A NEW research paper from Ulster University has said churches and some politicians are supportive of segregation in schools as a way to protect their own communities, despite them being likely to be "better served with different policies".
The paper is the latest in the Tranforming Education series by UU, and calls for "radical change, not tinkering about the edges" and warns that segregation is "still endemic in the current system and has proved to be resolutely resistant to almost every effort to introduce progressive reform".
It highlights how 93 per cent of children attend segregated schools, adding that "the development of sectarian attitudes is more likely where children are separated in an already divided society".
The report states that removing segregation and laws requiring schools to teach "Christian focused" religious education would benefit children. Researchers have also said removing academic selection is required.
It states Church involvement in drawing up RE lessons "needs to be revised in order that a genuinely pluralistic and inclusive programme of education can be developed, delivered and quality assured in practise".
The report adds: "Upholders of the status quo include churches whose influence in all sectors of education in NI remains strong. It includes many of those politicians whose primary intention is presented as a protection of their own communities, even when those same communities might be better served with different policies."
