To ask the Minister of Education what consideration he has given to removing the term newcomer from use within education policy and replacing it with more sensitive terminology.

The Department commenced a review of its Supporting Newcomer Pupils policy in October 2017 in response to the growing number and increasing diversity of newcomer pupils arriving in Northern Ireland. In 2019, the Department held a public consultation on its review of the policy however, work was temporarily suspended in March 2020 due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The consultation did not raise any major concerns in relation to the appropriateness of the term “newcomer”.

In 2022, work recommenced with policy proposals prepared for consideration of an incoming Minister. My officials are now building on the previous consultation and revisiting policy proposals to account for the current context, with a view to presenting proposals for my consideration.

As part of that exercise, I will ask my officials to examine the continuing use of the term “newcomer”, with a view to considering whether there is a need for the Department to introduce alternative terminology.