Tony Gallagher

Addressing diversity and inclusion in the early years in conflict‐affected societies: a case study of the Media Initiative for Children 1 —Northern Ireland

This article reports on the development and systematic evaluation of an innovative early years programme aimed at encouraging young children to respect differences within a deeply divided society that is emerging out of a prolonged period of violent conflict. The programme, the Media Initiative for Children—Northern Ireland, has been the product of a partnership between a US‐based organization (the Peace Initiatives Institute) and NIPPA—The Early Years Organisation, and has been supported by academic research and the efforts of a range of voluntary and statutory organizations. It has attempted to encourage young children to value diversity and be more inclusive of those who are different from themselves through the use of short cartoons designed for and broadcast on television as well as specially prepared curricular materials for use in pre‐school settings. To date the programme has been delivered through 200 settings to approximately 3500 pre‐school children across Northern Ireland. This article describes how the programme was developed and implemented as well as the rigorous approach taken to evaluating its effects on young children’s attitudes and awareness. Key lessons from this are identified and discussed in relation to future work in this area.

Balancing difference and the common good: lessons from a post‐conflict society

Northern Ireland endured a quarter century of political violence from 1969 until the declaration of ceasefires in 1994. Although a political settlement was signed in 1998, the actual implementation of agreed institutions has proved to be very difficult and the actual institutions have been fragile (and are currently under suspension). The purpose of this paper is to examine aspects of the role of education through the years of violence and in the post‐conflict situation. The education system in Northern is divided on the basis of religion, with less than 10% of pupils attending mixed religion schools. There have been a variety of curricular and other initiatives over the years, but their success to date has been limited. The paper will argue that the contribution of education to more positive community relations has been limited because of a tendency to over‐privilege difference. More particularly, the paper will argue that education has failed to grapple with the main consequence of separate schools which is that they perpetuate divisions in the wider society. The paper will suggest that if education is to serve as a vehicle for promoting a discourse of a common good and contribute to the construction of the architecture of a shared society then a more pro‐active approach will be needed in future. The two main initiatives that provide the possibility for such a contribution are the development of a programme for local and global citizenship and support for partnership activities between schools.

Inter-group contact at school and social attitudes: evidence from Northern Ireland

Debate continues about the relationship between schools divided on ethno-religious lines and their implications for social cohesion. One argument against the existence of separate schools is that they limit opportunities for children from different groups to engage with each other, promoting intergroup suspicion and sectarianism. Using intergroup contact theory we examine the impact on outgroup attitudes of pupils attending mixed and separate post-primary schools in Northern Ireland. Data were collected through a survey of more than 3,500 pupils and analyses show that, irrespective of school type, intergroup contact at school is strongly associated with more positive orientations to the ethno-religious outgroup. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.

Collaborative evolution: the context surrounding the formation and the effectiveness of a school partnership in a divided community in Northern Ireland

This paper examines an initiative promoting collaboration between schools located in a city setting in Northern Ireland, which is broadly divided along ethnic and political lines. The schools involved, like the vast majority of schools in Northern Ireland, educate Protestant and Catholic children separately. This presents particular challenges for school collaboration as it implies the establishment of new, connected relationships in an education system, which is historically and contemporaneously more characterised by division. Since 2007, the schools in this study have been involved in an education initiative which promotes cross-sectoral shared learning in core areas of the curriculum with a view to promoting school improvement; the additional, indirect goal is also about improving community relations. However, over this period, the relationship between the institutions has deepened, leading schools to examine how they can sustain partnership and evolve collaborative practice. This paper explores how the partnership has evolved and assesses its effectiveness as a collaborative enterprise. The paper concludes by demonstrating how effective collaboration between schools in Northern Ireland mitigates the potentially negative impacts of educating children separately, but also how effective models of school collaboration are capable of providing enhanced learning opportunities for pupils and are also capable of developing the communities in which they are located.

Gauging the Deliverable? Educational Research in Northern Ireland:

This article considers the landscape for educational research in the smallest country of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland. As elsewhere, educational research exists in political and economic circumstances that have considerable influence on its direction, nature and purpose and this article seeks to contextualise these influences. Northern Ireland differs considerably from the other three jurisdictions by virtue of it being very small (a population of circa 1.5 million), a fact that creates systemic difficulties such as capacity weaknesses in both numbers of researchers and the range of research skills available. Perhaps most importantly, however, Northern Ireland is uniquely distinguished from England, Scotland and Wales by having a proportionately large selective education system (grammar and non-selective secondary schools) and a politically and religiously divided population. This article argues that in combination with such national pressures as the Research Assessment Exercise, these contextual features result in a largely instrumental role for educational research — a tool to gauge what policy changes are deliverable. A strategic direction based on a dialogue between the government and the researcher community is therefore needed to prevent the continuation of a perceived ad hoc and fragmented system of educational research. The challenges of building a thriving research community in such circumstances also include the need to promote innovative ideas and related research, and to encourage greater inter-institutional collaboration. This in turn, it is argued, will help to create a community of practice capable of both sustaining itself in the future and making available a broader range of research competence.

Assimilation and Multiculturalism: evolving conceptual frameworks

In the world before 9/11 debates on diversity were dominated by arguments between assimilation and multiculturalism, on whether people should conform to an assumed societal norm or celebrate difference and ‘let a thousand flowers bloom’. The adoption of multiculturalism marked the triumph of a commitment to difference and, to the extent that this was built upon challenges to discrimination, prejudice and intolerance, this was a justifiable triumph. However, despite Asher’s (2007) sense of the ubiquity of multiculturalism in education, it is possible that in the world after 9/11 the balance may shift towards integrationist processes in which the elevation of similarity and commonality may be given precedence over the celebration of difference. This could take the form of a new intolerance, a reversion to older assimilationist ideas, in which notions of purity are resurrected (Gilborn, 2006), integration becomes defined as a task to be fulfilled by immigrants rather than a common project for all of society (Luchtenberg, 2004) and in which education focuses on cohesion, to the neglect of equality and justice (Figueroa, 2004). Within social policy generally, and education in particular, this new environment has been characterized by a reinvigorated debate over the appropriateness and future of multiculturalism: clearly the fundamental tension in multiculturalism between the promotion of diversity and the promotion of unity remains as pertinent as ever, hence this special issue on the theme of diversity and inclusion. The special issue arises from the biennial conference of the British Association for International and Comparative Education in 2006, which was held, perhaps appropriately, in Belfast. Northern Ireland is best known for its quarter century of political violence up to 1994, but perhaps as striking has been the difficult road to secure the peace since that time. Central to this journey has been the struggle between a pluralist agenda, which sought to legitimize and celebrate difference, and an inclusion agenda, which sought to build conditions for common values and

Systemic factors in school improvement

Many official strategies for school improvement appear to be based on an assumption that schools operate as autonomous units, hence the privileging of school‐based characteristics that are taken to provide indicators of effectiveness. However, if the systemic relationships between schools are recognized then it may be that the establishment of effective characteristics in one school may simply shift problems onto other schools in the system rather than dealing with underlying issues. This paper explores this notion using data that have been drawn from a large‐scale examination of the effects of the selective system of education in Northern Ireland (Gallagher & Smith, 2000). In theory the systemic constraints on school improvement may be less evident in a selective system since the role and mission of the schools are differently designed. The paper, however, argues that the selective system actually exacerbates the pressures identified above. A system of academic selection, allied with open enrolment, exaggerates systemic pressures and creates a situation where most of the negative consequences of the system bear down on a limited number of secondary schools, typically those located in urban areas and serving economically disadvantaged communities.

Religion, education and the law in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland’s recent history is characterised by years of violent conflict and by the deep religious divisions between its Protestant and Catholic population. The publicly-funded school system reflects these wider societal divisions; over 95% of children are educated in schools which are attended by mainly Protestant or mainly Catholic pupils. The Protestant and Catholic churches are also highly influential in the system, having guaranteed positions on most school boards. These factors have inevitably had an impact on the legal regulation of issues in relation to religion and schools. For instance, the main churches are entitled by law to draw up the core syllabus for religion that is used in all schools in Northern Ireland. Moreover, Northern Ireland has a unique exception to the European Union’s Framework Directive on Equal Treatment in Employment and Occupation in relation to the appointment of teachers. Further legal reforms are on the agenda. In 1998, the Belfast Agreement, a political accommodation designed to bring an end to the years of conflict and to restore a power-sharing government to Northern Ireland, was signed by the main political parties. This has resulted in a number of innovative legal provisions in the area of human rights and equality that have the potential to have a major impact on the law of education. Most notable of these is a proposal for a new Bill of Rights, which is intended to supplement existing rights in the European Convention on Human Rights.

Fair Employment and Religion in Northern Ireland: An Overview

Unlike many of the issues raised during the Northern Ireland Civil Rights campaign of the late 1960s, employment discrimination has remained high on the political agenda, leading to two major pieces of legislation, in 1976 and 1989. Briefly examines the background to the claim of religious discrimination against Catholics, before going on to review analyses of the 1971 and 1981 censuses, the main statistical source on patterns of employment in Northern Ireland, which confirm that there are significant differentials in the socio‐economic profiles of the Catholic and Protestant communities. In addition, discusses the monitoring provisions of the 1989 Fair Employment Act and points to some current debates on how the future effectiveness of the Act should be assessed.

Science and arts choices at A‐level in Northern Ireland: a ten‐year perspective

Abstract The aims of this research were to examine the uptake of science at A‐level among boys and girls in Northern Ireland and to investigate changes in patterns of attainment from 1985 to 1995. The students level of ability was assessed by the GCSE scores and results were analysed with reference to sex, type of school, type of student, religion of school and ability of student. The mean number of science A‐levels taken by boys has decreased and for girls has increased. Boys are still choosing significantly more science subjects at GCSE, but girls are now performing better. For girls, the mean number of science A‐levels taken has increased in Protestant schools, but has decreased in Catholic schools. Whereas recent evidence from Britain has indicated the educational advantage of single‐sex schooling, with respect to girls’ participation in science, the evidence of this study suggests that they are more likely to take science A‐levels in coeducational schools and boys are more likely to achieve high att...