The Future Schools Project aims to support school communities who wish to explore sustainable solutions to primary and post-primary school provision in their area.
(New Decade, New Approach Agreement, UK and Irish Governments, January 2020)
The aims of Future Schools Project are to support school communities who wish to explore whether there might be a more sustainable solution to primary school provision in their geographic area and provide guidance on how they could move forward with this in practice. This is a particular problem in Northern Ireland where a divided system of education has led to duplication of provision in some areas.
The Project is therefore designed to enable parents and communities to envision and articulate the kind of primary school provision in their area that would offer greatest viability, sustainability and quality of education for children and young people, and support school leadership in their engagement with the Area Planning process.
A Toolkit for Primary which was developed 2021-2022 by the research team from the School of Education, Ulster University, with the support of funding partner, the Integrated Education Fund and with funding from the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland through their Civic Innovation Programme. The CFNI Civic Innovation Programme supports “innovative ideas that put people at the centre of decision-making in Northern Ireland.”
A Toolkit for Post-Primary which was developed 2024-2025 by the research team from the School of Education, Ulster University. This was commissioned by the Integrated Education Fund, made possible by a grant provided by the Northern Ireland Office (NIO).
Department of Education NI, Area Planning Guidance for 2022-2027)
The Future Schools Toolkit that was developed as part of this Project aims to:
> provide support and guidance that will enable schools and the communities within which they are located to undertake self-evaluation in relation to school sustainability using the Department of Education NI Sustainable Schools criteria and indicators;
> provide guidance in using the Community Conversation methodology to engage communities in a shared exploration about the way forward; and
> set out the pathways and processes involved in Area Planning in order to support school communities to work with the managing authorities towards a realistic, sustainable solution to enable ongoing school provision in the area.
The Toolkit was officially launched at Stormont on 27 May 2022.
If, at some stage, there are pressures on keeping both schools sustainable we need to work together to keep the best of what we’ve got – we need to make decisions about what we want before we are told what is going to be happening.
Parent participant in the Future Schools Project
It allows everyone to examine options that will benefit communities longer term.
School Governor providing feedback on the Future Schools Toolkit for Primary Schools
I think it is the only way forward, I know that we need to have a clear evidence base of how we move forward to the schools of the future, the Toolkit is the only way.
Principal participant in the Future Schools Project for Post-Primary Schools
Primary School Principal providing feedback on the Future Schools Toolkit for Primary Schools
The development of the Community Conversation methodology is to enable “communities to participate as active agents in determining the shape of the places in which they live and the services they require… a right to participate is a foundational principle of civic democracy”.
The approach emerged from research undertaken on local education provision in the context of area-planning1 for schools in Northern Ireland. A research team at Ulster University was engaged by the Integrated Education Fund (IEF) to carry out non-partisan community conversations that gave local communities a voice in relation to future school provision in their area. By collecting these views, it was possible to build a robust evidence base so that statutory authorities responsible for managing school provision could incorporate community informed decision-making into education planning and policy implementation. The methodology was applied initially in a rural context where there was an over-supply of school places: it could equally be applied to urban settings and to areas where there are insufficient school places.
Community Conversations provide a vehicle for effective civic engagement and recognise the importance of local, grassroots experience as distinct from policy makers and other statutory stakeholders. Inclusive dialogue is essential at all levels of society and some issues are too important to be the sole decision of policy makers and politicians. As a methodology, the Community Conversation does not presume to have all the answers or to resolve a particular issue but, as a process, it can challenge perspectives, contribute critical insights and thereby provide a strong evidence to inform the direction of policy opinion and implementation.
Its simplicity and transferability to a range of social issues means that the Community Conversation methodology has gained wide acceptance as a model of engagement. While initially more prevalent in health settings, it has relevance to a wide range of socially sensitive issues spanning education provision, disability, community relations, and housing, amongst others. As a means of engagement, a Community Conversation approach can be particularly valuable in conflict or post-conflict societies (such as Northern Ireland), where segregated communities continue to struggle with changes and challenges to the status quo and the range of viewpoints on local issues can be highly sensitive and contentious for the communities involved.
