NEWS RELEASE

Date:  24^th June 2013 

BELFAST PARENTS ECHO PRESIDENT OBAMA’S SENTIMENTS ON INTEGRATED EDUCATION

• 66% of parents support increasing the number of integrated places in Belfast from 4% to 33%

• 83% believe integrated education is a vital part of creating a shared future in Northern Ireland

• 72% believe that funding for integrated education should be prioritised, with enough places available for those who wish to send their children to an integrated school

• 60% of parents would prefer that new schools resulting from consolidation of smaller schools be  integrated

BELB PARENTAL OPINION RESEARCH JUNE 2013

see link –  charts form Millward Brown survey

NICIE today reveals the results of a public opinion survey to test parental response to the proposal by the Belfast Education and Library Board that a third of all places in the BELB area should be integrated. It shows that local parents’ opinions reflect those expressed by President Obama on his recent visit. The findings confirm that the parents of primary school children in Belfast are willing and ready to meet the president’s challenge with regard to moving beyond segregated education.

“On June 17, President Obama threw down a gauntlet to the young people of Belfast, urging them to take the steps necessary to secure a shared and peaceful society by moving beyond segregated housing and segregated education,” commented Noreen Campbell, CEO, NICIE. “This survey shows overwhelming support for NICIE’s proposals to increase the volume of integrated primary school places in the BELB area from 4 per cent to 33 per cent even though this will mean an offset reduction in places in the controlled and maintained sectors that might impact on their own local schools.”

Two thirds (66 per cent) of parents support such proposals, with one third being strongly supportive. Opposition to such an increase is relatively small at only 1 in 10 (11 per cent), with only 4 per cent of parents being strongly opposed to such a change.

68 per cent of Catholic households and 57 per cent of Protestant households support such a change in primary school provision; households that define themselves as of mixed, other or no religion are even more strongly supportive (76 per cent).  Levels of opposition are low at 15 per cent in Protestant households and 11 per cent in Catholic households.

Support for the concept of integrated education is very strong: over 4 in 5 parents think that integrated education is important in promoting respect and understanding (84 per cent); that it is a vital part of creating a shared future in Northern Ireland (83 per cent); and that it is vital in breaking down barriers between Catholics and Protestants (82 per cent).

Noreen Campbell, CEO of NICIE, added: “This poll gives voice to the parents of Belfast. The ELB will no doubt consider this survey in detail as a response to their consultation on primary planning. There is no doubt that the views of Belfast parents would be echoed across Northern Ireland were a similar province wide poll to be carried out.

The process of area based planning creates an opportunity for the voice of parents to be heard and for the development of a network of integrated schools to meet the stated demand for this type of education. This poll echoes the sentiments of President Obama and chimes with the public commitment to consolidating a peaceful society.”

 

Other key findings include:

• Almost 3 in 4 parents (72 per cent) believe that funding for integrated education should be prioritised with enough places available for those who wish to send their children to an integrated school.

• Parents were also asked to comment on school preferences if primary schools in their area were reconfigured. If the number of primary schools in their area were reduced by a process of consolidation, whereby several smaller schools would close and be replaced by one larger school, 3 in 5 parents would prefer that this school be an integrated school, while only 1 in 7 would want the school to be a single identity (Catholic or Protestant) school.

• If the controlled or maintained school their children currently attend were to be transformed into an integrated primary school, 9 in 10 (88 per cent) parents would keep their children at the same school, and only 1 in 20 (5 per cent) would move their child(ren)

• 95 per cent of those who expressed an opinion would keep their children at their current school if it were transformed to an integrated school.

• Only 30 per cent of parents not sending children to an integrated primary school know of an integrated primary school within two miles of their home

• Overwhelmingly, geographical inconvenience is the key barrier to sending children in Belfast to an integrated primary school, with 52 per cent citing this as the reason for not using or planning to use an integrated primary school

• Where children not at school were concerned, the majority (77 per cent) would still send their child to the school as planned should it be transformed into an integrated school (only 5 per cent would send them to another non-integrated school, with 19 per cent undecided).

• Should another school in the area be transformed, 1 in 6 would change their plans, sending them instead to the newly transformed Integrated school (with a not insignificant 1 in 3 unsure what they would do).

• 1 in 5 parents (19 per cent), whose children have not yet started primary school, hope to send their children to an integrated primary school

• Only 14 per cent of parents not choosing an integrated primary school, do so because they prefer a faith-based school.

ENDS

For further information or to arrange an interview with a spokesperson please contact Noreen Campbell, Chief Executive Officer at (028) 9097 2910 or at 90972835 or mobile 07878721327or via email to ncampbell@nicie.org.uk or to Cliodhna Scott Wills Development Officer, at cscott-wills@nicie.org.uk 90972910

 

About the survey

Research results based on a telephone survey of a representative sample of 400 parents within the BELB area.  Sampling was controlled to fully reflect the population in terms of area of Belfast, socio-economic group and denomination. As the survey sought views on primary education, eligibility was restricted to parents of children aged under 12, that is those with children who are attending primary school (n=300), nursery or pre-school (n=66), and those too young to be at any facility (n=108).  The survey was undertaken between the 4th and 14th June 2013.