Member's statement: Integrated Education

Member's statement by Mr Nick Mathison on 26 May 2026.

MLA

Mr Nick Mathison

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

26 May 2026

Type

Member's statement

Business

Members' Statements

Heading

Integrated Education

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5582314

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Last week, we saw the Department of Education launch a key report on the level of demand for integrated education and a new integrated education support programme. Those two announcements coming within 24 hours of each other represent a classic case of mixed messaging. The report on demand for integrated education, which was required in legislation, was, regrettably, full of political spin and seemed at pains to downplay demand for integrated education at every opportunity. The message in the report, however, was clear: regardless of which measure you prefer to use, there remains significant unmet demand for integrated education in NI. The life and times survey sets out that 55% of those surveyed would prefer to send their child to an integrated school or, if you prefer, 31% of parents who have recently been through the admissions process would have preferred to send their child to an integrated school. In a context where only 8·4% of the available school places are integrated, there is clearly a huge unmet demand for integrated education. When the law requires the Minister not just to measure that demand but to aim to meet it, it is clearly time for action, not spin. A report that sets out demand with the numbers that I have just referenced and then attempts to explain it away as patchy, variable or reflective of a couple of oversubscribed schools and so on is not taking the duty to aim to meet demand seriously. The Minister needs to take the politics out of this. We have seen it before in recent decisions: you cannot, on one hand, acknowledge demand in an area, such as the area that a large part of my Strangford constituency falls into — Ards and North Down — and then, when two schools in that area bring forward proposals to transform, refuse them. That seems to me to be an exercise in gaslighting the public.

It is not all doom and gloom. The launch of the integrated education support fund, which quickly followed the report that I have referenced, is welcome. Alliance has argued for years that schools, often in rural areas, that have different management types should proactively seek to come together to secure sustainable provision in their communities and, where possible, offer that integrated model at the same time. It is welcome that the Department is now proactively offering support for schools to undertake that work and deliver those solutions, and I encourage schools across Northern Ireland to engage with the process. I hope to see creative solutions to bring schools forward in the not-too-distant future. It is vital that the Department does not continue with mixed messages. Either the Department is serious about dealing with this and the Minister will step up and deliver, or it is not. It is time for the political spin to be taken out of the issue and for the statutory duties to be exercised fully and properly.

490 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not qualifying

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:38 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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