Part One: The General Synod of the Church of Ireland welcomes a public debate on the potential for shared education in Northern Ireland and encourages dialogue between schools and educational sectors with the aim of developing closer relationships through opportunities for collaboration and sharing.

When proposing the first of a two-part education motion, the Rt Revd Kenneth Good, Bishop of Derry & Raphoe, admitted that there has been much division between churches in the past but said, "Happily, these fences are now coming down in all sorts of ways as churches engage creatively with each other and with society." He noted the historical divisions between schools in Northern Ireland and added that this motion is about "how we might explore ways of taking down some of those fences or barriers between our schools and the pupils within them". Bishop Good also remarked how it would also be presented to the forthcoming Presbytarian General Assembly and the Methodist Conference - "a sign of how much the transferor churches are working together on matters of education policy". He went on to discuss the possibility of ‘shared Christian' schools in Northern Ireland, a model already used by the Church of England and Roman Catholic churches evident in Liverpool.

Part Two: The General Synod of the Church of Ireland strongly supports recent efforts to identify factors contributing to educational underachievement particularly among disadvantaged Protestant communities in Northern Ireland. The Synod calls for the identification of policy and practical measures to help these issues.

The second part of the motion was proposed by the Revd Ian Ellis. During his speech, he described the theme connecting both sections of the motions as that of "removing barriers to progress". He referred to a number of reports that have been carried out on this issue and discussed some of their findings and recommendations, namely greater investment in early education, increased involvement of parents and local communities, supporting and rewarding exceptional teaching and leadership in schools, better coordination between different departments and further research. He said, "As churches, I think we would support such proposals and urge a new education minister to tackle this inequality as a priority."

The debate on the motion covered issues such as the influence parents have on their children's educations, the "Not in my Name" anti-violence campaign in Northern Ireland and the impact of politics on education.