutions of further and higher education. For example, recent research indicates that over 10% of people in Northern Ireland aged 18 to 30 have a disability, yet Further Education colleges recruit no more than 5% of their students from amongst those with a disability. In Higher Education, the comparable figure is just 2%."
However, the Minister acknowledged that many institutions had already taken steps to encourage access and wider participation and added: "We must build on the expertise and good practice that already exists and encourage its application in all colleges and universities. It is not enough to say to disabled young people that they are welcome, if access to our curriculum, our premises, our funding and our services tells them they are not.
"In our schools, colleges, universities and Government departments we need an educational system that values diversity and we need a system that is sufficiently flexible to allow students to develop their full potential whatever their circumstances. The SEND Order presents a challenge to Higher and Further education and to the Department for Employment and Learning which funds and supports these sectors.
"We need to respond to that challenge with energy and commitment, not simply because we have to obey the law, but because young people with disabilities throughout Northern Ireland deserve nothing less."
The Minister was welcomed to the conference, at the New City Hotel in Armagh, by Tom Place, the Chairperson and John D’Arcy, Chief Executive of ANIC.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
- The SEND Order was made on the 6 April 2005, to take effect in September 2005.
- The Order will strengthen the rights of children with Special Educational Needs to be educated in mainstream schools and it will introduce, for the first time, enforceable disability discrimination legislation for schools, institutions of further and higher education and general qualifications bodies in Northern Ireland.
- The Order was the subject of a public consultation from 2 April to 28 June 2004 and received strong support from those who responded.
- Media enquiries to the Department for Employment and Learning Press Office on 028 9025 7790.
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