The new Northern Ireland Education Minister, Tony Worthington, in his first major speech since he took up office in May, has outlined his strategy for dealing with under-achievement in education. Addressing the annual conference of the Association of Education and Library Boards in Newcastle, Co Down, he promised to expand nursery education, which is at the lowest level in Britain and Northern Ireland, starting next September.

He also committed himself to ensuring that no class of five- to eight-year-olds would have more than 30 pupils. He would start applying these class size ceilings on a non-statutory basis for five-year-olds starting school next September.

Worthington said he wanted 80 per cent of 11-year-olds to reach a competent standard in English and maths by the year 2002. Because of the already high levels in maths, the target for this subject is five per cent higher than in England. He will also be bringing forward legislation to require all schools to set targets to raise standards and monitor progress towards them.

Dr Alan Smith, senior research fellow in education at the University of Ulster, told the conference that research done among young people in Northern Ireland showed that they wanted more civic and political education on the syllabus. Northern Ireland, like England, did far less than other European countries in preparing young people for "democratic participation in society."

Young people wanted to explore issues of identity, culture and religion in Northern Ireland, he said. They wanted to know about the history of the Troubles - the teaching of history stops for most of them at 1969.

They want more media studies and teachers want them to develop the capacity to interpret the media messages which are the source of so much of their information and values in a more critical way, said Smith.

The young people also expressed the wish to understand how justice and the law work and what such concepts as "equality of opportunity" mean in practice. They want to learn about politics and about how decisions are made in a democratic society. "The term democracy has little sense for many young people."

Smith concluded that the strongest message young people were sending to educationalists was that "we have avoided the implications of violence and sectarianism within our own society."

The incoming president of the Association of Education and Library Boards is a Derry teacher, Mrs Berna McIvor, formerly John Hume's election agent.