The rationale for how education operates is often contentious. There are varying views about academic selection, politicians disparage some degrees while lauding others, private schools’ charitable status is disputed … and so on. However, in Northern Ireland, schooling largely replicates profound British/Protestant and Irish/Catholic societal divisions. Schools are closely tied to their (divided) communities and help to constitute the identity of those communities (Hughes, 2011). This part of the UK has been, and arguably continues to be, deeply divided and there are very different views about the school system in what has been called ‘Northern Ireland’s riven society’ (Gardner, 2016). As has been noted, ‘educational segregation is even worse than residential or occupational segregation in Northern Ireland’ (Hayward, 2005, p. 41).

It is within that context that those who write about the Northern Ireland education system have to operate. Teachers, and those in school support roles, work within these divided structures. Some actively support the divisions in education. Others might prefer a different and more inclusive arrangement, and some work to achieve that within the current system, adept as teachers are at ‘flying below the radar’ (Bangs et al., 2010). Shared Education is an initiative supported by the Department of Education, which aims to normalise cross-group interaction by bringing children from different traditions together. This allows pupils from different schools to learn together for a time and has been shown to have beneficial outcomes (Hughes et al., 2012). However, some argue that, by retaining separate schools, this merely reinforces structural division (Roulston & Hansson, 2021).

Some researchers/teacher educators choose to avoid researching the divisions in the system – it may be considered much safer for career advancement to look at literacy, school retention, academic outcomes and so on. However, a small team of researchers at Ulster University decided to step outside their comfort zone and write a series of ‘Transforming Education’ papers to stimulate debate on aspects of the Northern Ireland education context. While using a rigorous academic approach, these briefing papers were designed to be short and accessible. The researchers used them to explore (and to expose on social and traditional media platforms) some of the little-understood and frequently overlooked issues that lie at the foundations of a system in need of a fundamental overhaul. The eight blog posts in this special issue are based on these discussion papers.

‘A small team of researchers at Ulster University decided to step outside their comfort zone and write a series of “Transforming Education” briefing papers to stimulate debate on aspects of the Northern Ireland education context.’

The focus of this special issue is not to advance any partisan view but to unpack the complexities of Northern Ireland’s education context in order to promote debate among parents and prospective parents, politicians and decision-makers, among the wider public and within the profession itself. While this may be frustrating for those readers who would wish to see clearly articulated answers where issues are identified, the writers of these blogs have to continue to work within the current system, with all of its successes and flaws, and alongside the individuals and organisations that constitute that system. What they can do is articulate the issues, and ask that these be considered and discussed – the outcomes of our project then are measured by the amount and the quality of engagement in the Transforming Education debate.

The first blog post in this special issue, by Roulston and Milliken, explains the rationale for Ulster University’s Transforming Education project and what it set out to do. Milliken and Roulston then set the scene in the second post by explaining the strengths but also naming the ‘dark’ secrets of ‘learning apart’ in the Northern Ireland education landscape. Taggart, Roulston and Cook then highlight some of the challenges of duplication within Northern Ireland’s education system; which is followed by Milliken’s post exploring the complex role that religion plays in Northern Ireland’s schooling system. The impacts of academic selection are examined in the fifth post, by Roulston and Milliken; and in the sixth, McAuley asks whether Citizenship Education in Northern Ireland has lived up to its vision. Koulla Yiasouma’s post then provides an opinion piece applauding Integrated schools as a small step along the road to unity. In the final post in this special issue, the research team reimagines an education system in Northern Ireland; one which reconsiders governance, the role of churches, academic selection and Citizenship Education. As Taggart suggests, the Northern Irish education system’s future ‘lies in acknowledging its past, understanding its present and collaboratively shaping a future which embraces diversity and fosters greater togetherness’. This will take time and energy, and requires brave, committed individuals who are able to garner support across communities to step up to the challenge of exploring issues which will, in the long run, lead to a more unified educational context and a more cohesive society.

References

Bangs, J., MacBeath, J., & Galton, M. (2010). Re-inventing schools, reforming teaching: From political visions to classroom reality. Routledge.

Gardner, J. (2016). Education in Northern Ireland since the Good Friday Agreement: Kabuki theatre meets danse macabre. Oxford Review of Education, 42(3), 346– 361. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2016.1184869

Hayward, K. (2005). Multilevel border conflicts on the island of Ireland: A study in practice, portrayal and persistence. Queen’s University Belfast. https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-social-sciences/government-society/polsis/research/2006/eu-border-conflict/wp19-multilevel-border-conflicts-on-the-island-of-ireland.pdf

Hughes, J. (2011). Are separate schools divisive? A case study from Northern Ireland. British Educational Research Journal, 37(5), 829–850. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411926.2010.506943  

Hughes J., Lolliot S., Hewstone M., Schmid, K., & Carlisle, K. (2012). Sharing classes between separate schools: A mechanism for improving inter-group relations in Northern Ireland? Policy Futures in Education, 10 (5), 528–539. https://doi.org/10.2304/pfie.2012.10.5.528

Roulston, S., & Hansson, U. (2021). Kicking the can down the road? Educational solutions to the challenges of divided societies: A Northern Ireland case study. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 42(2), 170–183. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2019.1594171