Northern Ireland came into being in 1921 and Lord Londonderry joined the first government as Minister of Education. His Education Act of 1923 tried to introduce a system of secular schools, controlled by the local education authorities. Bardon quotes Lord Londonderry as saying ‘Religious instruction in a denominational sense during the hours of compulsory attendance there will not be’. Again, this was opposed by the Churches, firstly by the Catholic Church and then by a group from the Protestant Churches called the United Education Committee. The Prime Minister, Sir James Craig submitted amendments to the Act in 1925 which enabled clergy to ‘advise on the appointment of teachers, education authorities could take a candidate’s religion into account when making a teaching appointment and teachers were compelled to give ‘simple Bible instruction’ as part of their contractual duties.’

Bardon notes the impact of these amendments to the original act, the Education Act of 1947 and the raising of the school-leaving age to 15 in 1957: ‘Children were now at school for longer than before and therefore officially separated on religious lines for longer than before. Apart from at Queen’s University, it was only in some rural technical schools and in the growing further-education sector -quietly and unobtrusively – that young people of all creeds were being educated together.’

The power-sharing Executive which resulted from the Sunningdale agreement began work in December 1973 with Basil McIvor as its Minister of Education. McIvor asked his civil servants to produce a ‘shared schools’ plan which they did by April 1974. In his memoire ‘Hope Deferred, Experiences of an Irish unionist’ Basil McIvor notes that the Protestant churches were generally supportive of what he described as ‘a deliberately timid entry into the field’. He ‘did not see a wholesale switch to shared status but hoped that over the years there would be a gradual growth which would embrace existing schools as well as new ones.’

McIvor planned to bring forward the necessary legislative changes in the autumn of 1974.
However, the power-sharing Executive was taken down by the Ulster Workers’ Council strike in May 1974 and with it went the ‘shared schools’ proposal.

These were three attempts which came from the three afore-mentioned Ministers of Education over a period of almost a century and a half. The next attempt had a much more grassroots origin and ironically it was happening at the same time that McIvor was bringing forward his ‘shared schools’ plan. Basil McIvor said in his memoire that he ‘was only vaguely aware of the existence of the All Children Together movement.’ He also said that he did not and wasn’t in touch with the members but was on the same road as them. He joined them after the Executive fell.

In the 1960s and 1970s some Catholic parents were sending their children to state, de facto Protestant schools but as Bardon quotes from Thelma Sheil’s 1982 dissertation, ’they wanted their children brought up in the fellowship of their Church and prepared for their First Communion and Confirmation. ‘

As they did not receive support from the Catholic Church, Thelma Sheil said that ‘A small group of Roman Catholic parents in Bangor had come together and formed a Sunday School and were taking turns in instructing their children.

On 24^th March 1972, a letter appeared in the local press from a Mrs Cecilia Linehan of Holywood advocating that integrated education ‘should be encouraged where possible’.

She suggested that centres of religious education should be set up to help Catholic parents (like herself) whose children were not attending Catholic schools. She invited interested parents to contact her. Mrs Benton did so and told her about the Bangor Catholic Sunday School.’  The group of people who had responded to Mrs Linehan and those who were part of the Sunday School joined together at a meeting in June 1972. The group wanted to provide religious instruction for their children, ideally with help from the Catholic Church, but the ‘desirability of integrated education would not be forgotten.’

In November 1973 the parents formed a group called All Children Together (ACT), a name given to it by Bettie Benton.  Delayed by the Ulster Workers Council strike in May 1974, ACT became interdenominational in September 1974. Among those Protestants who joined ACT were Bill Brown, Margaret Kennedy and Thelma Sheil, although they were active even before the group became officially interdenominational. 

After the fall of the power-sharing executive in 1974, there was a lack of action in the area of integrated education by the Direct Rule Labour government, which was more concerned with extending the Comprehensive Education system into Northern Ireland.

Basil McIvor and Jonathan Bardon note that the aims and objects of ACT were formally adopted at the inaugural general meeting of the association in January 1977:

‘The All Children Together movement seeks change in the education system in Northern Ireland, that will make it possible for parents who so wish to secure for their children an education in shared schools acceptable to all religious denominations and cultures, in which the churches will provide religious education and pastoral care.’

Tony Spencer, a founder member of ACT and a lecturer in the Sociology Faculty at Queen’s University Belfast drafted a private bill in 1977 aimed at creating a third sector, an integrated sector.  As there was currently no legislature in Northern Ireland, Lord Dunleath steered the Bill through the House of Lords. The Education (Northern Ireland) Act 1978 or as it was more commonly known as the Dunleath Act completed its passage through the House of Commons on 12 May and received royal assent on 25 May 1978. 

Whilst McIvor says bluntly ‘The 1978 Act was not taken up’, Bardon notes that there were unsuccessful attempts in connection with Malone and Throne Primary Schools and Park Parade Secondary School in the years following the legislation. However, the Act remained unused and was eventually incorporated into the 1986 Education Order at the urging of ACT’s Bettie Benton.

ACT was frustrated that the churches did not engage with the Dunleath Act and information was not provided to the public by the Department of Education and the Education and Library Boards.

Bardon reports that they held a public meeting on 23 March 1981 at which 15 parents signed up for an integrated post-primary for boys and girls in south Belfast. The parents provisionally accepted Lagan College as the school’s name on 27 April. The school opened in September 1981 with 28 pupils in the rented Ardnavalley Scout Centre, near Shaw’s Bridge, close to the river Lagan.

After running the school on private and charitable donations, notably from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, the Governors applied to South Eastern Education and Library Board to have them a publish a development proposal to seek maintained status. The proposal was finally published on 31 October 1983. By the beginning of 1984, Lagan College had 164 pupils in forms one to three and good numbers enrolled for September 1984. The school had also moved to the former Castlereagh special school on Church Road but had outgrown these premises too

The school was given grant-maintained status on 1 April 1984 and this relieved a huge burden from ACT.  However, the school was growing rapidly and the numbers for September 1984 were about 300 and this necessitated another move, this time to Lisnabreeny, a National Trust site, where the school is to this day. The capital funding from the Department of Education was at the rate of 85% and the school and ACT still had to find the rest.

With ACT supporting the establishment of Forge Integrated Primary School (IPS) in 1985 arising from the former Malone Primary School, another trust was formed in Belfast, the Belfast Trust for Integrated Education (BELTIE). BELTIE established two schools in north Belfast, also in 1985, Hazelwood Integrated Primary School and Hazelwood Integrated College.

In 1986 All Children’s Primary school was opened in Newcastle, Co. Down. Two schools were established in 1987 Bridge Integrated Primary School, Banbridge and Mill Strand IPS in Portrush.  

1988 saw the opening of Windmill IPS in Dungannon and in 1989 two schools opened: Braidside IPS in Ballymena and Enniskillen IPS. These schools brought the total number of Integrated schools to 10 which were supported in their establishment by their new respective trusts for Integrated Education (link to trusts page or sidebar).  However, as Bardon notes ‘the financial risks taken between 1985 and 1989 were very great and new integrated schools were almost completely dependent on the generous support of charitable trusts.’

In order to further support the growth of Integrated Education, in 1987 BELTIE, with financial support from the Nuffield Foundation established a ‘central group’, the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE)

This ground-breaking piece of legislation was introduced under Direct Rule Conservative Minister Brian Mawhinney who was Belfast born and educated at Royal Belfast Academical Institution and Queen’s University Belfast.

Article 64 of this Order for the first time imposed on the Department of Education the ‘duty to encourage and facilitate the development of integrated education, that is to say the education together at school of Protestant and Roman Catholic pupils.’ The Order also contains a mechanism for financing newly established Integrated schools and the means of transforming existing schools to Integrated status.

With the access to funding following the 1989 Order, the number of schools grew over the decades.  At first the growth was mainly from new Grant Maintained Integrated Schools, especially when there was access to capital funding using the Club Bank but in later years the Transformation aspect of the 1989 legislation has been more frequently used. More information on the Club Bank can be found in the History of NICIE section.

Table of the growth of the number of schools in the four decades since Lagan College opened

Along with the growth in the number of schools, the number of pupils in the schools has increased. 

At first the growth was exponential but in the last decade it has been more a case of the existing schools growing in response to parental demand, see Bar chart below.

Barchart of the growth in the number of pupils in Integrated Education

Strangford MLA Kellie Armstrong brought forward a Private Member’s Bill which broadened the definition of Integrated Education and increased the scope of the statutory duty. She wanted to reflect the changing demographic makeup of Northern Ireland which is evidenced in the results of the 2021 Census. The definition is now:

 (a) those of different cultures and religious beliefs and of none, including reasonable numbers of both Protestant and Roman Catholic children or young persons;

(b) those who are experiencing socio-economic deprivation and those who are not; and

(c) those of different abilities.

and the duty has been modified “to encourage, facilitate and support”

The Act also includes the provision for the Department to bring forward a strategy which reflects the new statutory duty.

We at NICIE look forward to seeing the Act being implemented in the coming years.