‘UVF recruiting ground’ row over controlled schools overshadows integrated education hearing at Westminster

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/education/uvf-recruiting-ground-row-over-controlled-schools-overshadows-integrated-education-hearing-at-westminster/a964390520.html

A row over controlled schools being a “UVF recruiting ground” has overshadowed a discussion on integrated education at Westminster.
The controversy arose towards the end of today’s meeting of the NI Affairs Committee.

MPs are examining the benefits of integrated education, the challenges of developing the sector, as well as the impact of the Integrated Education Act.

But the DUP’s Carla Lockhart took exception to some comments made during the session by integrated education campaigners.

Dr Matt O’Neill, chair of AlumNI, recounted his own education and told MPs of how his brother’s friend once arrived home talking about a careers class he had been in during his time at a controlled sector school.

**“One day my brother came home from school talking about a careers class. A friend had said he wanted to be a commander. The teacher asked, ‘The air force? The armed forces?’ He replied, ‘No, the UVF’.**

**“I am just very lucky my mother told us to think about other options. It was a big moment for me and changed my life.”**

Peter Osborne, chair of the Integrated Education Fund (IEF), also told how he had gone to a controlled school in the 1970s where he did not know how many Catholics attended.

“They would have been a small minority, they would have kept their heads down. That should not be what happens in our education system,” he said.

**Responding, Ms Lockhart said that some of the panel’s remarks had been “somewhat disappointing”.**

**“I feel they have been very derogatory towards the controlled sector. I feel they have been dismissive,” she said.**

“And I would absolutely refute (sic) the characterisation around controlled sector schools that you ‘had to keep your head down’ if you are from another religious background.

“I’m actually still in shock around the comment recounting ‘commander of the UVF’, giving a perception that controlled sector schools are recruiting grounds of that nature.”

She said Northern Ireland had “amazing controlled schools”.

“I refute (sic) as well the preconception that has been given that controlled schools are closed shops for other people,” she added.

**With the hearing closing, Mr Osborne attempted to respond to what he called “a totally unfair reflection” of what had been said.**

“I feel I must take 20 seconds to reiterate the respect we have for the quality of education in other sectors. What they do is incredibly good. I have said that several times.”

The session ended without Mr Osborne or Mr O’Neill getting the opportunity to respond.

MPs were told of hopes that a quarter of children in Northern Ireland should be enrolled in integrated schools within the next decade.

If the Government is to back up the support voiced for the sector, and the support for parental choice, parental votes should be held at every school here on transforming to integrated status, Mr Osborne said.

Mr Osborne had told MPs a distinction had to be made between integrated and shared education.

“Integrated is about children in the same class all the time, wearing the same uniform, learning, accepting, respecting each other in a constructive, positive way,” he said.

“Shared education is different schools maybe on the same site, but in different buildings, using sports facilities at a different time. It can accentuate the division.”

He added: “We are all in favour of parental choice, but let’s make it real. It takes £2,000-3,000 for an independent ballot to be held in any single school.

“The Prime Minister has said integrated schools should be the norm, not the exception. Over the next 25 years let’s require every school in Northern Ireland to have a ballot on integrated status. Let’s give parents that choice. Savings overall will be way more than what it would cost to pay for that. It’s a bargain.”

He also said his organisation received no advance notice that 10 integrated schools and shared education projects would lose £150m in funding for capital building works as money from the Government’s Fresh Start programme was reallocated after the restoration of the Assembly.

Dr Keir Bloomer, chair of the Independent Review of Education, which published its report last December, said the focus must be on children learning together, promoting cohesion in a post-conflict society after finding ‘the atmosphere undesirable, competitive and adversarial”.

“A substantial number of schools transforming to integrated were threatened with closure,” he added.

“A significant part of the recent expansion in integrated schools is based on the number of schools on the margin of viability. Frankly, that’s not the way forward. We need something a bit more dynamic than that.”

Roisin Marshall, chair of the NI Council for Integrated Education, responded that of 14 schools currently in pre-decision to transform to integrated, 10 of those are sustainable.

She added: “Just starting a desire to be diverse isn’t enough. All schools must think about how they can do that better.”

by LoveLaughLarne