MANY of the submissions to the committee inquiry focus on the notion that 'shared' education is now considered a substitute or alternative for 'integrated' education.
There are those who argue that shared education must not develop as a barrier to integrated education while others contend that sharing is the best and only option.
Here are some extracts from the submissions:
* Council for Catholic Maintained Schools: "If after 30 years the sector has grown to the point where it commands only 6.89 per cent of the school age population in Northern Ireland, the department should evaluate the public appetite for 'integrated education' as a sectoral entity, reconsider the 'statutory duty' and look to the promotion of other "initiatives" which have a greater chance of making more effective use of limited resources."
* Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education: "Nicie's concern is that shared education is
used as an alternative to rather than a tool for change. A clarity of definition is urgently required, not least because of the £70 million funding which is going to be made available to shared education projects over the next five years."
* Rowandale Integrated PS, pictured: "Shared education is not a viable alternative to integrated education in social, academic or financial terms. Rather shared education perpetuates division, with children being labelled according to the school they attend and the uniform they wear.
Shared Education sustains the segregation."
* Ulster Teachers' Union: "Many schools already collaborate across all sectors ensuring that all children and young people have opportunities to learn together we would agree that with continued support financially in this area we can continue to allow examples of good practice to be shown and modelled upon by other schools."
* Integrated Education Fund: "Shared classes should, in theory, strengthen the potential for greater integration as pupils and schools experience the benefit of learning together. However, shared facilities and shared campuses do not equate to shared education. They may facilitate the potential for collaboration between schools but it is the level of interaction and contact between pupils that counts the most."
PICTURE: Hugh Russell