Call for Evidence - Integrated Education Bill Inquiry

Overview

The Bill makes provision about the promotion and provision of integrated education. It will also provide for the reform and the expansion of integrated education.

WHY WE ARE ASKING FOR YOUR VIEWS

The Integrated Education Bill has passed Second Stage, the debate on the principles of the Bill. This means that the Assembly has delegated responsibility for scrutiny of the Bill to the Education Committee, which is the relevant statutory Committee. The Education Committee will carry out a Committee Stage consideration of the Bill on behalf of the Assembly.  This Committee Stage entails a call for written evidence, which will be followed by invited oral evidence briefings to the Committee. The Committee will then deliberate before making final decisions on each clause. The Committee will summarise its process in a report to the Assembly which may recommend amendments.

The explanatory memorandum accompanying the bill sets the context as follows:

" In essence, integrated education is educating children and young persons in schools which promote an ethos of diversity, respect and understanding between those of different cultures and religious beliefs and of none in the same school on a daily basis.

The vast majority of children and young adults in Northern Ireland are educated in the Catholic Maintained or the Controlled sectors. This means that the system separately educates the majority of children and young persons. While the number of pupils in the integrated education sector has been increasing in recent years, total enrolments remain below 10 percent of the overall school system. The proposed Bill would help integrated education grow its enrolments."

What happens next

Following the closure of this call for evidence and views the Committee will consider all written and oral evidence before moving to deliberate on the Clauses of the Bill. The Committee will summarise its process in a report to the Assembly which may recommend amendments.