Integrated AlumNI give evidence to the Northern Ireland Education Committee on the Integrated Education Bill

Trustee Lise McCaffery presenting to the Education Committee via Zoom

On Thursday 21 October 2021, the Integrated AlumNI advocacy subgroup - Michael Lynch (Chairperson), Lise McCaffery (Trustee) and Adam McGibbon (AlumNI member) - presented to the Northern Ireland Education Committee as part of the consultation on the Integrated Education bill. Below we share key extracts from their interventions which spotlights key arguments for why we need the Integrated Education Bill.

Lise McCaffery, Trustee, AlumNI

“...it was only when I left Hazelwood in 1999 and went to university in Glasgow, just as power sharing was coming into Northern Ireland, that I realised just how different the school experience was for the many other Northern Irish former pupils now at university. Some had never socialised, or they believe even met, young people of the different tradition. The learning that they had to undertake at uni or in the world of work, we had done simply by being educated together. 

I was so struck by this difference when arriving at university that I wrote to the then Minister for Education, Martin McGuinness, sharing with him my experience of integrated education. He wrote back saying he was supportive of growing the number of Integrated and Irish language schools to provide choice. But that was 22 years ago and still to this day only 7.5% of children and young people in Northern Ireland attend integrated schools.”

Adam McGibbon, AlumNI member and campaigner

“As a society we would all benefit hugely from more integrated education. As the Committee no doubt knows, there’s a substantial amount of academic evidence about the positive impact of integrated education. 

A review of thirteen years of policy and research evidence carried out by the University of Ulster showed significant evidence that integrated schooling has a positive social influence by fostering cross-community friendships, reducing prejudicial attitudes, and creating more positive attitudes on issues such as politics, religion, identity and mixed marriages. And all without a loss of community or social individuality.”

Michael Lynch, chairperson, AlumNI

“Parents should have the choice to send their child to an integrated school – and that’s what this bill is trying to achieve. There is an unmet demand for integrated schools and despite the 1989 ‘Education Order’ which mandated the Dept of Education to “encourage and facilitate the development of integrated education”, despite the further commitments in the GF/Belfast A – and again commitments set out in NDNA last year, progress has been stagnant.

I am immensely proud that representatives in the AlumNI are formed from every integrated secondary school in Northern Ireland — they are part of this organisation as they see the value, the uniqueness and the privilege that they had to have attended an integrated school. 

Today you’ve just met three of us, but behind us are a group of passionate ambassadors and campaigners. To have a group of young advocates who continue to speak so proudly of their experience — and continually, into their professional careers commit so much time, effort and energy is testament to the value of their school experience.”

A moment for debate

The discussion that followed the presentations were wide-ranging, including on the ability of integrated schools to represent and celebrate both majority traditions (as opposed to ‘neutrality’); the challenge of the Bill trying to ‘promote’ integrated education and the feeling that this could be detrimental to the other educational systems; the differences between ‘shared’ and integrated education; and whether all children should have the opportunity to attend Irish medium schooling. Our advocacy team strongly by outlining the parent- and grassroots-led nature of integrated education, the Department of Education not stepping up to its existing obligations in regards to facilitating and encouraging integrated education, the provision of, for example, integrated Irish medium nursery education in East Belfast, and much more. Importantly, Adam threw it back to the Committee - what were their plans to promote integrated education? While there was laughter, there were no answers and certainly no commitments.

Watch the full presentations and discussion on the Northern Ireland Executive’s Youtube page.