If we started from a blank piece of paper, would we come up with the education system we currently have in Northern Ireland? Almost certainly not, argued Mike Nesbitt at the launch of the Integrated Education Fund’s ‘Alternative Manifesto’ at Stormont.

No, the Assembly and Executive aren’t sitting and, no, there isn’t an election anytime soon – as far as we know. But the Earth keeps spinning, and in the absence of a devolved government the IEF has taken it upon itself to set out how the education system might be reformed whenever normal legislative and ministerial service resumes. Indeed, it makes a powerful case why it should – sooner rather than later. It’s a manifesto with a sense of urgency.

The immediate context is striking. There are ten bodies that oversee the education of 314,289 pupils across Northern Ireland’s 1,153 schools. Against a backdrop of inefficient administration, it is estimated that schools face a funding gap of £350 million by 2020. That’s before considering the cost to society of a system in which 90% of pupils are educated in schools that identify with a single tradition or denomination.

IEF Alternative Manifesto Launch, Stormont, 16 April 2018. Photograph by Declan Roughan

How can the system be rationalised to become more efficient? And how can the education system help to disrupt the perpetuation of division in a deeply divided society?

It’s no surprise that the IEF thinks that integrated education plays a significant part of the answer. There is certainly support from parents: in a recent poll by LucidTalk, 67% of parents said they would back a proposal for their child’s school to become officially integrated.

So what might the way forward look like? The Alternative Manifesto sets out specific steps to a new system:

  • There should be a single authority for the planning and administration of education in Northern Ireland;
  • The government should set a target to increase the percentage of pupils in integrated schools to 10% by 2021, and plan to meet it;
  • Strategic use should be made of the £500 million set aside in funding from the Stormont House Agreement;
  • The planning system should be used to prioritise integrated education, particularly in the building of new schools;
  • A single model of school governance should replace the 11 disparate models that currently exist in school management;
  • The inspection process should measure the extent to which schools respect and recognise political, cultural and religious differences among pupils through their daily routine and curriculum;
  • The Section 75 non-discrimination provisions of the 1998 Northern Ireland Act should be extended to cover all schools;
  • Fair employment legislation should be extended to cover the recruitment of teachers;
  • In a coordinated effort, the Department for Communities and the Department of Education should develop an interdepartmental approach to mixed housing and integrated education;
  • Where the IEF pays for start-up and expansion costs in integrated schools and the government is satisfied that demand exists, the government should repay these costs for the IEF to invest its funds elsewhere.

“There’s a lot to do,” remarked Richard Lemon, Director of the IEF, on unveiling the Alternative Manifesto. And yet despite the clear divisions between Northern Ireland’s political parties on a range of longstanding issues, there was clear cross-party support to, at the very least, take the proposals seriously.

Former Education Minister Peter Weir said the current challenges facing the education system underline the need for ministerial decisions, and that devolution offers space for fresh, imaginative thinking. He noted that his final act in office was to publish a critical review by the Department of Education that highlighted Stormont’s failure to “lead the planning, development and growth of integrated education.”

Sinn Féin’s Caoimhe Archibald agreed that fundamental structural change was neded if we are to have a “genuinely reconciled society.” She added that ending academic selection should be part of this discussion.

Rosemary Barton of the Ulster Unionists was particularly supportive of the idea of moving towards a single education system and extending fair employment legislation to teacher recruitment. She also noted the success of sharededucation schemes, particularly in her home county of Fermanagh, where schools from different sectors have already been working together to minimise the duplication of resources and to promote cross-community relations.

IEF Alternative Manifesto Launch, Stormont, 16 April 2018.
Photograph by Declan Roughan

The SDLP’s Colin McGrath acknowledged the challenging landscape. Supporting the need to transform the system, he recognised that there would be some resistance, particularly from parents. While the current system has been inherited, he called for a common interest in our children’s futures to be the driving motivation behind any policy shift.

Steven Agnew of the Green Party was in a reflective mood. He recalled the moment he got tickets to go and see U2 in concert at the Waterfront Hall in 1998. He got them through a staffer at the SDLP. Until then, he realised how few Catholics he had encountered through his own educational experience. He said he was “angry” that 20 years later we’ve made so little progress towards greater integrated education.

The Alliance Party was the most explicit in its endorsement of the IEF’s Alternative Manifesto proposals. Chris Lyttle called it a “meaningful roadmap” towards a better education system and a “united community.” While his party had previously called for a target of 20% of children to be educated in integrated schools, he welcomed the greater cross-party support behind some of the IEF’s proposals.

His colleague, Kellie Armstrong, has been working on a draft Integrated Education Bill. For it to get anywhere, Northern Ireland’s devolved institutions need to be restored.

We know that there are some sources of profound disagreement between the main political parties. And yet, to various degrees of enthusiasm, it appears that a genuine consensus is emerging across the political spectrum on the benefits of greater integrated education and a number of specific policy steps towards achieving it.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy of Northern Ireland politics in 2018 is not simply that politicians are divided on certain issues. It’s that on many important issues they are actually in basic agreement – but they just can’t do anything about it.

When Mike Nesbitt reflected on his own education, he recalled that he didn’t do very well at school; that is, until one particular teacher gave him the encouragement he needed. They gave him something previously missing: hope. And that changed everything.

The IEF’s Alternative Manifesto may not provide all the answers, and political consensus on the surface may mask deeper reservations to some details of specific proposals. It’s likely only the beginning of a much longer, complex conversation. But its creative thinking – and a strong sense of political good will towards it – do offer hope.

Also published on Medium.