Achieving greater integration in education and housing
This report considers integration and division in education and housing across the traditional community divide in Northern Ireland, looking at the barriers to greater integration and how these could be reduced. Since 1998, much progress has been made in building peace and stronger community relations, but major structural divisions in how Catholics and Protestants live remain.
Nowhere is this more evident, and consequential, than in continuing high levels of residential segregation and a divided school system. There is a strong relationship between segregation in housing and education, and evidence of one driving and reinforcing the other. While recognising the complexity of the challenges, with sufficient vision and leadership this report suggests there are opportunities to build a more united community.
Greater integration, sharing, and mixing in neighbourhoods and the classroom have been consistent ambitions over decades, but this broad aspiration has struggled to bring about societal change. Only 8% of children attend integrated schools, and 90% of social housing remains segregated. This report highlights the need for realism, and the danger of believing that integrating schools alone, however welcome, offers a panacea for community relations. Nevertheless, there are significant potential social, cultural and economic benefits for Northern Ireland from achieving greater integration, especially at time of acute housing need and pressures on public services.
Fully acknowledging these challenges, this report calls for a renewed focus from political and community leaders on increasing integration, sharing and mixing. We suggest joint agreement to a vision that by 2040 data should clearly show substantially more children attending schools with a large cohort of both Catholics and Protestants enrolled, together with a growth in the number of mixed, diverse, communities.
Publication Details
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Date
Thu 13 Mar 2025
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Report
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