With election day looming once more, many people will take the view; ‘they are all the same.’ This article will tackle this by looking at what the Northern Ireland parties’ stance is with regards to the future of education.

Schools in Northern Ireland currently come in three forms: State controlled schools, Catholic maintained schools and integrated schools.

Controlled schools are maintained and funded by the Education Authority, these schools are mostly serve the Protestant denomination in Northern Ireland. According to the Department of Education there are 560 controlled schools in Northern Ireland, making up around 48% of all the schools here.

Catholic maintained schools are controlled by the Council for Maintained Catholic Schools serving the Catholic denomination in the North. There are 466 Catholic maintained schools in Northern Ireland, serving 121,733 pupils, according to the Department of Education, this is around 37% of all pupils.

Integrated schools are controlled by the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education working to ‘educate together children from both protestant and catholic traditions, as well as those of other faiths and none, in an inclusive, welcoming and aspiring environment.’ There are 62 grant-aided integrated schools serving 21,956 pupils, around 7 percent of total pupils in Northern Ireland’s education system.

The future of Northern Ireland’s education system has been much debated over the years, with some calling for a move towards a more inclusive integrated education, while others fighting for the status quo to remain. Here are the views of the main parties in Northern Ireland.

The DUP have been supportive of shared education and the Shared Education Bill, whereby schools of separate faiths could use a single campus. Their ultimate aim is to create a singular education sector, but they do not support integrated schools in their current form.

According to their Assembly manifesto for the election earlier this year Sinn Fein will continue ‘to encourage & facilitate the growth of… Integrated and Shared Education.’ However, they also support ‘parental preference – whether it be in the integrated, Catholic maintained, the controlled or Irish medium sectors.’

Similarly, Colin McGrath SDLP MLA for South Down has said, ‘I want to see an Educational system that has parental choice at its core. I feel that our system should be better integrated but also allow for parental choice.’

He was also quick to add, ‘We have the integrated Sector which is small but with over 50% of parents happy to let their children attend this sector, only 7-8% are actually doing so – there are obviously problems.’

The UUP’s manifesto calls for ‘a single education system, where children mix from age four… but which also protects a family’s right to education within a religious context.’ When contacted by Northern Ireland Humanists, the UUP added ‘Religious Education should remain taught in state schools, though school children should also be made aware that there are many different religions around the globe, as well as non- religious viewpoints.’

The Alliance party’s 2017 manifesto makes clear their support of integrated education. They believe “that every child should have the choice and option of attending an integrated school.” The manifesto states that the next Executive needs to make a commitment to integrated education and should set the target of 20% of children being educated in integrated schools within the next ten years. Alliance support the change because of its “educational, financial, economic and social benefits.”

These include:

• Reducing the cost of maintaining around 70,000 empty school places.
• Directing funding towards pupils rather than the maintenance of the school estate.
• Allowing children to explore their identity and culture while learning about other identities.
• Making it easier to improve the quality of education and, therefore, address inequalities.

The Green Party also supports a fully integrated education system in Northern Ireland, stating that the current system is “costly both in terms of finance and societal impact.” Their belief is that the segregation that exists is “unacceptable” and that the possibility of integration has been “wasted by those who seek to continue the status quo.”

According to their manifesto, People Before Profit, “wants to see: An integrated, all-ability education system” they believe that social and religious segregation is to blame for the huge gap in attainment between schools. They oppose what they call “the sham ‘shared education’ programme” which they believe reinforces segregation. The party claim that “all children—from the most academically able to those with learning disabilities—benefit from being educated in mixed-ability, socially-mixed schools.”

Cliodhna Scott-Wills, Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education, refused any comment on the past achievements from previous education ministries, but said that she looks forward to work with the newly formed Assembly.

Ms Scott-Wills praised the work that has been done previous as integrated education has began to grow in Northern Ireland and become more “mainstream”.

Ahead of Thursday’s General Election, the Democratic Unionist Party has urged the public ‘to use their franchise and vote.’

The people of Northern Ireland are still pondering who is the best person to lead the country forward and restore a sense of routine, ahead of Thursday’s vote.

Politicians have made no bones about the amount of effort they put into their campaigns coming up to elections. East Londonderry DUP MLA Maurice Bradley has been heavily involved in the election campaign, for fellow DUP party member, Gregory Campbell.

Bradley said, “There is a lot of organising behind the scenes for an election and a lot of preparation. Over 22,000 leaflets had to be canvased around the doorsteps. Therefore, it has been a busy time for the DUP in the local area.

The East Londonderry MLA continued, “It has been a busy time for the local DUP office in Coleraine ahead of Thursday’s election.

“Once the announcement came about that another election was happening, literature had to be printed and a canvas organised. Prior to the announcement, we had been working hard and organising Voter Registration events, which had been set up in local areas such as Macosquin, Coleraine Town, Ballysally, Garvagh and Millburn.”

The DUP have constantly been reiterating the point to encourage as many people to vote as possible and Bradley thinks that this is, ‘a necessary approach.’

He said, “As a party, our reason for running our registration campaign was to ensure that we got as many people on the register as possible in order to maintain their a voice in Northern Ireland. In this game, we all know that bad politicians find a way in because good people, who do not vote, elect bad politicians.”

It has been well documented over the last number of months the unrest which is currently being experienced within the Northern Ireland executive, with the Renewable Heating Initiative scandal being viewed as the final straw, by some of the political parties, who call for a change.

East Londonderry DUP MLA, Maurice Bradley, has said that the outcome of the RHI scandal may not have been the sole reason for the start of the unrest in government. ‘People recognise that RHI was not what collapsed the government, rather the excuse used to collapse the government.’

Bradley suggested that the media have questions to answer following the collapse of the Stormont executive, indicating that they are ‘partly to blame,’ for the recent events.

The local politician said, “The techniques of media personnel have been inappropriate. Many journalists badger DUP representatives, barely giving them time to answer any questions, whilst allowing time and space for other panel members to provide answers without being. The public have caught this technique on and it has backfired on the media.”

One of the main underlying issues is the thinking that the General Election may not resolve any issues here in Northern Ireland. The electorate have an overall feeling of anxiety ahead of Thursday’s election. One voter has said that the current state of affairs is the, ‘worst state of affairs in years.’

Lindsay O’Neill, a local business owner said, “I just hope that we can get back on our feet after the election results come out. Over the past few months, we have been thrown from pillar to post and we don’t really know what is going on, we don’t have any answers. RHI and Brexit are massive factors talked about all the time, but I would like to see this left behind and begin to move forward and worry about sorting our own matters out.”

The ideology of Direct Rule is something that has been rumoured since the collapse of the Stormont Executive and Bradley reiterated this point. He said. “It remains to be seen. Certainly if there is no agreement, we are looking at a period of Direct Rule in some form or another.”

Therefore, with Thursday’s General Election rapidly approaching it is crunch-time for Politicians on a local and national level. Voters can place their vote from 7am to 10pm on Thursday, with election counts set to continue all through the night. At this stage, there is no set time for results to come through. It is merely a case of waiting and whatever will be, will be.

For more information about the DUP click here: http://www.mydup.com/