As part of this project, The Linen Hall hosted a series of public events exploring the past, present and future of integrated education.
Exhibition Launch
The launch of our exhibition, titled ‘All Children Together and the Story of Integrated Education’ featured a programme of contributions and reflections from:
Tony Gallagher, The ‘Long March’: Integrated Education in Northern Ireland
In this talk Tony Gallagher, Professor Emeritus and Honorary Professor of Education at Queen’s University Belfast, examined the changing patterns in our schools over time and considered possible future directions for integrated schools.
The Future of Integrated Education in Northern Ireland
This panel reflected on the history of integrated education and considered how recent developments — including the 2022 Integrated Education Act and recent decisions on Bangor Academy and Rathmore Primary School — may shape the future of the integrated sector within Northern Ireland’s wider education system.
The panellists were Paul Caskey (Chief Executive Officer of the Integrated Education Fund), Stephen Roulston (Honorary Research Fellow at Ulster University) and Michele Marken (former Principal of St Joseph’s College).
Parent Power and the Creation of Integrated Schools
Parental choice is a central part of Northern Ireland’s education system. One of the themes that emerged in the community engagement workshops and oral history interviews recorded as part of this project was the key role that parents played in establishing some of the first integrated schools.
In this discussion, two founder parents, Professor Alan Smith (Mill Strand Integrated Primary School) and Anne Carr (All Children’s Integrated Primary School), shared their stories of establishing new integrated schools in the 1980s.
