Whether or not the individual had been listening to the politicians or reading social media comments which flowed from the reports of funding for a sports pitch at Lisneal College, the sentiments expressed are not without justification.
The continuous reference to the college as a Controlled school did infer bias in the decision-making; a point readily assumed by many commentators. The DUP claimed that scrutiny and calls for justification were fuelled by sectarian motives.
Online comments in support of the leadership of the college queried if Nationalist politicians would be as vocal if the money had been allocated to a Maintained school as a sense of injury and communal solidarity kicked in.
Whilst the aggrieved axis of Sinn Féin, SDLP and the Alliance party, with some justification, called for openness and transparency, they did so with a passion that suggested a ‘smell of blood’ in the discomfort of a political adversary.
Questioned before the Education Committee and in the Chamber, the DUP Minister, prone to a hubristic pattern of dismissing scrutiny, mounted a robust if limited defence with many members too comfortable in the resulting acrimony.
He was not assisted by the inaccuracy of media releases from the EA and his earlier decision, whilst technically justified, to deny ‘integrated status’ to two schools against the wishes of a sizeable majority of parents with his ‘on record’ support for church involvement in schooling.
The legacy of denying funding to a group of young ‘Irish speakers’ has not been forgotten.
Perceived as not respecting all cultures or recognising a need for sensitive clarity in political decision-making, the Minister has ‘baggage’ grounded in the optics of recent appointments to the board of the EA.
Meanwhile, the toll on the leadership of Lisneal College was evidenced starkly on the radio and the television. Such did not seem to weigh heavily in the minds of politicians or social media activists until the damage was done.
It is difficult to disagree with the words of the Lisneal Principal that the school suffered ‘collateral damage.’ Onlookers can judge to what extent this is an outcome of persistent if declining binary passions that linger to inform and shape life in many spheres.
Education is clearly not exempt. Nor will it be until we show willingness to address the shortcomings of educational structures as identified in Investing in a Better Future, an Independent Review of Education published in December 2023.
Amongst many challenging comments over three volumes, the Report expresses concerns “that the structure of teacher training contributes to division on religious grounds; that school enrolments demonstrate significant division of learners on the grounds of religion or community background”.
Hence, the labelling of the majority of schools as reflecting and promoting either Catholic or Protestant identity with some views noting that whilst there is a common curriculum, aspects of its delivery may differ across different sectors.
History is seen anecdotally as one of the curricular areas where this applies. It is certainly true of the identity messaging inherent in the ‘hidden curriculum’ of schools.
Within the sectors, the situation can be more nuanced with Controlled schools in particular employing high percentages of diverse teaching and ancillary staff in addition to learners from varying cultural, religious and socio-economic backgrounds.
Lisneal College is one example however the presence of foundation Governors in Controlled schools nominated mainly by the Church of Ireland and Presbyterian churches with, on occasions additional church representatives nominated by the educational authorities, delivers a public controlled sector wherein the protestant ethos is predominant and preserved.
Matched by Maintained schools with a strong Catholic ethos, most young people, possibly including many MLAs, have been educated within a segregated and binary setting by teaching staff trained within the same sectoral arrangement.
Whilst the emergence of Integrated schools and Shared Education have reduced slightly the impact of this, for much of our history it remains a case of ‘ourselves alone’ for schooling.
It could have been different.
Lord Londonderry, Northern Ireland’s first Minister of Education wished to design an integrated system of education where so-called church schools would transfer to ministry leadership and accountability. For reasons related to the political context of the times including initial Nationalist/Catholic abstentionism from and mistrust of a Northern Ireland state system and the eventual rejection by all of the churches of the recommendations of the Lynn Committee and the Education Act which it informed, Londonderry’s aspirations were not realised.
Following popular and sectoral pressure the Act was amended. The decision produced a segregated approach to education. The great majority of Catholics and Protestants would not be educated together at any level outside university and most schools remained denominational in ethos and practice.
Teachers for each of the sectors as defined in religious terms were educated in separate training colleges. Some catholic trainee teachers attended the nominally non-denominational Stranmillis College but were discouraged by the decision of the Catholic hierarchy that such would not be suitable for employment in Catholic schools.
With the addition of selective grammar schools, Integrated schools and Irish-speaking schools, educational provision has become more fragmented with the different sectors having dedicated representative bodies, largely at taxpayer expense.
We have a system of education with many strands wherein learners meet occasionally through Shared Education schemes or learning communities. In terms of sport, Maintained schools play Gaelic games, Controlled schools do not. With a few exceptions, it is the non-Catholic schools which play rugby, hockey and cricket.
Speaking to a gathering of senior educational leaders during her tenure as Parliamentary Under-secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Angela (now Dame) Smith clearly exasperated at the constant references to shortage of resources and finances, rounded on those present to draw attention to the many choices for parents when choosing schools and the costly and wasteful nature of the ‘system.’
There was a muted response from the keepers of the ‘sacred causes.’
At least some of them must have been students at Stranmillis College in the 1970s when the SRC called for pupils to be educated in the same schools and the integration of teacher training college within a non-denominational Institute of Education at Queen’s University.
Employment and the realisation of career ambition with churches having a major input in determining career advancement has a way of dulling radical ideas.
Education continues to operate predominantly on segregated lines.
New Decade, New Approach identified the need to work towards a single education system. The point is well made in Investing in a Better Future that there is no agreed definition for what is meant by a single system; that despite the protestations of some that one already exists, ND, NA highlights that this is not the case.
If it did, there would be no cause to create it.
Whilst citing the impact of segregation, the Review treads lightly on the toes of the sectoral bodies in that no radical change is advocated. It notes, that some schools are not sustainable, small 6th Forms impact negatively on F E Colleges and the delivery of area planning has been limited; that whilst Nursery schools tend to be integrated, children go their separate ways when transferring to Primary school.
The main recommendations focus on administrative reform with sectoral bodies still in situ, in spite of costs to the budget. The Review is content to say that any savings from greater change would not be large but in a constrained economic situation, savings that can be made are a bonus. This also applies where unsustainable schools remain open to maintain a segregated status quo.
Change will come slowly. Integrated schools need not be the only vehicle. Re-structuring of teacher training could have been achieved when during the tenure of Sir (now Lord) Reg Empey at DEL, rationalisation of provision was proposed on the Stranmillis site under the aegis of Queen’s University and with arrangements in place to safeguard the religious requirements of Maintained schools.
The proposal foundered due to lack of support from Sinn Féin and the objections of Unionists who persisted in seeing non-denominational Stranmillis as a ‘provision for protestants.’ Teacher training which is spread across a number of institutions could be sited on one campus.
With many schools built to service the needs of segregated neighbourhoods, should any new school be located where it is accessible to more than one identity with choice determined by the closeness of the school?
Would 6th Form colleges or revitalisation of 16-19 education in the FE sector be more cost effective than learning communities and facilitate a skills agenda brought under the management of the Department of Education rather than the Department of the Economy?
Notably, the Review is not in favour of the costly plans for the Strule campus in Omagh. Is it time to phase out denominational representatives on the Boards of Controlled schools as the main provider of public education.? What is the justification for it to continue apart from a sense of entitlement?
Church representation is reserved for what are referred to as ‘mainstream churches’; an historical term which modern trends render problematic.
Northern Ireland in the 21st Century is more secular with a significant decline in church attendance and many churches lacking permanent ministry. Of those who attend church, growing numbers choose to come together in more informal gatherings for worship. They may not wish it but like churches not regarded as ‘mainstream’, they do not share the privilege of school board membership.
Does this undermine democratic integrity? A meaningful, open and inclusive debate on this and other educational issues needs to begin.
The tit-for-tat furore which is continuing over the provision of a sports pitch goes beyond any perceived shortcomings in the decision-making process and invites resolution of the divisions – educational, religious and social – we sustain within our educational model.