There is a growing consensus in Northern Ireland that integrated education must play a greater part in the future. But how can this happen without undermining flourishing and inclusive Catholic schools?

There is a growing consensus in Northern Ireland that integrated education must play a greater part in the future. But how can this happen without undermining flourishing and inclusive Catholic schools?

This Autumn has seen two major milestones for integrated education in Northern Ireland. When the new school year began in September, four schools had changed their status to the integrated sector. One of these was Seaview Primary School in Glenarm, a coastal village near Ballymena. It is the first Catholic school to make the switch from the Catholic educational system to integrated schooling. The move was welcomed via a video message by Hollywood actor Liam Neeson, a native of Ballymena and a supporter of integrated education. He praised the school for “taking courageous steps to ensure that children from different traditions will get to learn and play together, every day, in the same school”.

The momentous move by Seaview coincided with the 40th anniversary celebrations of Lagan College in Belfast. Back in September 1981, it pioneered integrated education as a new approach to educating Protestant and Catholic pupils together, despite opposition from politicians and church leaders. Police provided an armed guard for the small group of 28 pupils when they arrived for their first day. But Lagan College forged ahead, embracing students, staff and governors from the Protestant and Catholic traditions in equal numbers. Four decades on, the school has more than 1,400 pupils on its Castlereagh campus, and is now one of 65 integrated schools in Northern Ireland, bringing children and staff from both traditions, as well as those of other faiths, or none, into one school.

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