Integrated education: Brandon Lewis suggests 'nudging and cajoling' needed

Currently about 7% of pupils in Northern Ireland are educated in just under 70 formally integrated schools

There may need to be "nudging and cajoling" for progress to be made on integrated education in Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis has suggested.

Speaking to The Guardian, the Northern Ireland secretary said he wanted to see an acceleration in the number of schools opting for integrated status.

Mr Lewis said progress on expanding the sector had been "pretty poor".

Integrated schools mix pupils from Protestant, Catholic and other backgrounds.

"We are 23 years on [from the Good Friday Agreement] and still such a small percentage of the population is able to be part of, and benefit from, integrated education," Mr Lewis said.

"I think it's just pretty poor progress."

Brandon Lewis said progress on the issue had been "pretty poor"

While education is devolved in Northern Ireland, Mr Lewis is currently reviewing funding for the integrated sector.

"I do believe in nudging and cajoling," he said.

"Education is a devolved area, but that doesn't mean that I don't have an opinion and we don't have a right as a co-guarantor and co-signatory of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement to do all we can."

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Formal integrated education began in Northern Ireland 40 years ago with the opening of Lagan College in south Belfast.

Some non-integrated schools also have a mix of pupils from different religious backgrounds and those who are not religious.

Irish President Michael D Higgins criticised segregated education earlier this month

But only 143 out of about 1,000 schools in Northern Ireland have at least 10% of pupils from a Protestant background, and 10% from a Catholic background.

There are either no Catholic or no Protestant pupils in 287 of Northern Ireland's schools - about 30%.

Earlier this month, Irish President Michael D Higgins criticised segregated education in Northern Ireland, claiming it can "exacerbate conflict" in some cases.

He added the desire by some politicians to keep schools religiously segregated was rightly seen as a "cynical" attempt to satisfy their "core support base".

"Young people should not feel segregated from others based on dangerous sectarian criteria," he said.

Mr Higgins made the comments at a peace conference in County Fermanagh.

New legislation aimed at promoting and expanded integrated education is currently making its way through the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The private member's bill, proposed by Alliance's Kellie Armstrong, would set new government targets and increase the number of integrated school places.

However, education representatives from the four main churches were critical of aspects of the bill when giving evidence to Stormont's education committee.

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) assembly member Diane Dodds said Mr Lewis needed to explain what he meant by "nudging and cajoling" in relation to integrated schools.

"Is the secretary of state ... advocating that funding be removed and young people disadvantaged all in the name of supposed integration?," Mrs Dodds asked.