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Report on the Inquiry Into Shared and Integrated Education Volume 1

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Report on the Inquiry Into Shared and Integrated Education Volume 1 Committee for Education Report on the Inquiry into Shared and Integrated Education Volume 1 Together with the Minutes of Proceedings, Minutes of Evidence and Written Submissions Relating to the Report Ordered by the Committee for Education to be printed 1 July 2015 This report is the property of the Committee for Education. Neither the report nor its contents should be disclosed to any person unless such disclosure is authorised by the Committee. THE REPORT REMAINS EMBARGOED UNTIL COMMENCEMENT OF THE DEBATE IN PLENARY Mandate 2011/16 Fifth Report - NIA 194/11-16 Powers and Membership Powers and Membership Powers The Committee for Education is a Statutory Departmental Committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly established in accordance with paragraphs 8 and 9 of the Belfast Agreement, section 29 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and under Standing Order 48 of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Committee has power to: ■ Consider and advise on Departmental budgets and annual plans in the context of the overall budget allocation; ■ Consider relevant secondary legislation and take the Committee stage of primary legislation; ■ Call for persons and papers; ■ Initiate inquires and make reports; and ■ Consider and advise on any matters brought to the Committee by the Minister of Education. Membership The Committee has 11 members including a Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson and a quorum of 5. The membership of the Committee is as follows: Peter Weir (Chairperson) 2,6 Sandra Overend (Deputy Chairperson) 7 Maeve McLaughlin Jonathan Craig Ross Hussey 1,8 Nelson McCausland 3 Chris Hazzard Trevor Lunn Robin Newton Pat Sheehan Sean Rogers 4, 5 1 With effect from 04 July 2014 Mrs Sandra Overend replaced Mrs Jo-Anne Dobson 2 With effect from 23 September 2014 Ms Michelle McIlveen replaced Mr Mervyn Storey as Chairperson 3 With effect from 06 October 2014 Mr Nelson McCausland replaced Mr Stephen Moutray 4 With effect from 17 November 2014 Mr Colum Eastwood replaced Mr Seán Rogers 5 With effect from 08 December 2014 Mr Sean Rogers replaced Mr Colum Eastwood 6 With effect from 11 May 2015 Mr Peter Weir replaced Miss Michelle McIlveen as Chairperson 7 With effect from 15 June 2015 Mrs Sandra Overend replaced Mr Danny Kinahan as Deputy Chairperson 8 With effect from 23 June 2015 Mr Ross Hussey replaced Mrs Sandra Overend i Table of Contents Table of Contents Volume 1 Membership and Powers i Executive Summary 1 Summary of Recommendations 2 Introduction 4 Consideration of Evidence 19 Key Findings and Recommendations 39 Appendices Appendix 1 Minutes of Proceedings 55 Appendix 2 Minutes of Evidence 99 Volume 2 Appendix 3 Written Submissions 577 Volume 3 Appendix 3 Written Submissions (continued) 1151 Volume 4 Appendix 4 Correspondence from the Department of Education 1631 Appendix 5 List of Witnesses 1893 Appendix 6 Research Papers 1899 iii iv Executive Summary Executive Summary Following consideration of a wide range of policy initiatives and proposals in respect of Shared Education and as a consequence of its review of Area Planning in which widely varying views on the demand for and treatment of Integrated Education were recorded, the Committee agreed to undertake an inquiry into Shared and Integrated Education. The Committee’s scrutiny was informed by: numerous written and oral submissions; school visits; informal meetings and evidence events. With Assembly Education Services and Assembly Research Services, the Committee also undertook focus group studies with school children from across Northern Ireland in order to determine attitudes to, and experience of Shared and Integrated Education. The Committee was greatly impressed by examples of sharing and co-operation in many schools in different sectors and phases across Northern Ireland. The Committee agreed that in order to widen participation there should be a statutory obligation on the Depart-ment and its Arms Length Bodies, in line with recent legislation in respect of the Education Authority, to encourage the participation of all schools in Shared Education. The Committee felt that Shared Education was best defined as a whole school educational improvement activity which could take place across all educational phases. The Committee believed that the societal objectives, though secondary to the educational objectives, were important and should extend beyond the reconciliation of the 2 largest communities in Northern Ireland in order to incorporate all relevant Section 75 groups. The Committee felt that in order to better support Shared Education, the Department should study and disseminate the inclusive and welcoming ethos of successful Integrated; non- Integrated and Special Schools as well pre-school settings and nursery schools across Northern Ireland. The Committee also felt that in order to boost the confident participation of all schools in Shared Education, the Department should provide a programme of support for teachers and wider school communities. Given the anticipated substantial financial investment in Shared Education, the Committee supported the development and publication of objective impact measures based on both educational and societal progress. The Committee also supported a flexible approach to the inclusion of single schools in Shared Education programmes where these benefit the wider community and the adoption of shared management or other innovative Shared Education arrangements in rural areas where these are cost effective. Given the relatively limited uptake of Integrated Education and the very different views expressed by sectoral bodies in respect of its facilitation, encouragement and definition, the Committee agreed that the Department should undertake a strategic review of its ap-proach and relevant actions to-date relating to Integrated Education. The Committee also felt that the Department should consider the promotion of so-called natural mixing of children from different backgrounds in non-Integrated schools. In order to support further natural mixing in schools, the Committee supported consideration of a revision to the Home to School Transport policy in order to support attendance at Jointly Managed Church schools. 1 Report on the Inquiry into Shared and Integrated Education Recommendations 1. The Committee recommends that the statutory obligation to encourage, facilitate and promote Shared Education – as set out in the Education Act (Northern Ire-land) 2014 - should be extended to the Department and all of its relevant Arms Length Bodies. The Committee further recommends that the obligation should include the consideration of the incentivisation of participation by all schools in Shared Education. 2. The Committee recommends that Shared Education be defined as curriculum-based interactions that always foreground educational improvement and involve children and young people in sustained whole school/organisation activities across all educational phases while making optimal use of existing IT infrastruc-ture. 3. Further to Recommendation #2, the Committee recommends that Shared Educa-tion should be defined as promoting attitudinal improvement and meaningful contact involving children and young people from all relevant Section 75 groups in line with the objectives of the CRED policy. 4. The Committee recommends that the Department should do more to disseminate the good practice in Integrated, other mixed non-Integrated and Special Schools as well as pre- school settings and nursery schools in respect of the development of an inclusive ethos in order to promote Shared Education more widely. 5. The Committee recommends that the Department should work with the Education Authority to provide consistent support for Shared Education collaborations with a tailored programme of training and guidance for teachers, parents, children and communities so as ensure the appropriate recognition and celebration of cultural differences and thus the confident participation by all schools. 6. The Committee recommends that the Department should give consideration to a wide range of agreed, objective impact measures for Shared Education based on educational improvement in the first instance and societal reconciliation progress in the second. The Committee further recommends that information in respect of the educational and societal impact of Shared Education should be published regularly by the Department. 7. The Committee recommends that the Department should give consideration to the inclusion of individual schools or educational providers in Shared Education programmes where this can be shown to lead to educational and societal benefit for the wider community and where the participating children and young people include significant levels of representation from different Section 75 groups. 8. The Committee recommends that the Department should do more to promote and secure the support of communities for innovative cost effective approaches to sharing in education in rural areas including e.g. federative or shared man-agement arrangements or other solutions including Jointly Managed Church schools or amalgamations, as appropriate. The Committee further recommends that in order to ensure that support is properly targeted, communities engaged in Shared Education should be required to demonstrate initial and longer term edu-cational and societal benefits. 9. The Committee recommends that the Department undertake a strategic review of its approach to Integrated Education, the terms of reference of which should include: the effectiveness of its actions in encouraging and facilitating
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