Debate contribution: Integrated Schools: Reasonable Numbers Criterion
Debate contribution by Mr Paul Givan on .
- MLA
- Mr Paul Givan
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 14 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Integrated Schools: Reasonable Numbers Criterion
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5685729
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for his question. Obviously, that issue is one that has been discussed in relation to "reasonable numbers", primarily within the integrated sector. It is clear that many schools that have already transformed and are now controlled integrated schools do not satisfy the "reasonable numbers" criterion to the extent that was envisaged by the current policy, on which the Assembly voted in 2022. The policy legally requires a reasonable number of Protestant and Catholic children to attend those schools. Most of the six post-primary schools that have been transformed to integrated status did not meet the year 1 target of 10% minority community representation, and none approaches anywhere near the 40:40:20 aspiration articulated by those in the integrated movement. The position in the primary sector is similar. Many of the 25 transformed schools, including those that transformed many years ago, continue to exhibit a significant imbalance between Protestant and Roman Catholic pupils. Some schools have fewer than five pupils from the minority community, and many remain well below the aspiration of a balanced intake. Those findings suggest that, although individual schools vary, transformation has not consistently resulted in the balanced religious demographic associated with the statutory definition of integrated education.
203 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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