Northern Ireland and Education

Following on from my thoughts on University provision within Northern Ireland I will share my thoughts on education.

Peter Robinson's recent comments regarding integrated education the debate seems to be moving to the fore. With Catriona Ruane's inept performance as Education Minister likely to play the pivotal role in the UUP and SDLP campaigns for the Northern Irish Assembly next year we will be sure to see many comments and opinions on the topic.

We as a nation are separated along religious lines almost from birth. We are neatly divided into communities and rarely see "the other", the fear of the unknown grows and we do not develop a respect for other traditions. The first time some Protestants will interact with Catholics is in the workplace. How can this be justified in a modern society?

The Northern Irish education sector must come together and work together to end segregation. Some politicians see this as an attack on the Catholic sector of education with the promotion of the Integrated sector. It need not be this way at all. I see no evidence to suggest that the current integrated sector is the way forward.

I am loathe to request further legislation but why not give post primary schools a 7 year window to reform. A school will only receive government funding if it has at least 1/3 of one community or the other. This will mean that single religion schools will end. Each school will be forced to make itself more attractive to the other community to get the necessary 1/3 that it needs. Further more a move towards secular schooling in general can only be a good thing in this future education. Religious studies should be the responsibility of parents in the home rather than teachers in the school.

As in England, parents should be given more freedom of choice when it comes to education. Money should follow children with parents having a say over who spends it. Less regulation will allow more schools to enter the education market with parents having the power to make or break these schools with their support. If the parent wants their child to go to specialist music school and the local school doesn’t provide enough music education the parent could, if they wanted and with support of other parents, start a music school. If enough parents thought the same and left a school it would force a school to question why so many parents are removing their children and provide the resource that they are deemed to be deficient in.

This set amount per pupil that will be allocated to schools will be a resource that schools battle over to secure. Standards will rise as schools try to convince parents that their school is best for their children. As will the general standard of education rise so too will the specialisation of schools too. A parent will at some point be able to send their child to specialist maths, English or science schools depending on the ability of the child. The possibilities are endless.

Most will be appalled by the idea of commercial schools but again if companies ran schools they would be efficient and could pool resources over larger areas. They could potentially provide facilities cheaper and long term options of employment for pupils through work focussed courses.

Freedom of choice is much better than the current sectarian deadlock that we have