To ask the Minister of Education what changes he is proposing to teacher training on the prevention and addressing of bullying in schools.

Following the commencement (in 2021) of the Addressing Bullying in Schools Act (Northern Ireland) 2016, the Education Authority (EA) established an Addressing Bullying in Schools Implementation Team (ABSIT). This team, which has been in existence since September 2022, provides a support service for schools to enable them to meet their statutory requirements, as outlined in the Act. This service offers targeted advice, guidance, and professional learning courses to schools on effective prevention of, and responses to, bullying type concerns.

The ABSIT has met with a number of initial teacher education (ITE) providers in Northern Ireland, provided resources to support ITE and signposted staff and student teachers to appropriate resources on the EA website. ABSIT has also delivered a professional learning course to student teachers in Stranmillis University College and offered this to St Mary’s University College and Queen’s University Belfast. While ABSIT has not yet met with Ulster University regarding its ITE provision, the team are open to engaging with the University.

Additionally, ABSIT is launching a specific online professional learning course for student teachers and will track its completion, with a view to identifying further TPL needs on this issue. The online programme will be available to all student teachers through the EA’s school development portal.