As of 2022, NI’s Education Authority (EA) has an annual budget of £2.3 billion, employs around 44,000 staff, and delivers vital services to approximately 1,100 schools—from school meals and transport to maintenance and special educational needs (SEN) support. Therefore, how this organisation is governed and who controls it has profound implications for hundreds of thousands of pupils, parents, and education professionals.
Current Controversies
Recent appointments to senior EA positions have once again raised concerns about political patronage and the need for reform. Education Minister Paul Givan appointed DUP Councillor Mervyn Storey as EA Chair in December 2024, following his earlier selection of Richard Pengelly (husband of Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly) as CEO in April 2024. These appointments have drawn criticism and accusations of “jobs for the boys.”
While the Department of Education maintains that these appointments followed proper merit-based procedures, the timing—during a three-and-a-half-year vacancy in the Public Appointments Commissioner role—has amplified concerns about oversight and transparency. The former Commissioner for Public Appointments, Judena Leslie, has stated this was “exactly the kind of case” that should be investigated, noting there is a “huge amount of public disquiet around this appointment, with accusations of cronyism and the politicisation of the Education Authority.”
This pattern of perceived political patronage, however, extends far beyond these two high-profile cases. DUP Councillor Jonathan Craig, who, like Storey, was co-opted to Local Government after losing his Assembly seat, sits on multiple public bodies, including the EA board, while working part-time for the Deputy First Minister. Little-Pengelly herself came to the Assembly through co-option in 2022, taking DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson’s seat after he chose to remain at Westminster rather than serve as an MLA—a choice forced by PM Boris Johnson’s withdrawal of a controversial proposal to reintroduce double jobbing. Meanwhile, Education Minister Givan has employed his wife as a constituency officer since December 2022.
Historical Precedent
However, this is far from the first time senior education appointments in NI have provoked controversy. In February 1999, the Assembly heatedly debated a report from the First Minister (Designate) and the Deputy First Minister (Designate) on the establishment of new governmental departments and structures after the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement. A key sticking point was the proposal to create ten departments instead of seven.
Edwin Poots suggested that the division of education among three departments—Education, Higher and Further Education, and Culture, Arts and Leisure—was not done for the sake of good governance but rather to create more ministerial positions that could be distributed among parties.
Nigel Dodds referenced Seamus Mallon’s assertion that the increase in the number of departments was “to secure as many ‘jobs for the boys’ as possible, rather than for administrative efficiency.” Poots expanded on this critique, noting that “there may be some female Members who wish to put their snouts in the troughs.” The Assembly was suspended from February to May 2000 and again from October 2002 to May 2007, curtailing further discussion.
The Failed ESA Experiment
In March 2006, following a comprehensive Review of Public Administration (RPA) established in June 2002, Secretary of State Peter Hain announced plans for an Education and Skills Authority (ESA) to rationalise and consolidate the functions of multiple education bodies. These included the five Education and Library Boards (ELBs), the Council for Curriculum Examinations and Assessment (CCEA), the Regional Training Unit (RTU), the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE), and Comhairle na Gaelscolaiochta (CnaG). Under the proposal, ESA would take ownership of all Controlled schools’ estates and become the single employing authority for all teaching and support staff.
Between 2006 and 2013, the ESA proposal encountered ongoing opposition from various groups: the Transferor churches resisted losing their influence, Voluntary Grammar schools sought to retain their autonomy, and different factions within the power-sharing coalition raised objections.
After spending £17 million, the ESA plan was abandoned in 2014. Instead, the Education Act 2014 established the Education Authority (EA) as a compromise body that effectively merged only the five ELBs. Much of the complex administrative structure remained intact, with the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS), CCEA, and the Voluntary Grammar sector continuing to operate independently.
The EA Compromise and its Consequences
The effect of these political compromises and sectoral pressures on the EA’s effectiveness was exposed in 2022 when the DE commissioned a Landscape Review of the organisation. The subsequent 170-page report by Baker Tilly Mooney Moore painted a damning picture, finding the EA “not effective” and limited in its engagement with schools, with decisions driven by process rather than the needs of pupils.
Significantly, despite acknowledging that the composition of the EA Board was enshrined in primary legislation, the report’s authors recommended “a full review of the Board to determine the appropriateness of the current model (even if it tests that legislation).”
Time to Move Forward?
Rather than reiterating how this might be accomplished, I would direct the reader to my previous Slugger piece, which suggested adapting the model currently used by the NI Housing Executive (NIHE). Under this system, a new Education Council comprising a representative from NI’s eleven local councils could serve as a forum for discussing educational issues affecting their areas. Like the Housing Council, it could examine matters referred to by the DE or the EA while establishing local educational priorities. This body could nominate elected Councillors to the EA board, ensuring democratic representation while preserving the connection between local communities and strategic decision-making. Indeed, the minutes of the Assembly Education Committee reveal that while there was discussion about the number of Councillors who could serve on the ESA board, the intention was always to allocate positions to elected Local Government members (Clause 2 of Schedule 1 of the Draft Bill) “in the interests of local democratic accountability”.
David is an ex-Orangefield Boys’ School pupil, a retired teacher, lecturer and academic. He represents Titanic on Belfast City Council for the Alliance Party, is a Governor at two East Belfast Primary Schools, studies Human Rights law at Ulster University and is a member of Humanists UK. He writes in an entirely personal capacity.
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