To: Department of Education

We demand a REAL Integrated Education Strategy

In 2022, the Assembly passed the Integrated Education Act, which legally requires the NI Department of Education to do more to support Integrated Education. This only happened because thousands of us pushed their politicians to vote for it. 

But three years on, and the Department of Education still is not living up to the Integrated Education Act’s requirements.

The Department has produced a new Integrated Education Strategy, outlining how it intends to support Integrated Education. Like the 2023 ‘Action Plan’ it produced, it is still not good enough.

Out of 25 ‘indicator areas’, only 3 have targets. And they are all inadequate to meet the overwhelming demand for Integrated Education. The strategy reads like a piece of homework someone started, but forgot to finish.

The Department of Education is consulting on their strategy right now. Tell them: This is not good enough. We demand a proper Integrated Education Strategy, with targets to provide new Integrated school places, to approve plans for schools to transform into Integrated schools where parents want it, to meet the demand for Integrated school places and to properly fund all of this.

Why is this important?

In 2023, 25 years after the Good Friday Agreement, only 8% of NI kids go to integrated schools despite huge demand. Integrated Education is under attack - in January, the Education Minister, Paul Givan, refused to allow two schools to become Integrated - including NI’s single biggest school, Bangor Academy - despite the overwhelming wishes of parents.

This means that it’s more important than ever that people who support Integrated Education - the vast majority of us - stand up and so say so.

Right now, the Department of Education has a public consultation on their 'Integrated Education Strategy' and anyone can comment.

Tell the Department of Education, again  - we want a REAL strategy for Integrated Education.