Education Committee - 8th June 2011

Northern Ireland Assembly, Committee for Education - committee site
Committee for Education, Hansard Minutes - committee minutes

"That is happening across the North; we are seeing schools exchanging pupils for various subjects and sharing services through area learning communities. The entitlement framework is also moving that forward. I will encourage that and move it forward in every practical way that I can, because I thought it was great that those young people were so comfortable and that the pupils around them were comfortable with them. That is community relations in practice." John O'Dowd - the Minister of Education

"The shared education programme has done a huge amount of work in trying to build those relationships between schools." Conal McDevitt

"Without every member giving examples from their own constituency, those who represent North Antrim will always be keen to mention that Ballycastle High School and Cross and Passion College have been doing this for years — before it was policy or even, in many cases, practical. They were challenging, and they have made an invaluable contribution to community relations in Ballycastle and its wider area. It is a direction of travel that we need to encourage. It is better coming from the ground up, rather than presented in some glossy document as though from on high." Mervyn Storey

"Shared education facilities, integration of education and the eradication of the problems in our society require a multilayered approach. We as politicians play a role in that. I think that we have played a positive role in that over the past number of years, even though, sometimes, we are open to fair or unfair criticism from the media. The fact that we are sitting together in this room and having a debate proves how much politics has moved on. I think that that sends the signal to our communities that it is time to move on. We are leading from the front." John O'Dowd