A MAJOR new poll has revealed that more than 73 per cent of people in Northern Ireland would support their child’s school becoming integrated.
The findings, from a LucidTalk attitudinal poll, also show that 71 per cent of people questioned believe integrated education, which sees children of different faiths, backgrounds and cultures educated together, should be the main model of education in the North.
The survey, collated by Belfast-based independent polling company LucidTalk on behalf of the Integrated Education Fund (IEF), polled more than 2000 people from all areas of the community in the North.
Speaking about the findings of the poll, Jill Caskey, IEF’s Parental Engagement Campaign Manager, said: “The findings in this survey highlight the demand for integrated education in Northern Ireland and they should prompt our Executive to actively promote a fully integrated education system for the benefit of our entire society.
“It should also help inform the new Independent Review of the NI Education system in terms of public opinion on this crucial aspect of our society,” she added.
The findings come as the Northern Ireland Executive prepares to launch an Independent Review of the NI Education system as part of the New Decade, New Approach agreement reached in January 2020.
This agreement described the NI education system in its current form as ‘unsustainable’ and pledged to examine the prospects of moving to a single system of education.
And the findings of the survey reveal that a clear majority of the Northern Irish community, regardless of their political affiliation, are in favour of such an integrated education system.
The attitudinal report found that 59 per cent of DUP voters and 72 per cent of Sinn Fein voters believe their children should be educated together.
It also concluded that 79 per cent of people in the North agree that all schools, regardless of management type, should aim to have a religious and cultural mix of its pupils, teachers and governors.
However, although a clear majority of Northern Ireland voters appear to want to move in the direction of an integrated education system, new integrated schools still have to be either set up by parents or parents have to vote democratically to change the status of an existing school.
There are currently 68 formally integrated schools and colleges in the North, which represent 7.5 per cent of Northern Ireland’s educational settings, educating around 25,000 children.
But there is currently no government plan for integrated education and its growth is still down to determined campaigners and pioneering parents.
The findings from the LucidTalk survey are published more than 23 years after a Good Friday agreement pledge promised "to facilitate and encourage integrated education” as an essential element in the process of reconciliation.
Annie, Lorenzo and Isla from Brefne Nursery School in north BelfastThe publication of the report and its findings are released as the IEF’s Integrate My School Campaign gathers momentum.
The drive empowers parents to express their support for integrated education and encourage existing schools to explore formal integration.
Already in 2021 there have been four schools in the North that have transformed to integrated status, including the first ever Catholic primary school (Seaview Primary School in Glenarm).
It joins Brefne Nursery in north Belfast, Carrickfergus Central Primary School and Harding Memorial Primary School in east Belfast in gaining recent Ministerial approval for integrated status.
A further two more schools, Glengormley High and Bangor Central Nursery School are awaiting a Ministerial decision.
“Although the level of integrated education has continued to grow since the Good Friday Agreement, it is nowhere near the rate it needs to be in order to reflect the demand from parents for more integration,” Ms Caskey added.
“There is no government plan for developing more integrated schooling with growth solely dependent on parents, schools and campaigners.
"We are going into an era in NI needs an education system fit for the 21st Century which is fully inclusive. We need to see a dedicated governmental plan to accommodate the demands of our parents and children.”
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