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17 January 2012

Education Minister, John O’Dowd, has launched guidance that will enable children and young people to explore issues around community relations, equality and diversity.

The guidance will help teachers use practical activities and experiences to explore these issues with children and young people.

Launching the guidance, the Minister said: “In recent years there has been a welcome growth in diversity within our classrooms. Currently, many schools are engaged in community relations work, both on a single identity and cross-community basis. Within the school population over 8,000 pupils are identified as newcomer pupils for whom English is an additional language, over 3,000 pupils have been assessed by a medical professional as having a disability.

“To enable schools to deal with the issues related to improving relations with those perceived to be different, including those groups listed in section 75, new guidance has been created to aid teachers in the implementation of the new Community Relations, Equality and Diversity (CRED) in Education policy – providing specific, practical advice for teachers on its implementation.

“This guidance will help our young people better understand and respect not only each other, but also the many diverse groups across our society. I hope that educators will find the guidance of practical use as they seek to implement the CRED Policy.

“I am committed to promoting an education system with equality, rights and inclusion at its core. This guidance will help achieve this and will further prepare our young people as they shape the kind of society we aspire to create.”

Additional advice, good practice case studies and supporting materials are available from a new Education and Library Board website http://www.CREDNI.org and through the Youth Council NI website http://www.ycni.org.

1. The Community Relations, Equality and Diversity in Education policy and associated Guidance Notes can be downloaded from: http://www.deni.gov.uk/index/20-community-relations-pg/supporting-materials.htm

2. Visit the Department of Education’s YouTube channel at: http://www.youtube.com/thedeptofeducation