Almost incredibly, in the second decade of the 21st century, the issue of integrated education (ie educating Catholic and non-Catholic children together) remains controversial in Northern Ireland. A situation almost unique in the developed world, the only other exception being Scotland.
For those readers outside Northern Ireland, allow me to elucidate; NI has four main types of schools- State schools (which are also known as ‘Controlled Schools’), Catholic schools, Integrated Schools and Gaelic language schools.
According to figures from the Department of Education, there are some 560 state schools, almost half of the total number of schools registered in Northern Ireland. The number of pupils attending these schools, both primary and secondary, is approximately 140,000, or about 42% of all pupils.
In terms of religious breakdown, 66% of those pupils are Protestant, 10% are Roman Catholic, 18% have no religion and 6% are ‘other’. State schools are managed by the Education Authority through various Boards of Governors.
There are 466 Roman Catholic-managed schools, under the authority of the ‘Council for Catholic Maintained Schools’. According to figures from the Dept. of Education, the number of pupils attending Catholic schools is 121,733, or about 37%.
The CCMS has 36 governing council members, who (unsurprisingly) are appointed rather than being democratically elected.
Integrated schools are institutions usually established with the express intention of educating children together, regardless of religious or community background, the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE), a voluntary organisation, oversees integrated education in Northern Ireland. Just over 24,000 children were enrolled at Integrated Schools in 2020/21.
Gaelic language schools are, as the name suggests, schools which teach through the medium of the gaelic language.
Gaelic language schools, or ‘Gaelscoileanna’, are outside of state control but are able to achieve “grant-aided status”, by applying for voluntary maintained status. In addition to free-standing schools, gaelic language education is also provided through units in a small number of existing (CCMS) schools.
Of the two types of gaelic language schools in NI there are 27 ‘stand alone’ gaelic language schools and just 12 gaelic language units attached to English-medium host schools.
In addition to this, there are two fully independent schools teaching through the medium of the gaelic language. ‘Gaelscoil Ghleann Darach’ in Crumlin, Co. Antrim, and ‘Gaelscoil na Daróige’ in the city of Londonderry. ‘Comhairle na Gaelscolaíochta’ (CnaG) is the representative body for gaelic schools.
Just 7,000 pupils are enrolled in these gaelic language schools, many of which have pupil numbers so low that they would trigger immediate closure within any other school sector, especially the State sector.
This present hodgepodge situation, which disadvantages all children but especially those within the under-funded state sector, could easily have been avoided however if Northern Ireland’s first devolved government had won it’s battle with the churches.
True History Forgotten – Again!
The efforts of the first Northern Ireland education minister, the seventh Marquess of Londonderry (1878-1949) to integrate and modernise education have (almost predictably) now largely been forgotten but, had his proposals been accepted without major alterations, generations of children in NI could have benefited from a modern, secular and above all, integrated education.
Sadly though, his reforms were torn asunder by various denominational interests, in particular those of the Roman Catholic church.
Lord Londonderry decided from the outset to make radical and controversial changes to education. Changes which would have created a first class school system which would have seen children of all classes and creeds educated together.
Education in Ireland was, historically, beset by many difficulties, a lack of uniformity, small enrollment numbers in many schools and a genuine, deep-rooted concern about the influence of so-called “school-managers”, who were almost always clergymen.
Many so-called ‘national schools’, established in the 19th century, had become sectarian institutions, in terms of both character and control. School management boards had been completely taken over by local clergy, especially in predominantly Roman Catholic areas.
Attempts to remove this malign influence, such as the MacPherson Bill (1919), failed mainly because of opposition from the Roman Catholic church and their allies in the Nationalist Party. As a result Ireland, unlike the rest of the United Kingdom, did not benefit from any significant reforms in education.
With the official creation of the state of Northern Ireland in May, 1921, control of education automatically passed to the newly elected devolved government.
That control, however, was to remain tenuous for several years. Once again it was the Catholic church and it’s servants within Irish nationalism that tried to thwart educational reform.
For a while, religious segregation in education continued unchallenged but that situation would not continue for much longer, with the Unionist government of Northern Ireland determined to end segregated education.
The Government of Ireland Act, approved by Westminster in December, 1920, delivered self-determination to the island of Ireland, with the creation of separate northern and southern states with limited self-governing powers, including responsibility for education.
Section 5 of the Act prevented, by law, either state from making:
“a law so as either directly or indirectly to establish or endow any religion … or give a preference, privilege, or advantage, or impose any disability or disadvantage, on account of religious belief … or affect prejudicially the right of any child to attend a school receiving public money without attending the religious instruction at that school”
Government of Ireland Act (1920)
This constituted a serious challenge to the existing education system as it implicitly implied that schools had to come under state control if they wanted to access public funding.
In a speech to the Northern Ireland Senate in June, 1921, Lord Londonderry made it very clear what his hopes were:
“I feel that everybody realises the importance of this great question, and that everybody is determined to do his utmost to collect in one great body and in one band all the great educational forces of the country, so as to elaborate a system which will be satisfactory in every respect. There are naturally difficulties which surround this question. They have been acute at different times and they subsided at other times but I do feel that with co-operation and with sympathy we will be able to evolve a system which will be the admiration of all other countries.”
Charles Stewart Henry Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry.
Londonderry faced seemingly insurmountable problems. A new ministry of education had to be created from scratch, a task made much more difficult by uncooperative officials in Dublin, motivated by bigotry and petty spite, not transferring relevant materials and staff.
Even more seriously, the Irish nationalist minority in Northern Ireland boycotted the new state. Encouraged by the Sinn Féin leadership in Dublin, particularly Michael Collins, they naively hoped that Northern Ireland would not last long as a separate political entity.
Roman Catholic bishops in NI— the community and moral leaders of northern nationalists and republicans — seemed to enthusiastically share in this delusion and advocated abstention from the Parliament of Northern Ireland, refusing to recognise its lawful authority.
Arch-bigot Logue
One of the most vocal opponents of the new Ulster state was the Catholic archbishop of Armagh, Cardinal Logue, who was noted for his intransigent and bigoted views. Logue refused to have anything to do with Northern Ireland and instructed his ‘flock’ to follow his example.
Logue was an unabashed bigot and an intractable opponent of integrated education and would prove to be a constant thorn in the side of the reform minded and progressive Lord Londonderry.
In September, 1921, Londonderry established the “Lynn committee on education reform”. It was hoped that all interested parties would sit on this body and clerics from all of the major churches were invited to join, including Logue. The cardinal refused to join or even to allow others under him to do so.
At this time around a third of all Catholic schools refused to even recognise the authority of the Ministry of Education; with staff continuing to draw their salaries from Dublin instead.
The Marquess of Londonderry urged cardinal Logue to reconsider his position. The arrogant and power-hungry Mr. Logue replied, ludicrously describing the committee as “an attack…organised against our schools”. He maintained this stance despite the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty which had effectively guaranteed the existence of the State of Northern Ireland.
Logue’s backward and narrowly sectarian attitude deprived the committee of any official Catholic input and retarded development of the “one great body” that Londonderry had so desperately hoped for. It is from this belligerence that all the subsequent problems of this period can be traced.
Nevertheless the committee established by Lord Londonderry convened, under the chairmanship of Mr. R.J. Lynn, then editor of the Belfast Newsletter, they pressed on with hearings throughout 1922 and presented interim findings to Londonderry that summer.
Only one Roman Catholic, the interestingly named Napoleon Bonaparte-Wyse, defied Cardinal Logue and accepted the invitation to be involved with the committee. He was something of a maverick and quickly became a hate figure in the Catholic and nationalist press.
But Bonaparte-Wyse was a very skilled administrator, having had considerable knowledge of education policy from his years as a civil servant in Dublin and, to his eternal credit, he put in a tremendous amount of work on behalf of the committee.
The Committee Reports
The report recommended structural changes and local accountability for state schools that would eventually be embodied in the subsequent education act.
Schools wishing to retain full independence were provided for— with the quite reasonable proviso that they would receive reduced funding. An intermediate category was also created, falling somewhere between full state control and independence, in which ‘school managers’ would be appointed by both the local authority and any affiliated church.
Such schools would receive more funding than those which were totally independent but less than the full funding of those completely transferred to the state sector.
It was hoped that this financial lure would enable a transition of unwilling church schools from full independence to the state via intermediate status. In place of clerics the local education authorities would appoint managers whilst still allowing clergy a “right of entry” to schools. A concession that, in the opinion of this author, should never have been made.
The committee also compromised it’s secular ideals by recommending that “simple bible instruction” should be provided on a voluntary basis.
Lord Londonderry agreed to the changes recommended by Lynn but, correctly, rejected Bible instruction as unconstitutional. Unpaid religious instruction would only be permitted after school hours and with express parental consent. This proved to be too much for some parties and even for some reactionary elements within the Unionist Party.
Nevertheless, the main Protestant churches welcomed the interim report, as did the Orange Order. The Roman Catholic church however, did not.
Despite some division in cabinet Londonderry won collective support with the help of Prime Minister Craig and (future Prime Minister) J.M. Andrews. In the spring of 1923, the Education Act (Northern Ireland), more commonly known as “the Londonderry Act” was passed.
Catholic schools had, predictably, lost financial support from the Irish Free State in October, 1922, and were forced, albeit reluctantly, to recognise the education ministry’s authority in order to receive funding. Now fully involved in the system they had so strenuously resisted, they vociferously rejected the report as an attack on their religion.
Unlike the emerging Free State system, Northern Ireland’s proposed secular and integrated state schools would not promote the Catholic religion or so-called ‘gaelic culture’. Whilst it would not promote Protestant values either, the new system was seen by the majority of Roman Catholics as doing so obliquely. A case of “that which is not Catholic must be our enemy”.
The end of 1922 had seen something of a battle of wills between Catholic teachers and the Ministry of Education over the oath of allegiance to the King, which was quite reasonably required of all public servants.
Many believed that this would be an important test case, with a government victory proving, once and for all, that it was the Ministry of Education, not the Catholic church that was truly in charge of education in Ulster.
Due to the financial dependency of Catholic teachers upon the ministry it was inevitable that the government would win. The Catholic school system had lost a battle that they themselves had instigated, simply because of their intransigence and unreasonable demands for self-exclusion. Unfortunately though, the outcome was not as decisive as many had hoped.
Protestant churches had agreed to transfer the schools under their (marginal) control to state control despite the lack of religion in the school timetable. They quickly changed their minds however when it became clear that Roman Catholic controlled schools would remain independent and only ‘Protestant schools’ would have to abide by state rules, specifically – no church control over teacher appointments and no religious instruction on the curriculum.
To compound this, Catholics would have a say in the appointment of teachers in state schools through the (exclusively Catholic) Irish nationalist party members of local education authorities, something which was keenly felt by Protestants in border areas who had already experienced sectarian discrimination at the hands of nationalist controlled councils.
Segregation and Discrimination
There were clear examples of discrimination against Protestants by Irish nationalist controlled councils, especially with regard to social housing, from the very birth of Northern Ireland as a state. By the 1960s, such discrimination against non-Catholics was endemic, having reached such extraordinary levels that in Newry in 1963, only 22 out of 765 newly allocated council houses were given to Protestants.
Curiously, we hear little or nothing today about that discrimination.
“Liberty of Teaching”
The Catholic church were utterly opposed to the new education act and opposed to any kind of educational integration or loss of church control over schools.
This, however, was neither a new position, nor one unique to Ulster. In the 1850s, to cite just one such example, in New York and other adjacent urban areas, Catholics implemented a system of parish-based schools.
The Roman Catholic church remained resolutely and unreasonably opposed to any form of integrated education, or indeed to anything that would dilute their control over the schooling of “their children”.
One of the things which concerned the church most was the content of the curricula delivered in state schools, for the church hierarchy was firmly opposed to the notion of “liberty of teaching”.
In this instance, the RC church prevailed, though in most cases, the struggle over education between the state and the Catholic church resulted in the capitulation of the latter. Even in Catholic strongholds like France.
Between 1881 and 1882, the French Minister of Public Education, Jules Ferry, promoted a series of reforms establishing a free, obligatory and secular system of primary education. Catholic authorities, apoplectic with rage, vehemently and passionately opposed Ferry’s reforms, although in the end the church had little choice but to accept the new system or be totally cut off from public funding, a stark choice which church controlled schools in Ulster should, in my opinion, also have faced.
In Northern Ireland though, the battle over schools continued, with the Roman Catholic church throwing up fresh obstacles at every turn in order to thwart Londonderry’s plans.
The Catholic church even opposed the idea of Catholic and non-Catholic teachers being trained together.
They would not allow male Catholic trainee teachers to enrol at Stranmillis teacher training college, as they did not want them educated alongside (Catholic) women or Protestants.
Almost unbelievably, the RC church even refused to send male student teachers to St Mary’s college in Belfast, which was already training Catholic women, preferring instead to send male student teachers to a college in the Irish Free State and forbidding them from attending Stranmillis.
Understandably, the Ministry of Education insisted that teachers would have to be trained in Northern Ireland, as the curriculum and education system in the Free State was, of course, at significant variance to that of Northern Ireland.
The Marquess Londonderry also had to deal with the constitutional problem of funding a denominational college. The Catholic church though, persisted in petulantly demanding a separate Northern Ireland college for Catholic men.
However, despite the diktats and veiled threats of leading bishop Joseph MacRory, Stranmillis recorded fifty applications from Roman Catholics in 1923.
Most of these were retracted though when the Catholic church made it clear that teachers graduating from Stranmillis would not be employed in “their” schools.
Lord Londonderry had to resolve the matter, needing teachers for Catholic schools but wanting also to prevent too many Catholics coming into the state sector, lest it would cause a backlash amongst non-Catholics.
Some progress was made when Bonaparte-Wyse met MacRory’s representatives for talks. The Catholic church however rejected every proposal made, until they themselves put forward the idea of separate lectures and subjects for Catholics in Stranmillis, also demanding a separate hostel and grounds for Catholic student teachers, lest they become ‘contaminated’ by close contact with non-Catholics.
The Ministry countered by suggesting that Catholic student teachers could instead be sent to Strawberry Hill, a Catholic training college near London.
Lord Londonderry knew that MacRory would not move and towards the end of 1924, wrote to another important bishop, Bishop Patrick O’Donnell, but continuing Cardinal Logue’s boycott, O’Donnell refused several invitations to join a committee to resolve the issue.
Londonderry refused to leave it there however and continued to request his input. Persistence paid off, and in January, 1925, O’Donnell succeeded Logue as Archbishop of Armagh. Somewhat more liberal than his predecessor, O’Donnell agreed to meet Londonderry later in the month.
Strawberry Hill was agreed as a temporary measure. For Londonderry this was a successful solution as no (unconstitutional) new college would have to be built and Ulster Catholics could train in England.
True Secularism Sacrificed
Despite the relatively successful outcome to the “training crisis” it could not hide the fact that the 1923 act was badly damaged.
The vast majority of NI Catholics and Protestants would not be educated together at any level outside university and Catholic schools remained strictly denominational in both character and practice.
The appointment of teachers had also become a contentious issue. Under the terms of the constitution, state schools, unlike independent Catholic schools, were forbidden to “hire or fire” on the basis of religion.
Some correctly viewed this as being an inequality- as State schools could not show any preference in the hiring of staff, whilst Roman Catholic schools could and did and still do to this day.
Such fears were founded in the very real fact that a significant number of Catholics were applying to enrol at the state’s newly established Stranmillis teacher training college, despite a ban on doing so from their church hierarchy.
Lord Londonderry tried to quell opposition by explaining to the various delegations of backbenchers MPs and Protestant clerics who came to see him that a religious input could be accommodated outside school hours.
Practical and constitutional explanations fell on deaf ears though as those Protestants opposed to the new education system could only compare their lack of control over the hiring of teaching staff to the independent Catholic sector who did have such control.
The opposition of the Protestant churches grew throughout 1924, gaining some popular support. Church groups appealed to the Prime Minister, James Craig, believing him to be more open to hearing their views.
But the Marquess of Londonderry dug his heels in, determined not to alter his act. The United Education Committee (UEC), comprised of Protestant school managers, retaliated with claims that the act was anti-Protestant and began to harness growing mass support.
The growing pressure proved too much for Craig. An Amendment Act was passed in March, 1925. Cabinet papers suggest it was the Prime Minister’s proposal; it certainly went against both the wishes of Londonderry and the spirit of true secularism.
After some disagreement with the UEC it was agreed that the new act would make it obligatory for paid state teachers to give “simple Bible instruction“, although this would remain non-compulsory.
Protestant ministers were also assured that school management committees, on which some continued to sit, would now have some say in the appointment of teaching staff, although still nowhere near as much influence as the Catholic church maintained within “their” schools.
With the act in tatters, Londonderry’s relationship with Craig worsened, almost certainly contributing to his resignation in January, 1926. The Marquess of Londonderry later entered the UK cabinet as ‘Secretary of State for Air’, serving in that ministry from 1931 to 1935.
The Consequences
Young hopes were denied . The vast majority of Ulster’s children would not be educated together. Division and distrust would continue to grow unchecked.
I have absolutely no doubt that had Londonderry’s strident and bold reforms passed unadulterated, or if he had gone further still and, as in France in the late 19th century, offered schools the stark choice between church control or public funds, the benefit to Northern Ireland would have been enormous.
Years of violence and upheaval could have been avoided. Discrimination (by either community) would have become unthinkable within one or two generations. Prosperity would have increased. Tens, possibly hundreds of millions of pounds would have been saved. Old parochial attitudes would have been consigned to history.
Both Unionism and Irish nationalism would have been obliged to keep pace with the changing attitudes of society. Moderation and forward thinking would have become the order of the day.
Indeed, Irish nationalism as an ideology may well have become a relic of a bygone era. The vaguely defined and laughably romanticised ‘utopia’ of a unified 32 county gaelic workers and farmers republic, of the type long dreamt of by Irish nationalists and republicans, would appear utterly ridiculous to a prosperous, well informed, well educated and forward looking populace.
Especially one which had been spared from years of sectarian slaughter, no-warning bomb attacks, “proxy bombs”, “security alerts” and the subsequent (and inevitable) militarisation of the entire country.
But, of course, history did not follow that particular path. Slavish, unthinking, child-like devotion to religion ultimately triumphed over secularism, logic and reason.
Integration died an early death, and with it died the dreams of Unionist radicals like Londonderry.
What Ulster got instead was generation after generation of children who were not so much educated as indoctrinated.
A “separate but equal” school system absolutely no different to the racially segregated school system in operation in the American South during the years of the “Jim Crow Laws.
A virtual state within a state, in which children as young as 4 were (and are) taught that they are different to their neighbours, simply because they were born into a sect that interprets centuries old religious dogma differently to other branches of the same religion.
A school system which inculcates, however obliquely, opposition and hostility to the very state which funds it.
All that follows is tragically inevitable.
“Semper Eadem”
To this very day, Irish nationalist political parties and the Catholic church remain fundamentally opposed to integrated education, sometimes hiding behind the smokescreen of so-called “parental choice“, sometimes dreaming up other excuses to defend the appalling, backward and discriminatory “separate but equal” school system.
Unfortunately, it is unlikely that there will ever be radical secularisation in Northern Ireland. We will never see religion taken out of the classroom, or rather, we will never see religion taken out of some classrooms!
Nevertheless, integrated education is something worth campaigning for. The children of Northern Ireland deserve better. They deserve an educational system that does not pigeonhole them at age four.
Only we, the people of Northern Ireland, can end educational apartheid.
It is a goal that we should all be working towards. Everyone of us having our own small part to play.
As we have said before – don’t just complain about, do something to change it.
Such change will only come about through activism, engagement, dialogue, the highlighting of issues, the challenging of existing attitudes, the promotion of alternatives and application of incessant pressure on the relevant parties.
Write to (or email, or telephone) your local MP and MLAs, help to highlight the issue of educational apartheid, use your social media account(s) to call for change. Talk to your friends and family about it. Together we can end segregated education. Together we must end segregated education. Join us!
#EndSegregationNow
Þole Aȝe Umquhile Poustie
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