Judge rules against NI schools becoming integrated

A judge has ruled against two Northern Ireland schools that wanted to convert to integrated status, and in favour of Education Minister Paul Givan, who blocked them from doing so. Northern Ireland Humanists has expressed dismay at the ruling, and said that it means the law around integrated schools is unfit for purpose.

In January, DUP Minister Givan blocked the bids by two North Down schools to integrate in spite of around 80% of parents supporting them. The schools are both controlled (i.e. de facto Protestant) schools, whereas integrated schools are pan-Christian and many families who attend them are not Christian at all – 45% at one of them.

Northern Ireland Humanists Coordinator Boyd Sleator commented:

‘This judgment shows that the current law around integrated schools is not fit for purpose. It was already the case that integrated schools’ target of 40% Protestant, 40% Catholic, and 20% “other” fails to accommodate non-religious families sufficiently. The non-religious nowadays number more than 20% of the population. But the judgment means it is now very difficult to even balance the Protestant and Catholic places.

‘The law urgently needs to change, to move integrated schools away from being Christian and to allow more flexibility to meet local needs. We will be writing to the Government to call for that to be examined.’

Why the case was lost

At the time, Givan justified his decision by arguing:

‘I am prohibited in law from approving a proposal for a school to become integrated, unless it is likely that the school would provide integrated education. This is described in law as including the education together of those of different cultures and religious beliefs and of none, including reasonable numbers of both Protestant and Roman Catholic children or young persons. This is a very clear legal test that I must consider.

‘What makes up reasonable numbers is not defined in law however, the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education’s ‘Statement of Principles’ states that each integrated school aspires to an annual intake of at least 40% pupils from a perceived Catholic background and at least 40% pupils from a perceived Protestant background. In the past the Department of Education adopted an approach where schools hoping to transform needed to show that at least 10% of their first year’s enrolment can be taken from their area’s minority community (either Protestant or Roman Catholic). Over the next 10 years, the department expected the integrated school to increase this figure to 30%.

‘As I am prohibited in law from approving a school to becoming an integrated school unless it is likely that the school can provide integrated education, I had to carefully consider the breakdown of the enrolments. In the last ten years, Rathmore Primary School and Bangor Academy have averaged around 3% of children enrolling from a Catholic background. Given the extremely low percentage of enrolments from the Catholic community and the availability of many other options for Catholic children in the area, including both Catholic maintained and other integrated schools, it would appear highly unlikely that reasonable numbers could be achieved.’

The judge agreed. He has now ruled that ‘There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that such a demand (for integrated education) exists within the local Catholic community.’