Education Authority

Education Authority
Údarás Oideachais (Irish)
Lear Owerance (Ulster Scots)
FormationApril 1, 2015 (2015-04-01)
TypeNon-departmental body
HeadquartersAcademy Street, Belfast, BT1 2NQ
Chief Executive
Richard Pengelly
Chair
Mervyn Storey
Websitewww.eani.org.uk
Education Act (Northern Ireland) 2014
Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly
Long titleAn Act to provide for the establishment and functions of the Education Authority; to confer power on the Department of Education to make grants to sectoral bodies; and for connected purposes.
Citation2014 c. 12 (N.I.)
Dates
Royal assent11 December 2014
Other legislation
Amended by
  • Shared Education Act (Northern Ireland) 2016
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Education Act (Northern Ireland) 2014 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Education Authority (Irish: Údarás Oideachais) is a non-departmental body sponsored by the Department of Education in Northern Ireland. It was established under the Education Act (Northern Ireland) 2014 (c. 12 (N.I.))[1] which was passed by the Northern Ireland Assembly. The authority became operational on 1 April 2015.[2]

Responsibilities

The Education Authority is responsible for ensuring that efficient and effective primary and secondary education services are available to meet the needs of children and young people, and support for the provision of efficient and effective youth services.[3] These services were previously delivered by the five education and library boards (ELBs). Each of the former ELBs is now a sub region of the Education Authority:

  • Belfast Region[4]
  • North Eastern Region[5]
  • South Eastern Region[6]
  • Southern Region[7]
  • Western Region[8]

Education Authority Board

The Education Authority Board consists of 20 members plus the Chair. These include:

  • 8 political members who were nominated by political parties according to the D’Hondt mechanism;
  • 4 members representative of the interests of the Transferors (the Church of Ireland, the Methodist Church in Ireland, and the Presbyterian Church in Ireland) of controlled schools;
  • 4 members representative of the interests of the Trustees of maintained schools;
  • 1 member representative of the interests of Integrated schools;
  • 1 member representative of the interests of Irish medium schools;
  • 1 member representative of the interests of Voluntary Grammar schools; and
  • 1 member representative of the interests of Controlled Grammar schools[9]

References

  1. ^ "Education Act (Northern Ireland) 2014". The National Archives. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  2. ^ "About Us". Education Authority. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  3. ^ "About Us - Education Authority". www.eani.org.uk. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  4. ^ "Belfast Region - Education Authority". www.eani.org.uk. Archived from the original on 13 August 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  5. ^ "North Eastern Region - Education Authority". www.eani.org.uk. Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  6. ^ "South Eastern Region - Education Authority". www.eani.org.uk. Archived from the original on 26 January 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  7. ^ "Southern Region - Education Authority". www.eani.org.uk. Archived from the original on 3 August 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  8. ^ "Western Region - Education Authority". www.eani.org.uk. Archived from the original on 13 August 2016. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  9. ^ "Education Authority Board - Education Authority". www.eani.org.uk. Retrieved 24 December 2015.