"EDUCATION"
The standard of education is Northern Ireland is considered to be relatively
high. In 1993/94, Northern
Ireland had the lowest proportion of students in their final year of compulsory
schooling who failed to
achieve a graded examination result, and the highest proportion of students
in post-compulsory schooling
who achieved 2 or more passes at GCE A Level.[1]
Education attainments in Northern Ireland are rising rapidly. Second level
school leavers in Northern
Ireland have substantially higher educational attainments than the United Kingdom
average. Between
1986 and 1998, the proportion of school leavers who attained three or more
'A' Level qualifications
doubled.
The proportion of school leavers entering full-time higher education in Northern
Ireland has also
increased dramatically between 1986 and 1998. The number of full-time postgraduate
students
studying in Northern Ireland doubled, while the number of part-time undergraduate
students tripled.
The proportion of youths in Northern Ireland who proceed to university is
higher than any other
country in the European Union.
Basically, all schools in Northern Ireland can be divided into 5 categories
(i) Controlled Schools: These are essentially Protestant schools - they are
owned by the Education
and Library boards, although they are mostly controlled by their Boards of
Governors. The
Protestant churches are represented on the Board of Governors.
(ii) Catholic Maintained Schools: These are essentially Catholic schools - they
are owned by the
Catholic Church but are managed by a Board of Governors. The Education and
Library Boards
provide some financial assistance, by financing recurrent costs and the employment
of non-teaching
staff.
(iii) Other Maintained: These are essentially Protestant schools, in that they
are owned by the
Protestant church and managed by a Board of Governors. Like the Catholic maintained
schools,
they received funding from the Education and Library Boards for the recurrent
costs.
(iv) Voluntary Grammar: These schools are owned by school trustees and managed
by a Board
of Governors.
(v) Grant Maintained Integrated Schools: These are essentially mixed schools,
for Catholic and
Protestant children. They are partially owned by trustees and managed by a
Board of Governors,
with their recurrent costs being met by the Department of Education.
The majority of Protestant children in Northern Ireland attend state controlled
schools, whilst the
majority of Catholic children attend Catholic maintained schools. These are
essentially Protestant
and Catholic schools.
The first integrated school in Northern Ireland was established in 1981, and
there are currently
46 throughout Northern Ireland (January 2002). There are comprising 17 integrated
secondary
level colleges and 29 integrated primary schools. There are also 13 integrated
nursery schools
(most of which are linked to primary schools). Attendance at these schools
accounts for
approximately 14,000 pupils, which is about 4 per cent of the school population.
The majority of
children are still attending non-integrated schools. [For additional information
on integrated
education see the NICIE web site {external_link}.]
Girls in Northern Ireland at GCSE[2] and A Level standard achieve a higher
standard of results
than boys at the same level.
Compared with the rest of the UK, Northern Ireland has proportionately more
schools with a
small number of pupils. In 1995/96, 37 percent of primary schools in Northern
Ireland had less
than 100 pupils, compared with only 15 percent in England.
The number of pupils in Northern Ireland attending Irish Medium Schools is
on the increase. In
1994/95, the number of pupils attending these schools was 713, while in 1998/99
the figure had
risen to 1,342 pupils.
A comparison of School leaver figures from early 1980's and 1990's reveal that
fewer school
leavers today go directly into employment, while a greater percentage are now
going on to further
and higher education.
Pupils in Catholic schools tend to perform much better in arts subjects and
languages than pupils
in Protestant schools, whilst pupils in Protestant schools tend to perform better in science subjects.
A survey carried out in 1985 showed that a higher proportion of Catholic school
pupils progressed
to further and higher education on leaving school than their counterparts
in Protestant schools. A
higher proportion of pupils from Protestant schools went directly into employment.
According to a press release issued by the Department of Education for Northern
Ireland (DENI)
in March 1999 the reported religion of pupils in schools in Northern Ireland
is as follows; 51%
Catholic; 42% Protestant; 1% Other Christian; 0.3% Non Christian and 6% No Religion/Not Recorded.
