Public Consultation on EA’s Draft Interim Language Policies
EA recognises that everyone is entitled to respect and courtesy, which extends to their language and the Irish & Ulster-Scots languages as an expression of the cultural wealth of Northern Ireland.
EA has drafted Interim Language Policies for the Irish and Ulster-Scots Languages (Draft Interim Language Policies) and is seeking your view.
The public consultation on our Draft Interim Language Policies runs from:
Monday 14 November 2022 until Monday 27 February 2023 at 6pm
Responses received after the closing date will only be considered in exceptional circumstances.
The Draft Interim Language Policies:
- Set out the administrative services which people can expect from EA in Irish and Ulster-Scots and informs those who wish to use these languages how they can communicate with EA.
- Assist EA officers in making decisions around the provision of services and information in the languages, and arrangements for those seeking to interact with the EA in those languages.
- Support increased and better awareness of the languages and how they relate to the provision of education services for EA officers.
- Help EA officers apply consistent practices and judgement to the provision of information and EA services in respect of the languages.
Whilst EA supports the Department of Education in fulfilling its statutory duty to “encourage and facilitate” the development of Irish-Medium education, EA’s Draft Interim Policy for Irish Language does not cover Irish language provision in the curriculum. There are separate arrangements for the provision of Irish Medium Education, outside of the scope of this policy.
Similarly, the scope of the Ulster-Scots Policy covers the provision of information and the delivery of corporate services of EA and does not cover Ulster-Scots provision in the curriculum.
Consultation Events
There are open stakeholder engagement sessions you can avail of.
Please note, due to demand we have added in an additional Engagement Session that will be facilitated in Irish. This will take place on Tuesday 7th February, 2pm- 3pm.
We are arranging an engagement session with a focus on Ulster-Scots and the date of this will be confirmed.
| Date | Time | Link to form |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday 24th January 2023 | 10 am - 11 am | MS Teams - register here |
| Tuesday 7th February 2023 | 2 pm – 3 pm |
We invite you to respond to the consultation questionnaire (by 6.00 pm on Monday 27 Feb 2023), using one of the Microsoft Form links below:
To aid analysis of responses it would be helpful if you could use the response questionnaire when responding, however should you wish to complete the questionnaire in MS Word format, you can contact us by emailing equality.unit@eani.org.uk
In addition to being available on the EA website, these documents can be made available in other accessible formats and languages on request. For information about obtaining a copy in another accessible format or language please contact equality.unit@eani.org.uk.