A recent BBC News NI report describes four young refugees and asylum seekers in Belfast who cannot get into the education they want. Three areas of Executive policy bear directly on their circumstances: a refugee integration strategy, a proposal to keep young people in education or training until 18, and a Department for the Economy policy of free English classes. None of these documents makes clear who must ensure that a young person arriving after compulsory school age can obtain a suitable place.
Mona, 16, came from Gaza at 15 with no English. She attended school in Coleraine, but since her family moved to Belfast, she has not found a place in school or college. Sara, 19, from Sudan, was told her Sudanese qualifications would not get her into university to study medicine, and she waited a year for a further education place to take A-levels. Hani, 20, from Iraqi Kurdistan, arrived at 16. Her younger siblings started school; she did not. She waited two years for a place on an English course, which delayed her GCSEs. Hossam, 22, from Sudan, wants to work in business and fashion design and has found it very hard to continue his education. In Hani’s words, young arrivals “need a pathway to walk in”.
Compulsory school age
Under Article 46 of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986, compulsory school age ordinarily ends on 30 June in the school year in which a young person turns 16. The Order makes special provision for summer birthdays, and for some pupils whose start at primary school was deferred, who may remain of compulsory school age for a further year. After that point, attendance is no longer compulsory. A young person may stay in school if a school keeps or admits them, or enter further education funded by the Department for the Economy.
The law places general duties on public bodies. Article 6 of the 1986 Order requires the Education Authority to secure that sufficient schools are available for primary and secondary education, offering instruction suited to pupils’ different ages, abilities and aptitudes. Article 2 defines secondary education by reference to senior pupils, a category that runs to the age of 19, so the duty is not confined to compulsory school age. In securing secondary schools, the Authority must have regard to full-time further education provided for senior pupils, so college provision bears on whether school provision is sufficient. The Department for the Economy has no equivalent express duty to secure sufficient college places: it acts under a general duty in Article 3 of the Education Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 and under powers in the Further Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1997. Article 13 of the 1997 Order requires each college’s governing body to ensure that the college provides suitable and efficient further education to its students, having regard to other educational provision in its area and to the educational needs of the community there. That duty is framed in terms of the college’s own students. Section 2 of the Children’s Services Co-operation Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 requires children’s authorities, including the Education Authority and the Northern Ireland departments, to co-operate with one another, so far as is consistent with the proper exercise of their functions, in work that contributes to the well-being of children and young people. The Act defines well-being to include learning and achievement and, with limited exceptions, applies only to those under 18.
These provisions govern the supply of places and co-operation between public bodies. Admission to an individual school is governed by Article 13 of the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1997. A school’s Board of Governors must admit a child applying outside the age group at which the school normally admits pupils where it has vacant places, selecting by its admissions criteria if applicants outnumber them, although it may refuse where admission would prejudice the efficient use of resources. That Order adopts the 1986 Order’s definition of a child as a person not over compulsory school age, so the procedure does not apply to someone who has passed that age. None of these provisions identifies an authority responsible for securing a suitable place, in school or in further education, for a particular young person who arrives near or after the end of compulsory school age, and the published policies examined here do not say whose task that is.
Stranded Dreams, published by Anaka Women’s Collective in May 2025, records three young people who turned 16 during their final compulsory year. All three were told they could not have a school place, and they were enrolled only after Anaka intervened. The same report records 16-year-olds being told they were too young for further education.
Further education and English classes
The Department for the Economy told the BBC that further education is open to all eligible people aged 16 and over, including asylum seekers and refugees. It said 1,455 asylum seekers and refugees were enrolled in further education in 2024/25, and that its six colleges provide ESOL free of charge. Its FE Circular 10/22 sets out the eligibility rules and states that colleges meet the cost of free ESOL from their existing budgets.
Hani was eligible for ESOL; the problem was a two-year wait. Stranded Dreams reports that when Belfast Met’s online ESOL registration opened in August 2024, it closed within 15 minutes after receiving 400 applications. Formal eligibility gives a young person little practical benefit when the course they need has no free places.
The Refugee Integration Strategy
The Executive Office published its Refugee Integration Strategy in May 2025. The BBC reports that the strategy made no specific commitment on access to education for older teenagers, but the accompanying Delivery Framework commits, under its fourth outcome, to providing “educational pathways for those aged 14-18”. It also proposes work on recognising the qualifications of those seeking protection, but frames that commitment around barriers to employment and does not mention university admission, where Sara’s difficulty lies. The framework says it does not list every departmental action and that a Tactical Delivery Group will take forward two or three areas at a time. It does not, however, identify a lead department, a timetable, a budget or a measurable target for either commitment.
The strategy was finalised after the position of young people over school age was raised. The Executive Office’s consultation analysis records written responses asking for provision for young asylum seekers and refugees over the statutory school leaving age. The draft strategy promised that asylum seekers would be recognised in a forthcoming ESOL strategy, but the final framework contains no ESOL strategy action. The Executive Office’s equality screening entered “None” against the needs of different age groups, on the basis that delivery of the strategy would meet individual needs, and assessed the impact on age as minor. It did not separately identify or analyse the position of young people arriving after compulsory school age, although the consultation raised it. Law Centre NI criticised the strategy on publication for containing no indicator or performance measure.
The strategy commits the Executive Office to publishing an annual progress report, without setting a date. When checked on 14 October 2026, the page listing the strategy’s documents did not include one.
The proposed 16–18 legislation
The Department of Education’s proposal to require participation in education or training until 18 is the most direct policy response. The Executive agreed it on 15 May 2025. The Department’s consultation response set out a draft Bill by autumn 2025 and law before the mandate ends on 31 March 2027, and it estimated the Assembly stages could take up to 12 months. No such Bill appeared on the Assembly’s list of Bills on 14 October 2026. On 23 September 2026, the Assembly’s Committee for Education considered a written update from the Department and agreed to write to it seeking a date for the Bill’s introduction.
The response promises a “minimum offer for all young people, particularly our most vulnerable”. It accepts that legislation is only part of the solution and that suitable pathways and support must accompany it. When the consultation launched, the Minister said authorities would be required to support and promote participation. Even if the legislation passes, it is unclear whether it would resolve the difficulties the BBC describes. Mona and Hani wanted to participate, but no place was available. The proposal covers those under 18, and the Department expects a gap between enactment and commencement.
The published response summarises the free-text answers and lists the organisations whose separate submissions were reviewed, including Anaka and Participation and the Practice of Rights. Three of the six sentences in its summary are taken word for word from one that the annex says was prepared using Microsoft Copilot. The response does not say what any of the organisational submissions argued, and nowhere mentions newcomers, refugees, asylum seekers, ESOL or language. The Department’s Equality Impact Assessment, published with the consultation in April 2025, stated that Roma, Traveller and newcomer families need additional support, often a more flexible pathway and customised support, which it said would be provided through underpinning policies and resources, particularly at key transition points. It does not mention refugees, asylum seekers or English-language provision, and the documents examined do not show what those underpinning policies are or how they would secure a place for a young person arriving after compulsory school age.
Proposals
Stranded Dreams proposed a two-year intensive ESOL programme for 16- to 24-year-olds, funded by the Department for the Economy, beginning with a Belfast pilot of at least 45 places. It is the most specific published proposal, although it would not by itself resolve every case. Sara’s reported difficulty is having her qualifications recognised, which an English-language programme would not address.
The proposal has already been put to Belfast City Council. A notice of motion asked the Council to endorse Stranded Dreams and to write to the Ministers for the Economy and Education supporting its recommendations, including a pilot for the Greater Belfast area. The People and Communities Committee adopted the motion on 5 August 2025 and agreed to write to both Ministers, and the full Council ratified that decision on 1 September 2025. In February 2026, the Council’s tracking schedule still listed the motion as ongoing, with its only update recording that it was to be discussed in August 2025. More than a year after the Council’s decision, the BBC reports that difficulties in accessing education continue. The Council had already funded a smaller programme with Refugee Language and Queen’s University, which Stranded Dreams credits with paying for exams: 30 young people took part, 15 sat the Cambridge B1 English exam and 10 passed. Programmes of that kind help, but they depend on short-term grants and do not give young people a guaranteed route into further education.
Four changes are needed:
- The Executive Office should identify which department is accountable for coordinating access to education for newcomers aged 16 to 24. It should set a timetable and a measure for the 14–18 pathways and qualifications actions, and extend the pathways action to 24.
- The Department for the Economy and the Department of Education should establish a funded pathway covering the transition from school into further education, starting with the Belfast pilot.
- The Department of Education should consider, as it drafts its legislation, whether the relevant authority should have a duty to secure a suitable place for a young person who arrives after compulsory school age ends.
- The Executive Office should publish the annual progress report its strategy promises.
Although the Executive, the Department of Education and the Department for the Economy have each acted on part of the problem, none has published a budget-backed statement on who must ensure a suitable place exists when a young person needs one. Until that is settled, whether young people arriving from places such as Gaza or Sudan can continue their education in Belfast will depend on whether a voluntary organisation can find them a place.
Sources:
Robbie Meredith, The ‘frustrating’ education limbo facing teenage asylum seekers, BBC News NI, 14 October 2026. The quotation from Hani and the four cases are taken from the version captured at 09:58; the Department for the Economy’s statement (FE open to eligible people aged 16 and over; 1,455 asylum seekers and refugees enrolled in 2024/25; free ESOL in six colleges) appears in the updated version.
The Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986, article 46(1)–(4), as amended by the School Age Act (Northern Ireland) 2022; text up to date to 15 August 2026.
The Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 1986, article 2(2) (definitions of “child”, “secondary education” and “senior pupil”) and article 6(1) and (1A) (sufficiency of schools; regard to further education provision for senior pupils). The Education Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 1989, article 3. The Further Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1997, articles 3–4 and 13. Children’s Services Co-operation Act (Northern Ireland) 2015, sections 1(2)(c), 2 and 9(1)–(3). The Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1997, articles 2(3) and 13(1), (4) and (5). The Education (Northern Ireland) Order 2006, article 27(1)–(2), read with article 1(5). All accessed 15–16 October 2026.
Anaka Women’s Collective, Stranded Dreams: The need for targeted education provision for young refugees and asylum seekers in Northern Ireland, May 2025, p. 6 and note 13, p. 21 (three young people refused a school place in their final compulsory year; 16-year-olds told they were too young for further education).
Department for the Economy, FE Circular 10/22: Access to ESOL classes in FE colleges, paragraphs 2.1–2.2 (eligibility; free ESOL) and 5.1 (funding from colleges’ budgets). Addendum 1 concerns data coding and does not alter these provisions. Enrolment figure and colleges: BBC report.
Anaka Women’s Collective, Stranded Dreams, p. 16 (Belfast Met registration, August 2024: closed within 15 minutes; 400 applications). Hani’s two-year wait: BBC report.
The Executive Office, Refugee Integration Strategy: Achieving the Outcomes, Delivery Framework, May 2025: scope of the framework, p. 2; Tactical Delivery Group, p. 3; Outcome 4 actions on “educational pathways for those aged 14-18” and on recognition of qualifications for employment, p. 9. The BBC’s characterisation of the strategy: BBC report.
The Executive Office, Consultation Analysis: Draft Refugee Integration Strategy, p. 39 (asylum seekers to be identified in the proposed ESOL Strategy) and p. 41 (provision for young people over the statutory school leaving age). The Executive Office, Annex C: Refugee Integration Strategy Equality Screening Document, approved 17 June 2024 (listed on the documents page as November 2024), p. 14 (needs by age: “None”) and p. 18 (impact on age: minor). Law Centre NI, An effective Refugee Integration Strategy for Northern Ireland? Wishful thinking, accessed 14 October 2026.
Delivery Framework, p. 3 (annual report). Refugee Integration Strategy: Documents, The Executive Office, page checked 14 October 2026.
Department of Education, 16-18 Legislation: Consultation Response, 20 August 2025, paragraphs 1 (mandate end, 31 March 2027), 6 (Executive agreement, 15 May 2025) and 42–43 (draft Bill by autumn 2025; Assembly stages up to 12 months). Northern Ireland Assembly, Primary Legislation: Bills, 2022–2027 Mandate, proceedings as at 14 October 2026. Northern Ireland Assembly, Committee for Education, Minutes of Proceedings, 23 September 2026, item 7.
Consultation Response, paragraphs 7 (“minimum offer”), 18–19 (pathways and support) and 44 (enactment and commencement). Department of Education, Consultation on learners participating in education or training until age 18 launched, 14 April 2025 (duties on authorities).
Consultation Response, paragraphs 36 (Anaka and PPR submission) and 40 (summary of free-text responses). Department of Education, Annex A: 16-18 Legislation Consultation Results, Analysis of Questions, p. 1 (“Summary of comments/text boxes (using MS Copilot)”) and p. 2 (“Additional Comments”). Three of the six sentences in paragraph 40 match the annex word for word. Department of Education, Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) on 16-18 Legislation, April 2025, p. 12 and p. 32 (additional support and flexible pathways for Roma, Traveller and newcomer families, “likely to be provided through the underpinning policies and resources”).
Anaka Women’s Collective, Stranded Dreams, pp. 18–20 (two-year ESOL Plus programme for ages 16–24; Belfast pilot of at least 45 places by the 2026–27 academic year).
Belfast City Council, People and Communities Committee, minutes of 5 August 2025, item 7c, and the report on the notice of motion for that meeting; Council minutes of 1 September 2025, item 8 (adoption of the committee’s minutes). Anaka Women’s Collective, Stranded Dreams, p. 16 (Council-funded programme with Refugee Language and Queen’s University).
People and Communities Committee, 10 February 2026, item 5b, Appendix 1, Notices of Motion live database, reference 453.
El Cavador is a Slugger reader from Belfast with a particular interest in education
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