Integrated Education Fund

Marie Cowan (Chair)
co-opted by the Integrated Education Fund

A graduate of Queen’s University Belfast, with a PGCE from Queen’s and a Diploma in Advanced Studies in Education and an MA from the University of Ulster, Marie Cowan began teaching in 1968 in St. Cecilia’s college Derry. She became Head of History, Head of Careers and Curriculum Coordinator and also had responsibility for Education for Mutual Understanding.

She was seconded to WELB from 1985-1988 as 11-16 Curriculum Advisor with special responsibility for History and was also a member of the Northern Ireland working party set up to look at revising the syllabus for GCSE History.

Marie became a member of Foyle Trust for Integrated Education in 1990. In 1992 she was appointed Founder Principal of Oakgrove Integrated College, successfully developing the college from a small beginning of just 78 students to an 11-18 college for 850 students. She also oversaw the building of a brand new school which opened in 2004. Both her children attended Oakgrove Integrated College and would firmly believe in the value of integrated education. Marie retired in August 2006. She is a member of the Department of Education Working Party, Towards a Culture of Tolerance in Education.

Marie is also a Director (secretary) of a local Credit Union which works to help alleviate the debts associated with high interest rate credit cards and money lending.

Marie is currently a member of the Boards of Governors of three integrated primary schools: Groarty, Oakgrove and Roe Valley.

Dr Andrew Biggart
co-opted by the Integrated Education Fund

Andy Biggart is a Lecturer and Deputy Director of the Centre for Effective Education, School of Education, Queen’s University Belfast. He is originally from Belfast, but spent over 10 years studying and working in universities in Scotland and the North of England, before returning to Northern Ireland in 1999.

His academic background is in educational sociology and social policy. His main research interests and publications focus on issues relating to educational disadvantage, low attainment, early school leaving, young people’s transitions from education to the labour market and comparative European studies. He has conducted research for a wide variety of funders, including the European Commission, the Scottish Executive and the Leverhulme Trust and has served as an advisory board member for a number of Joseph Rowntree Foundation research projects. Recent and ongoing research includes a baseline study of the needs of Black and Minority Ethnic children in the Southern area of Northern Ireland, a major evaluation of an after school literacy programme in West Tallaght (Dublin) and a large comparative study of educational governance and disadvantage across 8 European countries.

Andy has two children and has been a governor of Mill Strand Integrated Primary School, Portrush, for over 8 years where he currently serves as Vice-Chair.

Jim Cavalleros
co-opted by the Integrated Education Fund

Jim Cavalleros is a native of North Antrim and a Chartered Town Planner. Educated at Queen’s University, Belfast he served in local and central government in Northern Ireland for 36 years.

He has been involved in the Integrated Schools’ movement for many years. In 1985 he became a Trustee of the North Coast Charitable Trust for Integrated Education and was subsequently Chairman of the Board of Governors of Mill Strand Integrated Primary School in Portrush. He remains a Trustee of the Mill Strand Endowment Fund. In his professional capacity he has been involved in the development of integrated education in Derry/Londonderry, both at primary and second level.

Christine Harpur
nominated by Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust

Christine was born and brought up in Winchester. She came to Northern Ireland in 1974 and continued working in Personnel Management in the private sector before joining the Northern Ireland Civil Service in the early 90s.

Because of her private sector experience she worked in the Business Support Division of the then Training and Employment Agency where, for the first six years, she headed up the unit which brought Investors in People to Northern Ireland. She then worked in the Regional Operations Division of the Department of Employment and Learning with responsibility for implementing the Government Welfare Reform programme.

Following this, Christine was the Northern Ireland Regional Director of TIG, a national organisation committed to a high quality provision meeting the training and employability needs of employers and employees across the UK, and also working with government departments to deliver programmes for the unemployed.

Christine now runs her own consultancy firm, working in both the North and South of Ireland providing management and organisational/small business development, HR and coaching/mentoring. In the South she additionally works with organisations wishing to obtain FETAC and HETAC accreditation and, with already accredited HETAC organisations, provides external quality assurance when they wish to develop Masters or other third level qualifications.

She has spent time and gained further educational qualifications at Harvard and the University of San Francisco, retains close links with UK and international awarding bodies and in her spare time is involved with developing and quality assuring standards for vocational qualifications both nationally and internationally.

She is a harpist, a bee keeper, a governor at Malone Integrated College, Belfast and lives in Whitehead, Co Antrim with her husband who is also a school governor.

Errol Lemon
co-opted by the Integrated Education Fund

Errol Lemon is originally from Banbridge. He was educated at Banbridge Academy and obtained a degree in English and History from Queen’s University, Belfast. His first teaching post was in Newry Grammar followed by three years in Mungwi Secondary School in Zambia. On his return to Northern Ireland, he was appointed Head of History in Brownlow High School where he remained for the rest of his career, until his retirement in 2006. From 1994 – 2006 he was school Principal.

Errol fully supported the transformation of the school to integrated status in 1991 and played a significant role in the debates leading to the change of status. He is convinced that transformation is a viable and desirable option for many schools.

In the wider educational sphere Errol has been President of the Armagh/Craigavon branch of the NASUWT, has served on various committees and working groups within the SELB, and has been a member of the Board of Directors of NICIE.

Errol played hockey for Irish Universities, Ulster and Banbridge Hockey Club of which he is a Past President. His main hobbies now are hill-walking and reading.

Jo O’Boyle (Treasurer)
co-opted by the Integrated Education Fund

Since September 2008, Jo O’Boyle has been Finance Manager for Stranmillis University College. She had spent the previous 5 years as Finance Manager for Action Mental Health, a Northern Ireland wide voluntary organisation providing services to people experiencing mental ill health. This followed periods of 7 and 3 years respectively in similar roles within the Northern Ireland divisions of the national voluntary organisations – NSPCC and Mencap.

Jo is a graduate of the University of Ulster at Jordanstown and subsequently qualified as a chartered accountant during 7 years spent with Ernst & Young before moving to the voluntary sector in 1994. In addition to managing divisional/organisational financial responsibility, she has gained experience in health and safety, estates and risk management.

In September 2007, after 2 years of part-time study, Jo obtained a Masters in Business Administration with Distinction from the University of Ulster at Jordanstown.

Jo was a member of the board at Playboard during several years in the mid-late 1990s.

Philip Scott
co-opted by the Integrated Education Fund

Philip Scott retired in 2010 after 40 years in the teaching profession working with children, young people and their teachers / leaders through these difficult and challenging times.

Philip was born in Antrim and was educated in Antrim Primary School and Ballyclare High School before qualifying as a teacher at Stranmillis College, Belfast. Having completed his Primary Teaching Course he continued with his specialist subjects of P.E. and Geography for a further fourth year. He later completed a four year course at the University of Ulster and was awarded a 1^st Class Honours Degree in Educational Management.

He taught Physical Education, Geography and Careers in Randalstown High School for eleven years before moving into the primary sector as Vice Principal in Gracehill Primary School, Ballymena and then as principal in Fourtowns Primary School, Ahoghill, Co. Antrim.

In 1989 he was appointed Principal of Springfarm Community Primary School in Antrim where he remained for 21 years leading it through the transformation process to its new start as Round Tower Integrated Primary School in 2003. This has been a very successful new school which has doubled in size, is now over-subscribed and has just become the first primary school in Northern Ireland to receive the Quality in Integration Education Award from NICIE.

Outside teaching he has also been involved in informal education in a wide variety of voluntary youth and community activities.

He was a youth club leader and cross-community summer school leader in Randalstown throughout the 1970s and was a tutor for youth leaders for the NEELB.

However his first love is Scouting which he has been in since a boy. At present he is the Group Scout leader in Randalstown, a cross – community group, but he has been involved at Northern Ireland level for many years, in leader training, leading the Scout Section and then as Chief Commissioner for Scouting in Northern Ireland from 1996 to 2005. During this period he worked closely with the other youth organisations to develop a variety of events, camps and cross-community projects in both Northern Ireland and across Ireland. He is at present Chairman of the ‘Scoutlink Trust’ which is a joint venture with Scouting Ireland to develop Inclusion and Diversity Projects.

He has played a part in other community support groups having been Chairman of Springfarm Pre-school Playgroup for 15 years and is at present on the committee of Homestart in Antrim.

Outside his educational life he still finds time to continue with his sporting activities which have now moved from cricket and rugby to sailing, golf and indoor bowls. He is married to Anne and together they have a family of three grown up children and two grandchildren. He is a member of his local Presbyterian Church where he sings in the choir and helps co-ordinate the Youth and Children’s Ministry.

Joanne Stuart OBE
co-opted by the Integrated Education Fund

With 20 years experience working in the IT industry for a number of multi national corporations, including Oracle, Joanne branched out to form her own business, Attrus Limited, in 2006, which specialises in providing business and IT consultancy services. In September 2010, Joanne was appointed to the board of the Northern Ireland Science Park.

Joanne was elected as the Chairman of the IoD Northern Ireland division in May 2008 for a term of three years.

Joanne holds a number of other voluntary roles including:

• Non-executive director of Sentinus – a not for profit organisation which is one of the leading providers of business/education activity with school children in the United Kingdom.
• Non-executive director of TIDES, a not for profit organisation, which works with communities, organisations and individuals to enable them to deal with diversity.
• Member of the NI Working Group set up by the US Economic Envoy for Northern Ireland, Declan Kelly, and is the NI Chair of the US NI Mentorship program.

In January 2009, Joanne took up the role of independent chair person on the Review of Student Variable Fees and Finance Arrangements on the request of the Minister for Department of Employment and Learning, Sir Reg Empey. Her report was submitted in March 2010 and Joanne is currently updating this to take account of the implications of the Browne Report for England, which was published in October 2010.

In January 2012, Joanne was awarded an OBE for services to business in the community. She has advocated the cause of integrated education for many years and has worked tirelessly to promote the importance of business to the wider community

David Thompson
co-opted by the Integrated Education Fund

David Thompson has extensive involvement in community and cross-community organisations and is very experienced in the funding and financial management of such groups.

He is a qualified teacher, though he left teaching a number of years ago to become involved in a national programme of in-service teacher training (MEP, Department of Education and Science, and then NEMEC, Southampton University).

He is a self-employed Chartered Electrical Engineer and a Certified Mediator with the Mediators Institute, Ireland (Workplace and Organisational). He also manages a GP practice in which his wife is one of the GP Partners, and is a Radio Amateur (Radio Ham).

David devotes a significant amount of his time and expertise to community work in a variety of spheres. He is Chairperson of Little Oaks Pre-school Playgroup, Vice-Chairperson of the Board of Governors of Bridge IPS, Chairperson of Killicomaine Junior High School Board of Governors, a member of the Board of Directors of NICIE, a Council Member for the Mediator Institute Ireland and a Policy Council Member of the Glencree Centre for Reconciliation, Wicklow.

Dorothee Wagner
co-opted by the Integrated Education Fund

Dorothee Wagner moved from Germany to Northern Ireland in 1990 and worked as PA to the Managing Director of a major printing company in West Belfast.

She is a qualified English/German interpreter and translator. In October 1999 she successfully completed 3-year part-time course at the University of Ulster and obtained her Masters in Business Administration Degree, MBA with Distinction and in 2000 was awarded the Guinness IMI Sir Charles Harvey Award. In 2004 she studied at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and completed the Leaders for Tomorrow Programme.

Dorothee was employed by PROTEUS NI Ltd for 16 years and had key responsibility for the company’s finance and administration, public relations, business development, training and consultancy, and Peace II programme management aspects. She is experienced in programme development, assessment, evaluation, monitoring and verification, and has a wide knowledge of the European Union funding landscape. She furthermore promotes Open Space Technology as a tool for interactive conferences and events, and is also licensed to train users of the RickterScale®, a motivational assessment and evaluation tool.

In November 2008, she joined the Recording Progress and Reporting Team at the Council for the Curriculum Examinations and Assessment (CCEA), where she is responsible for co-ordinating a wide variety of team activities related to schools recording progress of pupils and reporting to parents.

Dorothee is currently a Governor of Malone Integrated College, Belfast and is also a member of the Carrickfergus, Antrim & Newtownabbey (CAN) Peace III Partnership.