AQW 16090/22-27

Ms Kellie Armstrong
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 02/10/2024
Answered On Date: 18/10/2024
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Education to detail (i) how his Department, in conjunction with the Education Authority, is identifying, assessing, monitoring and aiming to meet the demand for the provision of integrated education in area planning, as required by Section 5 (1) (a) of the Integrated Education Act (Northern Ireland) 2022; and (ii) where this information is publicly available to review.

Answer:

The Integrated Education Act Section 10 Report was issued on 26 April 2024 which outlined the department’s analysis of demand for Integrated Education. This analysis concluded that although there was broadly sufficient provision of Integrated Education at primary school level, demand was not being met at the post-primary level.

On conclusion of work to update guidance for schools considering transformation to Integrated status, my Department will commission the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE) to conduct an engagement exercise with those local communities with oversubscribed integrated schools.

NICIE will then report on whether there is sufficient interest to merit development of integrated provision and/or encourage Transformation. Their findings will be published in due course.

My Department will shortly be issuing an updated Integrated Education Strategy and Action Plan, which will deal specifically with the issue of meeting the demand for Integrated Education. My officials continue to work closely with colleagues in the Education Authority and other stakeholder groups to develop and implement a process to assess demand. This includes the conducting of a survey to establish the preferences of parents for Integrated Education within and outside the mainstream school admissions process. It also includes an annual survey of attitudes towards Integrated Education within the Northern Ireland Life and Times survey.