Parents and children visit Stormont to highlight the lack of integrated preschool places

On Wednesday 22^nd May representatives of the 342 families who were unable to secure a place in an integrated preschool setting travelled to Stormont to meet with David Forde. Leader of the Alliance Party and other Alliance Party members.

The deputation expressed their disappointment that so many families had been denied an integrated start to their school career. They noted that these parents had made a positive choice for integrated pre-school. These families  did not want their three year old to start his/her school career in a single identity school. Yet, unsuccessful in their first choice, they are now expected to accept a single identity alternative.

The parents were welcomed by the Alliance Party and handed over a letter expressing their concerns.

Noreen Campbell, CEO of NICIE said,

“This situation illustrates the urgent need for increased places in preschool education for those seeking an integrated option. There can be no justification in separating children of the age of three on the basis of religion. No three year old child should be deprived of a place in an integrated setting. Indeed all pre-school is supposed to be non sectoral. Instead only 3% of all funded preschool education is integrated.

NICIE calls on DE to guarantee an integrated school place for any family making this choice. NICIE further calls for DE to desegregate pre -school education by seeking guarantees that all state funded places are offered in environments which are genuinely open and welcome to all. This simple step will make a major contribution to meeting parental demand for Integrated Education, especially if carried through into a similar guarantee to parents seeking places in primary and post primary schools.”

ENDS

For further information or to arrange an interview with a spokesperson please contact Noreen Campbell, Chief Executive Officer at (028) 9097 2910 or at 90972835 or mobile 07878721327or via email to ncampbell@nicie.org.uk  or to Denise Morgan, Development Officer, at dmorgan@nicie.org.uk

Date    10^th May 2013

NICIE, the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education, in its initial response to the ‘Together, Building a United Community’ notes with disappointment both the failure to recognise the role of integrated education in shaping a shared future and the failure to challenge the structural divisions in our system of education.

Implicit in the detail of the statement is an acceptance of segregated education.  Implicit also is a recognition that our children and young people must have opportunities to meet and build relationships. Summer schools are proposed, yet the evidence from thirty years of such schemes is not convincing. The impact of schemes such as these is minimal and transitory.

There is a commitment to build 10 shared education campuses. No doubt this will increase contact between children and young people and between different staffs and that has got to be welcomed. But the question must be asked: why shared campuses instead of integrated campuses? Why take steps to avoid integration and to maintain segregation? Why ignore cost effective and progressive solutions in favour of maintaining duplication?

The public have time and again expressed their preference for Integrated Education, most recently in a Lucid Talk poll published in the Belfast Telegraph in March of this year. The opinion poll, carried out by Lucid Talk and commissioned by the Integrated Education Fund (IEF), reveals that 79% of parents interviewed said they would back a move to transform their child’s school to integrated, while 66% of all people questioned believe integrated schools should be the main model of our education system. More than two-thirds said an integrated school best prepares children for living and working in a diverse society.

Why is this support, expressed so clearly by the public, not recognised as we look to cementing peace and building a shared future? Why have the First and deputy First Minister politicians avoided addressing the continuing segregation of our schools?

62 integrated schools exist in which 22000 children share education on a daily basis, learning with, from and about each other in an ethos based on parity of esteem for the main traditions and acceptance and respect for all. It is our contention that this model of education should be the norm.

Noreen Campbell, Chief Executive of NICIE, said:

“It is disappointing that yet again the potential of Integrated Education to play a significant role in building good community relations has been ignored. The research shows that integrated education fosters life -long friendships and positive attitudes to a peaceful future. It offers a cost effective means of educating children together. It is based on a commitment to addressing difference and building acceptance and respect. It is a model of education to be embraced, not to be feared.

Moving forward, NICIE seeks an assurance that all parents seeking places in integrated schools should be guaranteed that choice and that the choice of  integrated education is made available in all areas. Public demand for integrated education should not be ignored as new ways are found to continue to educate our children separately”

ENDS

For further information or to arrange an interview with a spokesperson please contact Noreen Campbell, Chief Executive Officer at (028) 9097 2910 or mob. 07878721327 or via email to ncampbell@nicie.org.uk

Date 21 April 2013

Report opens doors to increase of Integrated Education

NICIE welcomes the publication of the Shared Education Report which places centre stage the role of education in a divided society. The focus on shared education is an implicit judgement on our segregated system and the way it separates our children. The report defines what is meant by shared education and opens up the debate on how we best connect our children and young people.

Shared Education, as defined in the report, works within our segregated system. Through this approach we will connect classrooms across the divide, i.e. by bringing children together from different schools in their different uniforms for specific learning purposes. But does this go far enough? The report argues that schools in Northern Ireland should be made legally accountable for promoting equality and good relations. Such accountability would surely challenge the notion of single identity schools and promote the opening up of schools to all in an environment that promotes parity of esteem.

Shared Education, as defined, is not an alternative to Integrated Education, which challenges the notion of single identity schools in a divided society and instead promotes the education of children together as the norm. However, the recommendations in the report do open up the way for a significant increase in integrated provision. The recommendations call for a response to parental demand.

If that is acted on the 340 three year olds denied an integrated education two weeks ago and the 140 Primary 1s denied a place in an integrated school last week would be guaranteed their choice of an integrated education. They would not be expected to make do with a single identity alternative. The recommendations recognise the primacy of parental choice and as such should allow for the provision of integrated education an all areas. The recommendations allow for schools with mixed intakes to start a process of change which will allow them to become integrated in ethos and to have this recognised through the incorporation of the name integrated into their title. This is a policy NICIE is working on.

Noreen Campbell, CEO of NICIE, said: ‘It is heartening to see attention being paid to the divided nature of our education system. It is heartening to see it recognised that our children and young people and future society can only benefit from having the opportunity to meet and learn from and with and about each other. The challenge is to ensure that we enable this to happen in a way which accepts difference and promotes mutual respect. The challenge is to ensure that this is not a lost opportunity, that we see this report as a start in the process of desegregating our educational system. John O’Dowd, in responding to the report said, ‘Education has a vital role to play in developing the type of shared society that we aspire to.’  Education should model that type of society, We do that best through the full sharing and celebration of diversity which is integration.

Thirty years of experience in integrated schools has ensured the development of a model of education based on parity of esteem for both main traditions, which explores and celebrates difference, where each child can speak her/his name and where no child is expected to assimilate to a dominant identity. There are many challenges ahead as we seek to make this reality available to all those seeking integrated education. The debate and discussion which will follow publication of the report must result in the shaping of a new educational future for our children.’

ENDS

For further information or to arrange an interview with a spokesperson please contact Noreen Campbell, Chief Executive Officer at (028) 9097 2910 or mob. 07878721327 or via email to ncampbell@nicie.org.uk or Olwen Griffith, Senior Development Officer  tel: (028) 9097 2910.

Notes to the Editor

1. In Northern Ireland, about 93% of children attend schools which are either exclusively or predominantly Catholic or Protestant. The first integrated school, Lagan College, opened in 1981 with 28 pupils. There are currently 62 integrated schools in Northern Ireland, 20 second level colleges and 42 integrated primaries, educating over 21,000 pupils.
2. A recent Ipsos Mori poll found that almost 90% of the population support Integrated Education and more than 90% believe that Integrated Education is important for promoting a shared and better future and promoting mutual process.
3. Integrated schools are co-educational, accept children from all levels of ability and social backgrounds and practise a child-centred approach to teaching methods.

1. Established in 1987, The Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE) is a voluntary organisation that was set up to develop, support and promote Integrated Education in Northern Ireland.  The underpinning principles of Integrated Education is that by bringing Catholic, Protestant and children of other faiths together in a shared learning environment, they can learn to understand, respect and tolerate their differences.  For more information please visit www.nicie.org

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