Northern Ireland is considered to have too many small and unsustainable schools according to the Education Authority (EA).
The EA’s Area Plan (2022-2027) indicates that around 220 out of 748 primary schools have fewer than the recommended number of pupils of 105 (rural) and 140 (urban). At post primary level, 50 out of 192 schools are also below the Department’s minimum threshold of 500 pupils.
Within this context Ulster University, with funding from the Integrated Education Fund (IEF), has recently undertaken research entitled ‘Isolated Primary and Post Primary Schools in 2024: Duplicating Provision?’ The research focuses on exploring instances of education provision across Northern Ireland where schools from different management types are located in close proximity to each other and where sustainability could be an issue for one or both schools.
Dr Stephen Roulston, co-author of the report, commented:
“Many communities around Northern Ireland continue to have duplication of education services. For example, new research from Ulster University has shown 63 maintained and 63 controlled primary schools in pairs right across Northern Ireland, less than a mile from each other. These schools are delivering the same curriculum by teachers with identical qualifications but to different communities. This duplication may impact on the long-term sustainability of education in some areas.
This is most starkly evident in ‘Isolated Pairs’ of schools. These are schools from different sectors delivering education to different communities, located often just yards from one another, but relatively isolated from alternative schools. Despite there being 27 fewer primary schools in 2024 compared to 2019, a new report from Ulster University finds that the numbers of ‘Isolated Pairs’ of primary schools has not decreased in that time – in fact it increased slightly. Half of the 62 primary schools in ‘Isolated Pairs’ are smaller than is recommended for rural areas and the number of instances where both schools in an ‘Isolated Pair’ have less than 105 pupils has increased. Communities with school enrolments of close to, or less than, 105 are vulnerable. As the report points out, if one or both schools were to close, ‘these communities could slide into terminal decline’.
Duplication is not restricted to primary schools. Post-primary school arrangements in Northern Ireland are particularly complex with eight different types of schools, not counting Special Schools, catering for selective and non-selective pupils as well as for pupils from different community backgrounds. Some settlements have clusters of post-primary schools which suggest more variety than would be expected. For example, one town of just over 10,000 inhabitants provides a choice of 5 schools. The report quotes Sir Robert Salisbury talking about this issue:
‘where I live [in NI] has six post-primary schools with six principals, six building costs and six staffing costs. Retford in Nottinghamshire, with a similar population, has two. If you replicate that across the whole of Northern Ireland, you have your funding crisis in one view.’
This paper argues for wider discussion about school provision across Northern Ireland with communities being at the heart of those discussions.”
Ulster University and the IEF are now keen to share the research and gather feedback from schools and communities. The research report was launched at two events at the end of May, one in Dungannon and the other in Enniskillen.
