Incoming Stormont education minister Caitríona Ruane has pledged to work for all the North's children and insisted that equality would form the cornerstone of her policy.
Ms Ruane told teachers attending the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers conference in Belfast yesterday that the political breakthroughs of recent weeks created a positive context for schoolchildren across Northern Ireland.
She told them that the "historic agreements" would provide "real hope" for children in all parts and from all social backgrounds. "I firmly believe that the divisions of the past, the traumas that have been suffered, can be moved beyond, and together we can move forward to ensure that every young person, throughout this island, can achieve their potential," she said.
"We have a real opportunity to develop confident young citizens, able to work together, to create secure and prosperous futures for themselves and for future generations. Also young people with broader horizons, citizens of the wider world, ready to face the many global challenges that confront us.
The role of teachers "must be absolutely central" she said. She outlined broad policy objectives but declined to go into detail. "We have to ensure that our curriculum is properly focused, that it is delivered in good quality schools, and that opportunities are kept open for young people throughout their time at school, and that they move towards lifelong learning."
Current policies had failed too many children with large numbers ending formal, compulsory education without achieving their potential and entering the wider world of work with too many significant challenges. Ms Ruane, like her predecessor Martin McGuinness, remains opposed to the controversial 11-plus examination to decide schools transfer. That form of selection is due to end after 2008 but no replacement has yet been announced.
Ms Ruane said: "What I want to do, as I move towards being the minister for education, is to work with the teachers, to support them and their schools, so that we can achieve the best outcomes, in the broadest sense, for all our young people."