Integrated Education Act (Northern Ireland) 2022

Integrated education strategy

9.—(1) The Department of Education must prepare, publish and maintain a strategy for the encouragement, facilitation, support for and provision of integrated education (“the integrated education strategy”).

(2) The integrated education strategy must, in particular—

(a) include provision for resources (including personnel) to encourage, facilitate and support integrated education;

(b) include provision designed to facilitate the maintenance and protection of the ethos of existing and new integrated schools;

(c) include arrangements for full access for integrated schools to training and resources provided by the Education Authority and other services accessible by publicly funded schools;

(d) quantify funding commitments and identify respective resources made available for the support for and provision of integrated education (including resources for facilitating the establishment of new integrated schools, the expansion of existing integrated schools and the transformation of existing schools into integrated schools);

(e) include an action plan, which must—

(i) be prepared in consultation with persons with knowledge and experience of integrated schools including teachers, governors, pupils, families, and sectoral and community bodies;

(ii) include targets (including timetables);

(iii) include measurable benchmarks against which the success of the strategy (including progress towards meeting targets) can be assessed;

(f) include provision for reviews to provide a clear indication of how education bodies are delivering integrated education; and

(g) have due regard to the provisions of Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 in regard to subsection (1) of this section.

(3) Targets and benchmarks may, in particular, refer to—

(a) percentages of pupils granted or denied their choice of education in an integrated school;

(b) numbers of development proposals created and delivered for expansion of existing integrated schools;

(c) numbers of schools transforming into integrated schools;

(d) numbers of new integrated schools established;

(e) numbers of consultations issued in respect of transformed or new integrated schools; and

(f) support provided for ensuring the success of integrated education (including training and other resources designed to facilitate teaching within the integrated education system).

(4) The integrated education strategy must be published during the period of 6 months beginning with the date on which this Act comes into force.

(5) The Department of Education must—

(a) lay the strategy, and each revision, before the Assembly; and

(b) cooperate with any post-legislative scrutiny exercise carried out by the Assembly or any Committee of the Assembly in relation to the strategy or a revision.