To ask the Minister of Education to detail (i) how the Fair Employment (School Teachers) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022, has been progressed; and (ii) where the evidence of the religious background of teachers, per school, is reported and published.

To ensure the smooth implementation of the Fair Employment (School Teachers) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 a working group was established with management representatives from all of the education sectors.

This group worked in conjunction with the Equality Commission and guidance for schools was published with the support of Management Side of the Teachers’ Negotiating Committee. The Equality Commission delivered a series of training webinars specifically on the recruitment and selection guidance. The target audience for the webinars was those school governors, principals, heads of departments involved in the recruitment and selection of school teachers.

The Chair of the Teachers’ Negotiating Committee (TNC) management side wrote to all schools explaining the requirements for the implementation of the Fair Employment (School Teachers) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022.

The religious background of teachers in a particular school is not reported or published.

The Education Authority is responsible for preparing and submitting the annual monitoring return to the Equality Commission for teachers in controlled schools and CCMS is responsible for carrying out this function for teachers in Catholic maintained schools. All other schools with over ten staff are required to submit monitoring returns to the Equality Commission.