Issues like segregated schools and housing symbols of history that - PDF document

Issues like segregated schools and housing… symbols of history that are a source of pride for some and pain for others… these are not tangential to peace, they are essential to it… if catholics and protestants have their schools… if we can’t see ourselves in one another, if fear and resentment are allowed to harden, that encourages division, it discourages cooperation. President Obama, Belfast June 2013 An essential aspect of the reconciliation process is the promotion of a culture of tolerance at every level of society and includes initiatives to facilitate and encourage Integrated Education and mixed housing . Good Friday Agreement 1998 The Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE) welcomes this opportunity to present to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. The Context The Good Friday Agreement provides the road map for conflict transformation in Northern Ireland. It constitutes the political framework for statutory bodies to tackle segregation and inequality at all levels of society. The Agreement endorses the Education Reform (NI) Order 1989, which states in Article 64 that it is the responsibility of the Department of Education ‘to encourage and facilitate the development of integrated education’ . In this political context, integrated education is a fundamental avenue to redress community segregation and promote good relations. This commitment to supporting integrated education

is based on an understanding of the important role education plays in shaping society. Society in Northern Ireland remains divided; the absence of violence without underlying reconciliation and genuine peace building, without addressing the structural forces of segregation that characterised our conflict has been described as a ‘negative peace’ by leading academic Professor Brandon Hamber. http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/globalassets/documents/education/inquiries-and- reviews/shared-and-integrated-education/professor-brandon-hamber-incore-uu.pdf The retention of structural segregation in education is a key component of a negative peace. At the moment the Northern Ireland educational system reflects and reinforces division ( cf education in a divided society, The Detail, diagram 1, below).

The sectarianism which continues to be a feature of Northern Ireland life can only be challenged through an open engagement with difference and division. All research shows that sectarian attitudes are formed at a very young age. The research also shows unequivocally that young people educated together in integrated schools are ‘inoculated’ against sectarianism. Hayes and Mc Allister-Education as a Mechanism for Conflict Resolution found that:… “individuals who attend integrated school are significantly more likely to have friends and neighbours from across the divide and these friendships networks translate into a more optimistic view of future community relations”. It concluded that: ‘… an integrated education system is not only a fruitful place to start but that it should be a key element within a wider strategy for addressing community divisions.” In its document ‘Every Child an equal Child’ (2008) the Chief Equality Commissioner stated: ‘it is hard to escape the conclusion that educating children of different backgrounds together has the potential to reduce fears and tensions between communities that are founded on ignorance. It is equally difficult to avoid the conclusion that the long experience of separate educational provision has represented a lost opportunity for everyone in Northern Ireland.’ By educating children together, integrated education is building a strong foundation for peace and for a shared future. The definition Integrated education is the educating together of children from catholic and protestant backgrounds, and those from different faiths or of no faith, in an ethos that respects diversity, and where children learn with, from and about each other. The underpinning principles of integrated education are: equality, social responsibility, faith and values and parental responsibility. In 2014, almost 22,000 young people attended sixty two integrated primary

and post-primary schools and colleges while a further 700 children who applied were turned away because of insufficient places. A recent judgement by Lord Justice Treacy in May 2014, in a judicial review initiated by Drumragh Integrated College, reiterated the key characteristics of an integrated school: ‘education together at school of protestant and roman catholic pupils… integrated education must be the service of imparting knowledge to young people from all backgrounds as equals.’ Historically, integrated schools were opened by groups of parents who were supported by NICIE. Forty grant maintained integrated schools were established in this way. Twenty two schools have transformed from being ‘single identity schools’ to becoming integrated through a legal process, known as transformation. NICIE supports these schools through both the legal process and the process of cultural change. Three controlled schools are going through this process at the moment. No catholic school, to date, has transformed to become integrated; the first catholic school to apply for this process did so this year (2015), but was not successful in its proposal. This decision is now the subject of judicial review. The present position Whereas the more contentious issue of policing has been addressed through an independent commission and a new police force, there has been absolute resistance to recognising the need for educational reform or to promote structural educational change. Ninety two per cent of our children continue to be educated in single identity schools. The present segregated system of education in Northern Ireland is not sustainable. It does not promote social cohesion, it reinforces the notion of separation and of the ‘other’, it increases social segregation and it fails a significant number of children. It is not preparing our young

people for a rapidly changing and uncertain future. The duplication and triplicating of resources is expensive and not sustainable in an era of austerity. The need for change is reinforced by demographic changes: a protestant majority is evident in the population aged forty and over. Under this age the majority of the population is catholic with the trend more pronounced at younger ages. (Peace Monitoring Report, 2014, Paul Nolan). Diagram 2 If we maintain the status quo of our system of education then we can predict a shift from the present share-out of schools where there is already a majority of catholic schools to a situation where that majority becomes more pronounced. Such a situation is not a recipe for a peaceful and cohesive future. Education a force for change The role of education as a powerful force in transforming societies, not least those emerging from years of conflict, has been recognised and accepted globally. It is equally understood that an education system that fails to deliver to all its participants the opportunities to develop to their full potential is a flawed system. Underachievement, where measured in terms of

academic grades, is a major cause for concern among certain sections of Northern Irish society, most notably protestant working class boys. The challenges presented by an increasingly diverse range of pupils demand more than ever an inclusive system of education. NICIE believes that an integrated school offers the best means of dismantling the barriers and mitigating the marginalisation which contributes to intolerance and disunity in society. The multi-cultural Northern Ireland of the twenty-first century requires an educational system which reflects diversity and which aims to be a world leader in enabling every child to overcome disadvantage. The opportunity NICIE suggests that insufficient attention has been given to the commitment to integrated education contained in the Good Friday Agreement. It is our view that ‘future building’ is as important as dealing with the past. NICIE argues that the time is opportune for a renewed focus on the potential of education for building cohesion, equality and good relations. Factors with potential to stimulate change: The economy The economics of austerity is impacting on school budgets. The cost of duplication through maintaining two parallel school systems cannot be justified. Identity Our education system and the new development of shared education is structured on the premise that there are fixed and unchanging cultures between which we promote intercultural respect. This is a faulty premise which does not recognise that cultural identity is not fixed at birth, that society is dynamic and diverse and that we are living in a changed society where people identify themselves in many different ways and where many resist being pigeon holed into the labels of the past. Northern Ireland is a very different society than it was thirty five years ago when the first integrated school was founded. Young families do