Publications

NIHRC Submission to the Department of Education on the School Uniform Policy Consultation

Date produced: September 2024

Below is a summary of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission's (NIHRC) recommendations and messages.
You can also download the full document through the links provided.

Summary of recommendations

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission recommends that:

• the Department of Education adopts a human rights based approach to the development, implementation and monitoring of the updated statutory guidance. The full range of internationally accepted human rights standards should be clearly referenced throughout the policy, including cross-reference the right to education and the principles of availability, accessibility, acceptability and adaptability where appropriate.

• the revised statutory guidance on school uniforms makes explicit reference to the ‘best interests’ principle.

• the revised statutory guidance on school uniforms makes explicit reference to the evolving capacity of children and young people to ensure their views on school uniform policy are given due weight in accordance with their age and maturity.

• the revised statutory guidance specifically references international obligations on non-discrimination, including Article 14 of the ECHR. This should include a commitment to eliminate discrimination against children in disadvantaged situations, including children belonging to ethnic minority groups, asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children, Roma, gypsy and traveller children, children with disabilities, children in alternative care, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children, and socioeconomically disadvantaged children, among others.

• the Department of Education supports schools and governing bodies to improve the collection of data in relation to the statutory guidance, including disaggregation by age, sex, disability, geographical location, ethnic origin, nationality and socioeconomic background. Disaggregated data should be reported to the Department of Education during each monitoring round to inform ongoing analysis and child rights impact assessments of the guidance.

• statutory guidance should ensure that all effective measures are taken so that children in disadvantaged situations, including children in socioeconomically disadvantaged situations, are not denied access to certain schools in NI or any level of education based on their inability to meet school uniform costs. This includes the stipulation only of basic items and colours. Moreover, any high cost items or items with unnecessary variations should be avoided.

• the Department of Education makes every effort to use all available resources to ensure school uniform grants in NI are sufficient, proportional to costs and include targeted measures for children identified as particularly disadvantaged, in accordance with the principles of non-discrimination and best interests of the child.

• the Department of Education monitors and publishes disaggregated data on school uniform grants, including:

1. Data on the average cost of school uniforms in NI (disaggregated by school type)
2. Data on the average cost of PE kits in NI (disaggregated by school type)
3. Data on the number of pupils/families eligible for a uniform grant (disaggregated by school type)
4. Data on pupils/families eligible for a uniform grant disaggregated by age, sex, disability, geographical location, ethnic origin, nationality and socioeconomic background.

• the statutory guidance specifies that schools and governing bodies must ensure that school uniform policies do not disadvantage pupils with disabilities and that consideration must be given to the need for reasonable adjustments, where necessary.

• the statutory guidance specifies that schools and governing bodies should ensure an inclusive uniform policy that does not directly or indirectly discriminate on the basis of gender or gender identity. This includes avoiding strict requirements for items of clothing to only be worn by pupils of a certain gender or gender identity, and by having a gender neutral uniform option available to all pupils.

• the statutory guidance specifies that schools and governing bodies should be sensitive to the needs of different cultures, races and religions and that reasonable accommodation should be made to meet those needs. This includes consideration of how policy can interfere with a pupil’s right to manifest their religion or belief under Article 9(2) of the ECHR.

Click here to open: Consultation Response