About the Sharing Education Programme

The Sharing Education programme (SEP) commenced in September 2007, the programme supports schools in the formation of cross-sectoral partnerships in order to provide enhanced educational opportunities for the students involved. The programme also promotes reconciliation by facilitating collaboration and sharing between the schools, in particular focusing on the provision of sustained, high-quality curricular activities.

Throughout the first three years of the programme over 5000 pupils from over 60 schools benefited from additional educational opportunities across a wide range of curricular and extra-curricular activities. The first cohort of schools demonstrated the effectiveness of cross-sectoral collaborative activity and the potential for schools to form effective inter-dependant relationships. The second cohort of partnerships commenced three years of activities in September 2010 and these partnerships will build upon the experience gained over the first 3 years of the programme.

Sharing Education encourages schools from across all the sectors to work together for the greater good of their pupils – in effect under the sharing education model, the right of parents and pupils to  choose to  go to a school with a particular ethos is respected, however, this need not preclude pupils from across the sectors working together in order to maximise the effectiveness of resources and increase educational choice – this is particularly pertinent given the current economic situation, coupled with the impending implementation of the Entitlement Curriculum in 2013.

SEP offers a pragmatic approach to addressing the economic realities in delivering education, by sharing resources and reducing duplication of services efficiencies will arise, moreover the potential societal benefits coming from young people working together towards a shared goal regardless of community background is an opportunity not to be missed. 

This issue is too important to become another political football; a real opportunity exists to transform the educational provision in Northern Ireland whilst respecting the rights of parents to choose the ethos of the schools they attend.  SEP continues to support schools in the creation of collaborative partnerships, the hard work and dedication of all the staff, pupils and parents has been astounding and without this the programme would have achieved nothing. 

In many ways these individuals have acted as pioneers, trying new ideas, pushing the boundaries of what was previously thought possible, what they have demonstrated to date is that there is huge potential in collaborative learning. The process of harnessing the imagination of staff, pupils and parents has begun and now is the time for political and departmental representatives to seize the initiative and build upon the work carried out to date.