To ask the Minister of Education how he will ensure that the children’s workforce have a trauma-informed approach to sectarian bullying behaviour.

The Addressing Bullying in Schools Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 came into effect in September 2021, and it requires schools to record incidents or alleged incidents of bullying type behaviour, their motivation and their outcome. Each school’s Board of Governors (BoG) has responsibility to oversee the implementation of the Act in their school. The Act places a statutory duty on a BoG collectively to take responsibility for the development, implementation, monitoring and periodic review of the school’s Addressing Bullying policies and procedures.

The Education Authority (EA) has several services whose methodology is underpinned by the need to promote and model trauma informed approaches to meeting the needs of pupils, staff and school communities. Trauma informed services include the Intercultural Education Service; Primary Children Looked After Advisory Service; Being Well Doing Well; Nurturing Approaches in Schools Service; the Restorative Practice team; Primary and Post Primary Behaviour Support; and the Addressing Bullying in Schools Implementation Team (ABSIT). ABSIT was established in September 2022 to provide schools’ workforce with the skills, knowledge and support required for the implementation of the Act.

Furthermore, the EA, in partnership with the Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland, has made available Trauma Informed Practice Level 1 Training which is an online resource that staff can access.