30 May 2026
TransformED marks first year with progress report
Northern Ireland Education Minister Paul Givan has marked the first anniversary of the TransformED education reform programme by publishing its First Annual Progress Report and Updated Delivery Plan. Launched at the TransformED One Year On School Leaders’ Conference in Ballymena, the report formed the centrepiece of a week-long programme of events bringing together more than 1,500 school leaders, teachers, education partners and international experts from Northern Ireland and beyond.
The report sets out progress across TransformED’s core areas: curriculum, assessment, qualifications, school improvement, tackling educational disadvantage and teacher professional learning. The Minister described the programme as entering its “most critical phase”, with the updated plan signalling a decisive shift from design and consultation towards consistent, high-quality classroom practice across the system.
The year ahead will focus on consulting on a new statutory curriculum, developing high-quality curriculum resources, continuing reform of assessment and qualifications, expanding leadership support and sustaining investment in professional learning. The reforms respond to the 2023 Independent Review of Education and the Strategic Review of the Northern Ireland Curriculum, which found the current framework now nearly 20 years old, too high-level, leading to inconsistency across schools.
For the careers profession, TransformED matters because curriculum, qualifications and assessment reform will shape how careers education is positioned in the years ahead. Careers leaders, advisers and CPD providers may wish to engage early with the consultation processes flagged in the Updated Delivery Plan, and consider how the profession can ensure that career development sits visibly within the next phase of NI education reform.
Read more: Givan marks reform milestone with TransformED Progress Report
The report sets out progress across TransformED’s core areas: curriculum, assessment, qualifications, school improvement, tackling educational disadvantage and teacher professional learning. The Minister described the programme as entering its “most critical phase”, with the updated plan signalling a decisive shift from design and consultation towards consistent, high-quality classroom practice across the system.
The year ahead will focus on consulting on a new statutory curriculum, developing high-quality curriculum resources, continuing reform of assessment and qualifications, expanding leadership support and sustaining investment in professional learning. The reforms respond to the 2023 Independent Review of Education and the Strategic Review of the Northern Ireland Curriculum, which found the current framework now nearly 20 years old, too high-level, leading to inconsistency across schools.
For the careers profession, TransformED matters because curriculum, qualifications and assessment reform will shape how careers education is positioned in the years ahead. Careers leaders, advisers and CPD providers may wish to engage early with the consultation processes flagged in the Updated Delivery Plan, and consider how the profession can ensure that career development sits visibly within the next phase of NI education reform.
Read more: Givan marks reform milestone with TransformED Progress Report
0 Comments
Your chance to input to widening access to HE
Join a webinar on 6th August to feed into possible career development solutions to address the gap in HE participation.
09 July 2026
CDI to present at Level 3 qualifications reform forum.
CDI invited to present at the Westminster Education Forum on supporting students to navigate the reformed Level 3 qualifications.
01 July 2026
