Mr. Nigel Frith:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to speak with the members today. Before I begin, I once again offer apologies on behalf of Noreen Campbell, who would have loved to be here today. I am trying to fill her shoes albeit I ask the committee not to go with the mental image that creates. I will try to summarise the report she has presented.

Our overall concern within NICIE and the IEF is that some of the principles contained within the Good Friday Agreement are not being delivered in keeping with the way the agreement was designed and what was in mind when it was drafted. That is the overall framework for what I have to say today. There are missed opportunities and work to be done and we urge the committee to use its influence to try to bring about positive change in terms of that process, notwithstanding that time has passed since 1998. Our concern is that the education system in Northern Ireland remains one built on the basis of segregation while divisions between different sectors remain as strong as they ever were. Jake quoted the statistic that 92% of schoolchildren in Northern Ireland continue to be educated within what is essentially a segregated system. With all the time that has passed and, indeed, the funding that has been poured into various projects since 1998, we should surely have expected to see greater progress.

In her paper, Noreen Campbell quotes Professor Brandon Hamber who talks about the absence of violence without underlying reconciliation and genuine peace-building. He describes this as a "negative peace". The absence of violence is not the true peace we seek for Northern Ireland. If one adds to that the concept Jake has touched on that one of the key drivers to real and sustainable change within Northern Ireland has to be children and the educational system, the deficiencies within the current system suddenly appear stark and urgent. Ms Campbell quotes in her paper research which shows that sectarian attitudes are formed at a very early age and she quotes Hayes and McAllister who said that individuals who attend integrated schools are significantly more likely to have friends and neighbours from across the divide. These friendship networks translate into a more optimistic view of future community relations. Hayes and McAllister conclude, therefore, that an integrated education system is not only a fruitful place to start, but should be a key element within a wider strategy to address community divisions. I would like to pause over that. The first time one sees research which concludes that children coming out of integrated schools are more likely to have friendships from across divides, it sounds relatively unsurprising.

However, if one considers the ripple effect, it becomes very exciting because the children who are learning to grow up without barriers and the baggage of the past and willingly build friendships with children from all parts of the community and across the divides, as used to be the case, are the ones who, like Jake, are growing up to become the future generations. Whether Jake goes into teaching or becomes a politician - I share the Chairman's feeling that perhaps he should - he is one of the shapers of the future. If he is coming into adult society without the barriers and divisions of the past and becomes one of the shapers of the future society of Northern Ireland, suddenly we may feel we are in good hands.

We need an education system that encourages the attitudes Jake is carrying into his university career from September onwards. The concept of children building firmer friendships within an integrated school is central to a better future for Northern Ireland and is a key way of fulfilling the Good Friday Agreement. The current position is that the segregated system in Northern Ireland is not sustainable. It has been made very clear from within the education Department that we cannot afford, even at a financial level, the education system we have in place. In these times of austerity, we are funding multiple schools, all with their own identity and all within one relatively small town or part of a city, when it could all be much more financially economical.

The real cost, however, goes way beyond the finance involved. It is about whether we are genuinely transforming the hearts, minds and values of young people. There is a raft of shared education projects which have been funded and which continue in Northern Ireland today. Some of them are very good, while some of them are not, but they all boil down to one single question: what is the genuine impact and quality of what is going on and is it, therefore, money well spent? We have found during the years and throughout the history of integrated education that by bringing children together under one roof, day in, day out, they sit in class together, play football together at break time and the barriers are dismantled day by day. They are genuinely coming through an integrated system and leaving to move into the adult world with the barriers removed. They have a positive outlook. They think, "I can do this; we can do this." They move into society ready to play an active role, not only in changing the historical picture of Northern Ireland but, again, as Jake mentioned, in the increasingly diverse and multicultural society Northern Ireland has become, with the rest of Europe and the world.

Ms Campbell goes on in her paper to talk about a number of opportunities she believes are open, even now, within the remit of the Good Friday Agreement and to those charged with fulfilling it. She speaks, first, as I mentioned, about the economy and the fact that we simply cannot continue to maintain this duplicating system. Second, she talks about the concept of identity and the fact that the idea of identity as it applied 30 years ago in Northern Ireland has changed and that society demands that we keep step with the changes taking place. We now live in a multicultural society. There are increasing numbers of younger generation parents and families coming through who are saying they do not want these labels to be applied to them. Some of them only have recourse to describing themselves as "Other". Surely it is time we moved forward to a slightly more positive concept.

Ms Campbell goes on in her paper to talk about the concept of human rights, by which she means the belief of the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education that a right to an integrated education is a human rights issue. It is the right for which the young person has to be prepared in a diverse society and world, wherever they may spend their working careers, and the right of parents to be able to say they want their child to have an integrated education. The picture today in Northern Ireland is that not all parents have this right either because there is no integrated school within their geographical location or those that are available, including the one of which I am principal, are too small and, therefore, routinely turning children away when they have asked to join to receive an integrated education.

Ms Campbell goes on to talk about educational administration. The committee may be aware that recently the structure of the five Education and Library Boards in Northern Ireland was replaced with a single Education Authority. Therefore, massive change is under way. What better opportunity is there to take a fresh look at the concept of integrated education and give it more formal backing than when we are designing a new education authority?

There is also within Northern Ireland the concept of area-based planning. This, essentially, is where one looks at a single area as, perhaps, the cake with the different slices which are given to different sectors.