The IEF wishes all our friends and supporters well in these difficult and challenging times.

The Covid-19 crisis is having a significant impact on everyone and the IEF is no exception.

To keep everyone safe, and in line with social distancing guidelines, planned fundraising and parental engagement events have been cancelled and future events and activities will need to be rescheduled. Our advocacy, communications and grant work have all been equally impacted upon by the situation and, of course, schools remain closed. (more…)

The Integrated Education Fund was delighted with the strong parental support for integration at Glengormley High School, where a ballot has returned a resounding “Yes” vote for the school to begin the journey of working towards achieving integrated status.

Principal Ricky Massey declared himself thrilled with the result and thanked parents for their support and engagement in the process. Commenting on the next steps, he said,
“The Board of Governors, leadership and staff are delighted with the overwhelmingly positive outcome from our parental ballot and a very strong message of ‘Yes’ for integration.” (more…)

MLAs debated a motion yesterday (10 March) calling for the implementation of the independent review of education in NI as a matter of urgency. The New Decade, New Approach (NDNA) agreement contains a pledge to establish an external, independent review of education in Northern Ireland, encompassing all stages from early years to post-16 provision and beyond including Further Education and its interface with Higher Education.

The IEF was pleased to see that the NDNA paper pledged an independent review, which is something we have called for; research has also shown overwhelming public support for this. (more…)

Senior figures from the IEF were in London yesterday (04 March 2020) where the Fund hosted a roundtable discussion focussing on the commitment in the New Decade, New Approach agreement to establish an external, independent review of education provision in Northern Ireland.

The event was supported and sponsored by Shadow Northern Ireland Minister, Karin Smyth MP, who was joined by MPs from across the political spectrum, including former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Julian Smith MP. (more…)

The Minister of Education has announced three new member appointments to the Board of the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA), to fill vacancies arising from resignations in 2018. (more…)

The latest paper in the Ulster University series looking at the NI education system examines the Catholic RE Certificate and its impact on employment patterns in NI primary schools.

The author of “The Certificate in Religious Education”, Dr Matt Milliken, argues that reviewing the requirement for all permanent teachers in Maintained primary and nursery schools to gain this qualification could open the way for teachers of all backgrounds to apply to work in all sectors. (more…)