Debrief

By Karin Eyben, Integrated Education fund

Shared education or shared out education? Which will best serve the needs of our children’s future?

That was a question raised at Sustaining Schools, Sustaining Communities, an event organised by Rural Community Network and the IEF in Ballyronan, on the banks of Lough Neagh. (more…)

So how is the money to be spent in schools over the next four years? This week, on the 16th, the consultation period for the Executive’s proposed budget closes and the IEF, like many other stakeholders, will have submitted our response. But responding is difficult when the Department of Education’s plans are fairly opaque; the paper produced by DENI lists cuts, but doesn’t allocate expenditure. This is partly because a proportion of the total available sum is allocated to schools themselves to make these decisions (the aggregated schools budget) making it hard to estimate the true effects of the cuts, even though the minister says she is committed to protecting front-line services. (more…)

FROM GERALDINE TIGCHELAAR, CHAIR OF THE INTEGRATED EDUCATION FUND

The conversation on segregation and sharing, aired in the media and on political platforms over recent months, demonstrates the imperative for systemic change in education and broad support for greater collaboration and integration. But when do we move beyond conversation to action? (more…)