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Comments on feedback received on the Integrated Education Bill
CSSC reiterates its support for children and young people being educated together and stresses that Council’s concern is not with the intent of the Bill but with its content. As is the case with many issues there is not one perspective that reflects the context for all controlled schools.
Council is mindful of the unique position of controlled integrated schools, valuing and respecting their explicit integrated status. It is important to emphasise that Council’s position in respect of the Integrated Education Bill is to seek equality for children and young people, regardless of the school they attend.
Prioritisation
Feedback “This bill does not prioritise one sector above any other.”
It is correct to say that the Bill does not include the words priority or prioritise, neither does it refer to any other school sector. However the implications of giving one sector additional layers of support that aren’t available to others creates inequality and in effect is prioritisation.
Amendments
Feedback “This Bill has already been significantly amended.”
It is correct that over 70 amendments to the Bill have already been discussed in the Assembly. However whilst these amendments mitigate and clarify some areas of concern they do not go far enough.
Funding
Feedback “Your school’s funding will not be affected by this Bill.”
The Bill does not state that funding will decrease in schools. However the consequences, unintended or otherwise, of one school having demand met and other schools not, along with commitments being made to expand some schools, are that funding will increase to the growing schools and decrease to the others.
Equality
Feedback “This Bill is about levelling the playing field.”
Demand for integrated education
Feedback “There is significant unmet demand for integrated education.”
Analysis of EA school admissions data 2021
A simple analysis of the most recent school admissions data from the Education Authority (EA) shows that in 2021:
This data is available on the EA website here.
CSSC aims to be open and transparent in our analysis of data. If you have any questions about how we collate and calculate our data please get in touch.