Northern Ireland


SPRING 2015


Integrated Schools differ from other schools in Northern Ireland by ensuring that children from diverse backgrounds are educated together every day in the same classrooms.


Integrated Education in Northern Ireland I


ntegrated education is one of the most significant social developments within Northern Ireland over the last 20 years has been the development of integrated schools. This development has been even more marked given the sharp political division and violence that has characterised the region. Traditionally, schools have been divided in Catholic and Protestant denominations and it was despite bitter objection that our first integrated school Lagan College, was established in 1981. The school was established as a community response to the challenge of a religiously divided school system in Northern Ireland. Since 1974 the All Children together Movement (ACT) had been lobbying the Churches and


the Government to take the lead in educating Protestant and Catholic children together. Religious segregation of school children was almost total. Practically all Catholic children attended catholic schools. State schools were nearly 100 per cent Protestant. ACT argued that one of the most powerful responses which Christians could give to the charge that the fighting was about religion would be for Protestants and Catholics to educate their children together in the same schools. By 1981 there had been practically no initiatives from either the Churches or government in the direction of integration at school level. A small group of parents with children at the age of transfer from primary to secondary school decided to take the initiative. With


the support of ACT they called a public meeting in February 1981 and started a new school in September. They called the new school Lagan College after the river which flows through Belfast. It opened in temporary premises at Ardnavally Activity Centre beside the river Lagan in South Belfast, thanks to the hospitality of the Scout Movement. Since then, the integrated movement has grown and there are currently 62 integrated schools comprising 20 second-level and 42 primary schools. Additionally, there are 19 integrated nursery schools, most of which are attached to primary schools. The Integrated education fund (IEF) was formed due to parental demand. The IEF seeks to bridge the financial gap between starting


integrated schools and securing full government funding. The Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE), a voluntary organisation, promotes, develops and supports integrated education. A recent survey showed that 84% of people in Northern Ireland believed that Integrated Education is important to the peace and reconciliation process, although it is still a fact that only 5% of our children attend integrated schools with 95% of pupils attending Protestant controlled school or Catholic maintained school. Furthermore a significant percentage of pupils attending integrated schools are from ethnic minority populations. Despite the fact that the churches in the province have not been involved with integrated education


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Email: info@carnloughps.carnlough.ni.sch.net


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