Alliance MLA: Integrated education also about changing schools' ethos, board of governors and religious makeup of staff

​Kellie Armstrong was commenting on the ongoing row over the education minister’s decision to reject integrated status for two schools in Bangor, where the proportion of Catholic pupils was just 3%.

Paul Givan argued that did not meet the statutory test of “reasonable” numbers of pupils from that tradition.

Speaking to the BBC on Thursday, the Alliance MLA argued that integrated education was about much more than what she described as a “headcount”.

“Integrated education is more than just a headcount on the religious makeup of the school. I defined that in the law when the Integrated Education Act was brought forward. It talks about the socio-economic background, and the mixture in the school – and the different abilities of the schoolchildren”.

Ms Armstrong said integrated education “involves the mixture of different cultures and backgrounds in the teaching staff and on the board of governors – and intentional integrated education through the subjects [taught].

“So it’s not just simply that you’re integrated because you have a mix of pupils. It’s… how the education is provided for those pupils. How every culture is celebrated, welcomed. And how differences are examined and explored.

“It is quite a different way to look at how children come together and it is an absolute peacebuilding mechanism that is used in order to… celebrate and recognise that Northern Ireland is a place that’s diverse”.

The original aim of the integrated education movement was to ensure pupils from the two main traditions in Northern Ireland were educated together, in an attempt to improve community relations. A recent publication by the NI Council for Integrated Education says it is inspired by the work of many “activists” – citing left wing campaigners like Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta; LGBT author Audre Lorde and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.