Shared and integrated education provides solutions on schools

Proposing an amendment to a motion in the Assembly today, Alliance Education Spokesperson Trevor Lunn MLA has said that the Minister should use sharing and integration to deliver genuinely sustainable schools for Northern Ireland. Alliance amended an SDLP motion on rural schools to take account of the need for further sharing and integration within education.

Lagan Valley MLA Trevor said: “This debate is timely and relevant. Our amendment highlights one of the more obvious solutions, which is to further promote integrated education and the broad principle of shared education.

“The sustainable schools policy is to my mind fair and realistic. The Minister should however include the potential of shared education and the integration of schools in areas where that is the most viable option. This is the fresh thinking we need to ensure our schools are sustainable.

“This policy highlights the need to ‘uphold an education system that plays a positive and powerful role in the normalising of society’. What could be more normal, or play a greater part in normalisation than bringing our children together in school for their education?”

ENDS