Why small rural schools facing closure should consider local amalgamation…

Twins

After the passing of an integrated education bill at Stormont, Peter Osborne, a former chair of the Community Relations Council and Parades Commission, and Board member of the Integrated Education Fund, reflects on the burden of history. Integrated education is not the final and only answer to the illness that is sectarianism in a region that has lived with segregation for decades and centuries.  Since the mid-19th century those vested interests that drove a segregated education system have contributed to …

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Futureproofing our schools…

person holding red and white pen

While the constitutional question appears to have been consigned to the back burner for now, it’s an issue that cannot be avoided indefinitely. A recent Slugger article reflected on the question of pension provision following some future unification of north and south. The integration of State benefits and of services such as housing and health would undoubtedly be challenging, however, unifying the island’s education systems may prove the most difficult task of all. It is worth noting the religious composition …

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Branagh’s Belfast and our divided education system…

Belfast, the film, has just landed Kenneth Branagh an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. It is a cracking film, if you have not yet seen it, and it is recommended. But, not to dissuade anyone from going to view it, the film does take a few historical liberties. Those of us who lived in Belfast at the time when the film is set might raise an eyebrow or two at the sight of vigilantes with burning torches held aloft as …

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DUP to use petition of concern to block the integrated education bill…

chalk, colorful, dust

From the BBC: The DUP currently has 25 MLAs who hold the party whip, while Jim Wells, independent Alex Easton and TUV leader Jim Allister are also in favour of the petition. That means at least two UUP MLAs would need to sign it. Ms Armstrong’s bill would increase the number of integrated school places and set targets for the number of children being educated in such schools. About 7% of pupils in Northern Ireland are educated currently in just …

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Who’s afraid of the Integrated Education Bill… and why?

teacher, learning, school

Polls consistently show that around 70% of parents want to send their children to a mixed school. There are many familiar celebrity advocates for cross-community schooling – Liam Neeson, Paddy Kielty, Adrian Dunbar and Carl Frampton have all been vociferous in their support for Integrated education. This throng has recently been swollen by controversial contributions from President Michael D Higgins and the NI Secretary of State Brandon Lewis. In the face of considerable hullabaloo in the media, the established, segregated …

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The fourth ‘R’ – the role of religion in the segregation of schools…

teacher, learning, school

Standing shoulder to shoulder at a recent ecumenical event to mark the centenary of Northern Ireland, men of the cloth from the Catholic Church and three Protestant denominations declared that: “the churches could have done more to deepen our understanding of each other and to bring healing and peace to our divided and wounded communities.” Few of those who live on this troubled and contested island would argue with that brave and bold confession, but, in this age of the …

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Why do unionism and nationalism unite against integrated education?

artistic, bright, color

In a recent poll, integrated education was supported by 71% of respondents. It continues to be a popular policy issue; yet, parties have split hairs over the issue for decades. The reality is that because of a lack of will to create one state sector, there is a growing but separated integrated sector. In their own words I will quote MLAs from a debate in an assembly on 6th July 2021. Kellie Armstrong MLA tabled a private members bill to …

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Political legacy of distrust cannot be wished away, says Donaldson 

The distrust between Northern Ireland’s political parties remains a legacy of the conflict and cannot be wished away or ignored, says DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson. He adds that the events of the Bobby Storey funeral and commemorations of dead members of the Provisional IRA mean that the Troubles remain a continuing source of tension between the largest parties. He was speaking in the latest Holywell Trust Forward Together podcast.   Jeffrey argues that not only are the British government’s legacy proposals …

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The Ulster Unionist Party reflects on the future of Northern Ireland

The third series of Holywell Trust’s Forward Together podcasts has heard from experts in a range of areas – including the economy, skills, education, young people’s experience, housing – and also considered best practice elsewhere. As it moves towards a close, it puts the arguments for major change in the governance of Northern Ireland to our political leaders.  In the first of this closing series of podcasts, we spoke to Steve Aiken – who at the time was still leader of the …

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A ‘single system of education’: the beginning of the end for segregated schools?

Many years ago anyone with half-a-titter-of-wit realised that the configuration of education in Northern Ireland was restricting the possibility of restoring fractured community relations. With the exception of the wilfully ignorant, no one has seriously argued that those children who attend separated schools in a segregated system are being adequately prepared for future engagement in an inclusive, egalitarian, peaceful society. Finally, these simple truths seem also to be dawning on our politicians. The New Decade New Approach agreement that brought …

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Treating children fairly

While it is frequently claimed that Northern Ireland has an excellent schools system, it is clear that it is also a divided system. That division is not based only on religion, but also according to whether a pupil attends a grammar or a non-selective school, which is in turn related to the wealth of the parents. The system clearly separates children, despite the need of our society to come together to heal division. This week’s Holywell Trust Forward Together podcast …

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Integrating society, creating shared spaces, enabling conversations

Integrated education should not be perceived as a threat to anyone’s sense of identity, but the sector needs to consider how it promotes itself across all of the community, says Roisin Marshall, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE). She was talking in the latest Forward Together podcast from the Holywell Trust. “Integration isn’t about dumbing down anyone’s identity,” she says. “It’s about enabling people to have conversations which are sometimes about not agreeing with each …

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Reconciliation above all

Reconciliation is the primary necessity facing Northern Ireland, believes Peter Osborne. Peter is a former chair of both the Community Relations Council and the Parades Commission. He was talking in the latest Forward Together podcast from the Holywell Trust. “I come from a perspective of looking at what reconciliation is about,” says Peter. He argues that to achieve reconciliation it is essential to correct the structures that create separation. This has led him to strongly argue for the integration of …

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A challenge to the separation of schools…

A closed and boarded-up primary school must be one of the commonest, and saddest, local sights.  Crumbling façades. Peeling paintwork. Broken windows. The silent playground that once resounded to excited chatter.  Weeds breaking through the tarmac where generations of children played football, rounders and ‘chasies’.  Schools aren’t just places of education, they are centres of community and repositories of communal memories, but there is little place for such sentimentality in educational planning.  Empty school desks and restrictive budgets mean that …

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‘Transformative decisions on Northern Ireland have not been taken’, laments Peter Osborne

Northern Ireland is more than 20 years into a 50 year peace process, which is being held back because government here has failed to take the radical transformative steps that are required.  This is the view of Peter Osborne, the former chair of the Community Relations Council, in the latest Forward Together podcast. Peter explains: “We are in a process that will last at least 50 years. Some people thought when the [Good Friday] agreement was signed, we had peace. …

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Shared housing and integrated education: Building good community relations

Shared housing and integrated education: Building good community relations by Allan LEONARD 7 August 2019 A panel discussion on how shared housing projects and the integrated education movement are contributing towards good community relations was held at St Mary’s College, Belfast, as part of the Feile Festival. The panellists were Deborah Howe (Equality Commission), Christine Davis (Housing Executive), Grainne Mullin (Radius Housing), and Jill Caskey (Integrated Education Fund). The event was chaired by Gerry McConville. After a welcome by Jessica …

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‘We need an agency to promote social integration’, says Father Martin Magill

Northern Ireland needs a body lobbying for social integration, learning from the success of the Integrated Education Fund in its work promoting integrated schools, says Father Martin Magill.  Without an agency pushing the integrated housing agenda, it will be difficult to make sufficient progress, he says.  Martin was interviewed in the latest Forward Together podcast. “I grew up living in a neighbourhood where my next door neighbour was Presbyterian; further on down the road Church of Ireland; further down the …

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‘Social integration begins with integrated education and integrated housing’

For Northern Ireland to become more integrated, there has to be a greater focus on integrated schools and integrated housing, argues the chief executive of the Integrated Education Fund, Tina Merron.  She was interviewed for the latest Forward Together podcast. “I think the majority of people in Northern Ireland want a shared future and a united community,” says Tina. “We need to give civil society more of a say. We need to encourage people to speak up and especially young …

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“Justice for victims is giving them a society that works”

Justice for victims is achieved by “giving them a society that works”, says Fergus O’Dowd TD of Fine Gael.  He is a member of the Oireachtas Good Friday Implementation Committee and was appointed earlier this year by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to lead a new Fine Gael group to develop links with Northern Ireland.  He is interviewed in the latest Forward Together podcast. Discussing how to deal with events of the past, Fergus stresses that victims and their relatives must be …

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CSSC research shows complexity and diversity of controlled education

The Controlled Schools’ Support Council (CSSC) launched its baseline assessment of the controlled schools sector in Northern Ireland on Monday 18 September. Controlled schools are non-denominational and firmly set within an ethos embedded in Christian values. They are open to pupils of all faiths or none, and account for 558 or 48% of all schools in Northern Ireland. As CSSC’s research demonstrates, the controlled education sector is complex and diverse. It is also the only education sector to comprise a …

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