On behalf of the Integrated Education Fund (IEF), independent market research and polling firm LucidTalk, located in Belfast, conducted the survey.
The survey had over 2,300 responses, and in order to make sure it was demographically representative of Northern Ireland, it was balanced by gender, age group, region of residence, and community background.
Consistent support for integrated education was one of the poll's main findings, with over two-thirds of Northern Ireland's population concurring that integrated schools which purposefully teach students of different religions, genders, and races together in the same classrooms every day should serve as the primary model for our educational system.
After the IEF conducted a comprehensive awareness-raising effort in the autumn of last year, more people are now aware of the Transformation process 73 percent of those surveyed said they were.
The process of converting an existing school to an integrated school is called transformation.
“More parents than ever before have expressed their support for Integrated Education in the past five years,” said Paul Caskey OBE, Chief Executive of the Integrated Education Fund (IEF), in response to the findings.
“The fact that 27 parent votes were successfully completed, and the overwhelming majority of parents decided to convert their school to integrated status serves as proof of this.”
“The poll's results demonstrate how strongly Northern Ireland's citizens feel about greater Integrated Education. Notwithstanding these results, there are still numerous places where parents and kids have few or no integrated alternatives.”
“In response to the increasing demand, the IEF and its supporters will continue to support all efforts to increase the provision of Integrated Education.”