The Integrated Education movement is at a critical point. The steady growth seen between 1991–2011 has slowed and recent ministerial decisions rejecting proposals for two school transformations in Bangor have cast doubt on its future potential.
Further challenges, as well as opportunities, for the sector are highlighted in Pivotal’s recent Achieving greater integration in education and housing report.
In this context, the Department of Education has opened a consultation on its Strategy for Integrated Education to 2030. NICIE’s Statement of Principles, which articulates the purpose of Integrated Education, is also due to be updated this year.
This article will outline four key questions facing the movement and assess their implications for its future growth.
Four questions for Integrated Education
Firstly, where should the Integrated ethos be positioned with respect to religion? Currently describing itself as “essentially Christian in character”, is it time for a more plural, equality-based approach?
Secondly, regarding the relative importance of pupil mix vs ethos, is it sustainable or even desirable to aspire to a mix of 40% Protestant, 40% Catholic and 20% Other, or can an inclusive ethos be delivered to a more diverse range of classrooms?
Thirdly, who gets to frame the language of identity? Should the movement continue to apply a top–down, two–community lens to the discourse it facilitates, or should this be driven bottom–up by its pupils’ own perceptions and their aspirations for a shared society?
Finally, what should be core distinctives, common across all Integrated schools, and where should local variation be allowed and encouraged?
Is it time for a secular schooling option?
NICIE’s Statement of Principles (SoP) asserts that the Integrated school is “essentially Christian in character”, providing “a Christian–based rather than a secular approach”. With the two main sectors aligned with their respective denominations, 98% of schools in Northern Ireland currently have a Christian ethos – the Irish medium sector is the only exception.
Adhering to this stance would be problematic for two reasons. Firstly, it contradicts the first principle of Integrated Education – equality. Applying the logic of a judgment lauded by the Integrated movement in 2014 to the definition of Integrated Education under the 2022 Act, it is arguably no more appropriate now to describe an Integrated school as Christian in character than it would have been to describe it as Protestant or Catholic in character then.
Secondly, this stance fails to recognise significant demographic changes since the movement began. Evidence indicates that most parents now want a reduction of church influence in schools, with a recent poll finding majorities in favour of removing collective worship requirements and reserved places for church representatives on school boards, as well as for more inclusive RE.
Two-thirds of schools in England are secular, with no religious character. And Educate Together has shown that significant parental demand exists for an equality–based approach in the South. Many parents would like Integrated schools to take a similar approach, with no religious worldview privileged over any other. The stance chosen here will have a major impact on the future appeal of the sector.
Can a school only be considered Integrated by bringing two Christian traditions together, or is an intentionally inclusive ethos the key element?
Whilst most recognise that both a diverse mix of pupils and an intentional approach are important, what “diverse” will look like in 2030, and how “reasonable numbers of Protestant and Catholic children” referred to by the 2022 Act fits alongside other aspects of that definition (encompassing those with other faiths and none and of different ability and socio–economic status) are important questions.
Legal definitions aside, there is a case that all classrooms have a mix of pupils, and that intentional practices and a well–structured curriculum can deliver an inclusive experience irrespective of the exact balance of identities present.
Nevertheless, a numerical mix defined in terms of the traditional binary is currently held up as Integrated Education’s primary distinctive: the SoP includes an explicit aspiration to a 40/40/20 mix, and admissions quotas are in place at over 85% of Integrated schools to achieve this.
Apart from dulling the incentive to do meaningful outreach, this mechanical approach to achieving balance limits access to families which don’t identify with either community background. This is a significant problem as these “Other” families represent a large and growing share of both current enrolment (see chart) and likely future demand for Integrated Education.
The Department of Education has identified six areas with unmet demand for Integrated Education. Adjusting census data to consider relative preferences for mixed–religion schools, children from “Other” families comprise over 40% of the total “addressable market” for Integrated places across these areas, and in many places over 50% or even 60%.
Yet with only 20% of places reserved for “Others” under typical admissions policies, their access to Integrated school places is severely limited. There is evidence that this is dissuading a large fraction of these families from applying altogether, let alone pushing for school transformations.
If the Integrated movement doesn’t move away from admissions quotas and re–focus on ethos as its primary distinctive, its potential for further growth could be drastically limited.
Who should define the language of identity?
Recent NILT surveys show that many are rejecting binary classifications. In 2023, 33% of 25–44 year olds responded that they were members of neither traditional community. Questions about national identity and politics had even higher levels of mixed or neither responses. This is likely due to multiple factors including secularisation, increases in mixed relationships and migration, as well as the broader desire to move on from the divisions of the past.
Revised in 2008, the SoP recognises this in part, stating “the influx of newcomers … brings with it the challenge of enhanced ethnic diversity, demonstrating that Northern Ireland cannot afford to remain isolated and trapped in time.”
Given the scale of demographic and attitudinal change since 2008, this warning is starkly relevant now. If the movement continues to look inwards and backwards to local and historical markers of identity, it risks institutionalising and perpetuating the sectarian binary it seeks to escape, as alluded to recently by Loader et al of QUB.
At the same time, it will miss the opportunity to pioneer a new approach that looks forwards and outwards, making space for its pupils to express their identities and aspirations for a shared society in their own terms.
How to deal with local variation?
Social changes have happened unevenly across different communities and areas, and integration requires a sensitive local touch. This is recognised by the Department of Education’s Integration Works guidance, which advises against one–size–fits–all approaches to various challenges, including pupil balance: in some areas, reconciliation of the two traditional communities will remain a primary goal. However, in others, many will desire an approach that encompasses a broader set of ambitions.
Expanding the definition of what Integrated Education aims to achieve, with a shift in emphasis towards broader–based equality within a diverse and plural NI, could provide a distinctive and coherent vision which nevertheless allows for distinct local interpretations.
This could have a much wider appeal and subsequent potential for growth than the current definition which has (whether fairly or not) become associated in popular perception with the shibboleth of narrowly conceived and prescriptive numeric targets.
Looking to the future
To help the Integrated movement answer these questions, it is important that a wide range of opinions are heard. You can submit yours by responding to the consultation, which is open until 23 May.
Jack Russell is a parent, school governor, and an active campaigner for more culturally inclusive and integrated education in Northern Ireland. He was a co–author of Parents for Inclusive Education’s On A Mission report (May 2024) which investigated religious practices in Northern Irish primary schools. He is also part of an ongoing Queen’s University Belfast project exploring what a Religions & Worldviews Education could look like in the Northern Irish context. By profession he is a data analyst, consultant and trainer, and has recently launched a blog at believethedata.org.
