Small primary schools in the North may face closure if the British government adapts recommendations contained in a major review published yesterday.
Improvements by schools which share facilities could be given priority over those which do not, according to Schools for the Future, the report of the independent strategic review of education by Prof Sir George Bain.
Sir George, a former vice-chancellor of Queen's University, Belfast, called the recommendations a "brave step forward to ensure we literally do create the schools we need for the future".
The report was commissioned by the government to tackle the problem of rising surplus places of over 50,000 in schools, address the strategic planning of the school's estate, and how to promote sharing, collaboration and the allocation of the education budget.
It was drafted against the backdrop of a complex network of education sectors in the North: voluntary grammar schools, Catholic- maintained primary and secondary schools, state-controlled schools, Irish-medium schools and integrated schools.
The report said that instead of schools being built on the basis of demand for sectors, they should instead by built according to geographical need. However, the report did not recommend enforced integration of Protestants and Catholics at schools.
"This is a pivotal time for schools and schooling," Sir George told a press conference in Belfast's Waterfront Hall yesterday.
"The importance of getting education systems right in societies emerging from conflict and facing the challenges of the 21st century simply cannot be underestimated." Sir George said he had been in "no doubt" that schools in the North faced pressing challenges, particularly because of falling numbers.
He said the problems should be tackled in light of the government's A Shared Future policy, which called for an end to a system of duplication of services in the Protestant and Catholic communities.
To this end, schools should share facilities and collaborate, with projects devised by schools which share facilities given priority for funding over those which do not.
To address falling numbers, which have been felt most acutely in primary schools, there would be a minimum roll level of 105 for primary schools in rural areas and 140 for those in urban areas, the report said.
At post-primary level the minimum enrolment level should be 500, with at least 100 pupils in a sixth form.
The minimum enrolment levels would affect 450 schools, which could face closure or amalgamation.
The North's department of education is expected to respond formally to the report's recommendations after Christmas.
Education minister Maria Eagle said the report was "extremely significant". "It deals with some of the most pressing challenges for the education sector for the next decade," she said.
Nationalist parties welcomed the prospect of schools sharing facilities; SDLP assembly member Dominic Bradley said the party welcomed "broadly" Sir George's recommendations but "this needs to be handled creatively and sensitively to ensure that the ethos of the different sectors is respected." Sinn Féin also welcomed the report.
Alliance Party leader David Ford called the report "a step in the right direction".
BAIN REPORT: main points
Sir George Bain has made 61 recommendations for education in the North, including:
• schools to be given maximum control over their budgets with incentives to share resources with other schools;
• all schools should be sustainable;
• criteria include quality of education, community links and pupil numbers;
• all schools should be planned on a local area basis;
• for the delivery of the 14-19 curriculum, schools should collaborate with further education colleges and training providers;
• when planning the schools' estate, the [future] Education and Skills Authority should maximise opportunity for integrating education within a system of sustainable schools;
• schools which have already succeeded in collaborating and sharing should be shown as an example of best practice and schools should be given incentives to share.