Motion No 4, in relation to the Board of Education (NI), has been passed by the General Synod.  The Motion asks the Synod to express its support for public debate on the potential for shared education in the Province, as well as its support for recent efforts to address educational underachievement particularly among disadvantaged Protestant communities.

The Rt Rev Kenneth Good, Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, proposing the first part of Motion No 4, spoke about the potential for educational integration in Northern Ireland.  Mindful of the ongoing debate about the role of schools in the process of reconciliation in society, the Bishop told Synod members, the Church "must be open to the future and seek new ways of enabling children from different communities to share in learning together", in a learning context based on "an ethos centred on the Christian faith".  This might require creative thinking around the concept of shared Christian schools.

Addressing the second part of the Motion, the Rev Ian Ellis, Education Officer for Northern Ireland, spoke of the need to address underachievement in schools, particularly in socially disadvantaged Protestant communities.  The reasons for this underachievement, Mr Ellis told the Synod, were understood to be complex, and the solutions would be multi-faceted and long-term, requiring a wide strategy from government.  Possible ways of tackling the issue had been identified, such as the development of the provision of after-school activities, as well as proposals for programmes to help change mindsets in the community, promoting the desire for learning.

Debate was supportive of the Motion and touched on the positive potential for integrated learning in helping to address issues such as attitudes of "ourselves" and "the other".  The Rt Rev Harold Miller, Bishop of Down and Dromore, spoke of the need for the Churches to work together with schools to teach the Christian message and to be "the presence of God in communities", in order that the schools should not become "disembodied arms".