Conflict, transition and education for ‘political generosity’: learning from the experience of ex-combatants in Northern Ireland

‘Plugging the gap’: shared education and the promotion of community relations through schools in Northern Ireland

“…Both Hughes () and Loader (), in qualitative studies of shared education, note the existence of a hierarchy of taboo subjects, with religious and some cultural issues seen as less controversial than political and social issues relating to perceived inequalities between Catholics and Protestants. Perhaps more worrying is the evidence that suggests that the expression of, or engagement with, different political perspectives in the school context can be framed as ‘controversial’, ‘sectarian’ or ‘bigoted’ (McEvoy et al ., ; Donnelly, ; Emerson, ). In her study of two shared education partnerships, Loader () observed that pupils, anxious not to be perceived as ‘sectarian’, were reluctant even to acknowledge the existence of difference during interviews and, instead, were often at pains to emphasise the similarities between themselves and their counterparts from the other group.…”

Joining together or pushing apart? Building relationships and exploring difference through shared education in Northern Ireland

“…While the foregoing discussion suggests that there are risks associated with introducing potentially contentious issues into the shared class, the preference to focus on creating harmonious relationships at the expense of addressing difference may also have negative consequences. For example, it may foster forms of contact that require pupils to mute the legitimate expression of their opinions or identities (Emerson, 2012), limit pupils' opportunities to develop skills of conflict resolution (Schofield, 1986), and reduce the scope to challenge discrimination and the structures and narratives which propagate it (Connolly, 2000;Dixon, Durrheim and Tredoux, 2005;Maoz, 2011;Nagda, Yeakley, Gurin and Sorensen, 2013).…”

Education for Citizenship Education and Social Justice in Northern Ireland

“…Despite the weaknesses in the McEvoy et al, (2006) analysis, two useful elements did emerge from it: first, the focus on rights as a core element of citizenship education could have provided a set of universalist principles to cast light on contentious issues, or at least provided young people with a sense that there were principles available to aid judgement that did not 'belong to' any particular community, although McEvoy (2007) expressed concern that the citizenship programme had been weakened in this respect in its final stages of development; second, it provided the impetus for a challenging education initiative in which young people were given access to the views of ex political prisoners in order to broaden their understanding of the reasons behind the violent conflict in Northern Ireland. Emerson (2012) provides an outline of the genesis and implementation of this project, Prison to Peace, which was based on the principle that:…”

“…The project involved former prisoners from Protestant/Loyalist and Republican paramilitaries engaging with young people to help them better understand the complexities of conflict and the intricacies of transition. Emerson (2012) suggested that the citizenship curriculum makes it too easy to avoid difficult and controversial areas, something which is much harder to avoid in the Prison to Peace initiative. She went on to suggest that without the opportunity to engage with these difficult issues young people may grow up to integrate their partial understanding with partial, community accounts and, in this way, perpetuate myths about the historical antecedents of the conflict.…”