RITE & REASON:Strong public support for shared education in the North is not being reflected in reality, writes Michael Wardlow
THERE IS little doubt that the Northern Ireland of today is very different to the place it was even 10 years ago. In that context our devolved government appears to be of the view that financial investment will consolidate this peace and that if enough jobs are created, we will somehow forget our differences.
This is a flawed and indeed dangerous position to take. We are a society built on a fault line of sectarianism and unless we deal with the underlying problems, we are in danger of building our "shared and better future" on an unstable foundation.
No matter how awe-inspiring the edifice we construct, when the seismic wave of underlying sectarianism and bigotry comes again, it will collapse. It seems that we are being asked to accept a form of co-existence which, at best, is tenuous and at worst, will inevitably pursue the "equal and separate" policies of America in the 1950s.
Such policies will build on the default of division and could lead to the consolidation of difference.
We are at a time where a small measure of courage and some creative thinking could allow us to imagine, indeed construct new ways of being together, recognising our differences but going ahead in a way that accepts we need to deal with them rather than deny them. In effect, following my metaphor, we need to lay a proper foundation before we build.
Take one example - education, where less than 100 schools have any significant mix of religious traditions. In a recent survey carried out by Millward Brown Ulster (May 2008), over 84 per cent of the respondents felt that integrated education was important in developing peace and reconciliation, with an even higher percentage (85 per cent) determining that integrated education was important in promoting mutual respect and understanding as well as developing a shared and better future.
When this is added to the 67 per cent who would support a jointly managed church school and the 79 per cent who wished schools to share facilities, it is clear that there is strong public support for sharing in education. This survey finds a basis in a recently published piece of longitudinal research on the impact of cross-community contact, Can Contact Promote Better Relations? Evidence from Mixed and Segregated Areas of Belfast.
It found that: "direct contact with a member of the other community resulted in a reduction in prejudice over time;
• "more intimate contact promoted the sharing of personal information;
• "indirect contact has a positive effect by changing opinions about accepted and acceptable patterns of cross-community interaction;
• "indirect contact is especially effective for people who have little experience of direct cross-community contact;
• "when people saw that members of their own community were involved in cross-community contact, this led to an increase in their own cross-community contact . . . the multiplier factor."
Integrated schools can and do provide a well-rounded education for young people - socially, academically and spiritually - with the "value added" of creating a pupil cohort willing to engage with different ways of understanding identity, as we move ahead to a shared future together. This year once again there will be many disappointed pupils and parents as there were insufficient places available in the 60 integrated schools to accommodate all who wished to attend.
This is an annual problem which was not made better this year when, despite parental demand, Caitríona Ruane, the Minister of Education, turned down requests from four schools to transform to integrated status.
We are now looking ahead to a shared and better future in Northern Ireland, based on equality and delivering better cohesion, sharing and integration for all its citizens.
The time has come to clear the vision and focus on agreeing what kind of future we are building with and for future generations.
It is my view that parental demand, backed up with research evidence, supports the view that integrated education offers such a basis.
It does so because it focuses on building a shared and better future, through modelling safe spaces in which active, tolerant and well-educated citizens can learn together and live together.
The situation remains that the focus to deliver such shared institutions still lies with parents.
The facts, however, show that parents still want shared schools and will continue to drive the demand until eventually such a choice will become a parental right in our shared and better future.
• Michael Wardlow is chief executive of Northern Ireland Integrated Schools