To ask the Minister of Education to detail how his Department is working with external partners, such as environmental non-governmental organisations, or education bodies, to develop World Wildlife Day materials for teachers.

World Wildlife Day offers an opportunity for schools to further explore themes in the Northern Ireland Curriculum, including topics such as biodiversity, ecosystems, climate change and the management of human impact on the natural world.

It is a matter for individual schools to determine the programmes, activities and resources they use to support their delivery of the Northern Ireland Curriculum.

Accordingly, decisions regarding the marking of days such as World Wildlife Day rest with individual schools. In keeping with this approach, my Department does not promote specific activities, events, competitions, or learning materials for this purpose, nor has it issued any associated guidance.

My Department has not undertaken specific work with external organisations, including environmental non-governmental organisations, to develop World Wildlife Day resources. Schools may choose to draw on a wide range of materials from recognised local, national, or international sources should they wish to incorporate World Wildlife Day into their teaching and learning.

As participation in World Wildlife Day is entirely at the discretion of individual schools, my Department does not collect information on the number of schools that choose to engage and has no plans to introduce any such monitoring arrangements in this area.