Promoting a culture of tolerance: education in Northern Ireland
by Fiona Stephen
i The first integrated school was Lagan College established in 1981, by All Children Together.
ii The NICIE Statement of Principles
iii The Integrated Education Fund was established in 1992 (with money from the European Union Structural Funds, the Department of Education (DENI), the Nuffield Foundation and the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust), to provide a financial foundation for the development and growth of integrated education.
iv The definition of what is 'suitable' as premises for a new integrated school has been one of the major issues for new school development, in that to obtain ministerial approval for a proposal, accommodation had to be adequate for the delivery of the common curriculum. They also have to meet Department of Education (DENI) building branch requirements if the buildings are eventually to be considered eligible for capital grant. As most of the schools have buildings which have been bought with bank loans the payment of grant is essential.
v See Towards a Culture of Tolerance: Integrating Education Report 1998 p. 7-11 and Ten Year Development Plan Integrated Education Fund 1998 for full discussion.
vi The issue of balance in enrolments has been one of the founding principles. See the Northern Ireland Council's Statement of Principles for the details and A.E.C.W. Spencer 'Arguments for an Integrated School System' in R D Osborne, R J Cormack and R L Miller (eds) Education and Policy in Northern Ireland ( Belfast, The Policy Research Unit, Queen's University of Belfast and The University of Ulster, 1987) for a complete outline of the thinking and research which provided the framework for the development of planned integrated schools.
vii Iris Robinson quoted in The Star 18.6.1999 'Parents express opposition to suggestion of status change'.
viii The majority of Protestant church controlled schools transferred to the new Northern Ireland state school system immediately following the partition of Ireland. In return for ceding control to the state the churches ( mainly Church of Ireland and Presbyterian) were given transferor rights of representation on the management committees of the schools. Hence the transferor representatives are representative of the Protestant churches interests in education.
ix For a detailed bibliography and other material on EMU see the CAIN website http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/education/education.htm
x A danger which was implicitly recognised by the authors of the project 'Create Not Learned Monsters'; see Education for Mutual Understanding A Guide (Belfast, Northern Ireland Council for Educational Development, 1988 ) p.11
xi See Education for Mutual Understanding: The Initial Statutory Years Smith, A and Robinson, A. (Coleraine, University of Ulster, 1996)
xii DENI estimate approximately 50 per cent of the school aged population
are involved in either school or youth group originated cross-community
contact schemes, although this figure may contain an element of double counting.
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