Divided education report branded flawed and over simplified by department

Northern Ireland's school system is largely made up of Catholic maintained schools or controlled schools.

The Department of Education (DE) has called a report into the cost of segregated education in Northern Ireland "flawed and over simplified".

It estimated the divided school system in Northern Ireland cost £226m extra a year to the public purse.

The report was partially funded by the Integrated Education Fund (IEF) and published under Ulster University (UU).

A UU spokesperson said it had asked for the university's logo to be removed from the report.

The Cost of Division report estimated the total cost of division and duplication of services in education at about £600,000 a day.

It examined the cost of things like additional school transport due to segregation and academic selection, separate schools in an area, and the cost of programmes to bring children educated separately together.

• Divided education costs £226m more a year - report

• NI division 'costs up to £833m a year'

But the research was subsequently criticised by the Controlled Schools Support Council (CSSC), which said its findings were "flawed, undermining their reliability, validity, and credibility."

DE has now said it agrees with CSSC.

The department called the Cost of Division report "a flawed and over simplified analysis of complex education issues that is misleading at a time when education for children and young people in Northern Ireland is seriously underfunded".

BBC News NI contacted Dr Stephen Roulston, the lead author of the report, but he was unavailable for comment.

The IEF also said it had no statement to make regarding the DE criticism.

'Not reflective' of UU

When contacted by BBC News NI, a UU spokesperson said that the report was "not reflective of the views of the university".

"It is a position paper which is not based on primary research conducted at the university but represents the personal opinion of the independent authors," they continued.

"While we support the right and freedom of academics to publish reports such as these, we have requested that the incorrect use of the university's logo is remedied through its removal from this report."

Northern Ireland's school system is mainly made up of Catholic maintained schools or controlled schools.

Most pupils in Catholic maintained schools are from a Catholic background, while the majority of pupils in controlled schools are from a Protestant background.

However, many schools of both types have pupils from other religious backgrounds and none.

Analysis: DE sensitive to budget pressures

This is an extraordinary move by the Department of Education.

It is highly unusual for it to be highly critical of an academic research paper into education.

But it illustrates just how sensitive the department is about the pressures on the education budget, with cuts to some vital schemes made already and more painful cuts to come.

That perhaps explains the department's strongly worded response to the Cost of Division report.

The report's authors had said they wanted to spark debate about our divided school system and its costs, which is certainly something they have achieved.

The Cost of Division paper, published in April, estimated the additional cost of segregation in Northern Ireland's school system.

"Division, separation and duplication all add unnecessary and increasingly unaffordable costs," it said.

It also said that division in education contributed to wider divisions in society.

But the report's methodology and conclusions were subsequently criticised by the CSSC - the umbrella body for over 500 controlled schools.

The Department has now backed the CSSC criticisms.

"The Department of Education agrees with CSSC's analysis of the Cost of Division paper which it considers to be a flawed and over simplified analysis of complex education issues that is misleading at a time when education for children and young people in Northern Ireland is seriously underfunded," a DE statement said.

"The department supports robust academic research based on accurate factual evidence and presented in a way that reflects our context and informs policy development and delivery."

"Researchers are encouraged to engage with the department in developing their analysis to ensure complex education issues can be presented in a way that is valid, clear and accurate to the reader."

Funding for education fell in 2023-24 under the budget delivered by the Northern Ireland secretary in the absence of Stormont.