William Kitchen: It is more important that a school is outstanding than that it is integrated

These proponents say things like “there is nothing normal about teaching children from different religious backgrounds in different schools”.

There is intuitive allure to these types of remarks. There are pervasive and persuasive myths surrounding the integrated education movement in Northern Ireland.

Opposition to integrated education does not mean opposition to integration within schools. The former is a deliberate and managed movement, which structures schools, teaching, curriculum, pupil intakes, teacher appointments, and governance structures around the principles of integration.

Within this model, schools must ‘transform’ in order to be recognised as integrated. Once transformed, these schools are encouraged to work towards ‘aspirational numbers’, typically cited as a 40-40-20 percentage split across the ‘Catholic-Protestant-None & Other’ groups of society.

The alternative – integration within schools (which I prefer) – is non-deliberate. It happens entirely by creating an excellent school environment, which attracts parents towards sending their children to that school.

There is no underlying motive to fixate on intake numbers based on faith. Children of all faiths and none are welcome to apply, and this application will be based on educational and ethos factors, which will make the school attractive to some, but not so to others. Every non-integrated school (ie not transformed by the integrated movement) in Northern Ireland falls into this second category.

I eschew integrated education, but espouse integration within education. The first myth emerges; namely, that integrated education is inclusive. It is not. It pits a Catholic child against their Protestant and other faith/ no faith counterparts, and ultimately focuses on selecting by that faith designation. This is not desirable practice. It should be avoided.

Another myth surrounding integrated education is that the supply of integrated schools is outstripped by the demand for them. Since the introduction of the Alliance MLA, Kellie Armstrong’s Integrated Education Bill, this argument has been oft-cited.

The recent survey undertaken by the Education Authority showed that 31% of people surveyed had a strong desire for their children to attend an integrated school. This contrasts starkly with the 8% of children who currently attend integrated schools. The proponents of integrated education suggest that this indicates a need for more integrated schools.

These numbers are misleading. The best way to assess the supply-and-demand argument is to check applications vs admissions for the schools. If integrated schools were regularly outstripping their admissions capacity by over-subscribed applications, then the supply-and-demand argument would stand to reason.

In reality, across the sector, this is not the case. There are some integrated schools – Lagan College, for example – which regularly end up over-subscribed. This is not the case across the entire sector. Comparing 8% current enrolment to 31% desire (based on the survey) might suggest that one in every four applications are successful.

That is not the case. Even Lagan College, for example, received 345 applications for 220 places last year. These numbers reflect comparable over-subscription (even in the most extreme cases) to top grammar schools like, for example, Friends’ School in Lisburn, which received 324 applications for 166 places, or Methodist College Belfast, which regularly has over double the number of applications for available places.

In other words, the most over-subscribed schools are not formally integrated – they are excellent schools, which have typically achieved integration within them.

It is a myth that integrated status creates the most desirable school environment inside which children will flourish – learning from, and with, one another. Why would a child’s faith (or lack thereof) have any impact – positive or negative – on their learning?

I fear that the integrated education movement cares less about the educational development of children than it does the social engineering of them into ‘aspirational’ groupings based on their faith.

I find it much more desirable to create excellent schools which might meet children’s educational needs, and let them thrive in environments where learning is the core business.

• Dr William H Kitchen is a senior lecturer at Stranmillis University