“it would be better if all the ducks were facing in the one direction..”
As a representative of an interested party, Frank Bunting of teachers’ union INTO says that the two consultation documents, on selection and area based planning, in the ongoing discussion on post-primary education are “eagerly awaited”. Apart from his comments on the need for consensus, the points on other issues are, for now, more rumour than fact, but he suggests that approximately 30 local area based planning groups are to be proposed – that number could be aligned, as recommended by the Bain Report, to current local Council areas with possible additional groups for Belfast. The BBC’s Mark Devenport also notes that “the minister is supposed to be bringing a paper on education to the Executive on Thursday..” Anyway, here is Frank Bunting in discussion on the BBC’s Stormont Live where he predicts a “real deadline” of Easter-time this year. [N.B. he's not an MLA, despite the BBC caption - Ed]
