Interpretations of national identity in post-conflict Northern Ireland: a comparison of different school settings

Abstract

It is generally accepted that education has a significant role to play in any society transitioning from conflict to a more peaceful dispensation. Indeed, some have argued that the education system potentially represents the single most effective agent of social change with the capacity to bridge ethnic division in conflict affected countries. Despite the potential, educational policy makers grapple with the dilemma as to precisely how school systems can best facilitate this agenda. This paper thus attempts to shed light upon the dilemma by exploring pupil identity and associated intergroup attitudes across various school types in Northern Ireland. Five schools were selected for the study with each one representing a particular sector within the Northern Irish education system (maintained grammar, maintained secondary, controlled grammar, controlled secondary, integrated). This led to a total sample size of 265 pupils. The main findings show that children across separate Catholic, separate Protestant, and mixed Catholic and Protestant educational contexts construct and interpret identity differently. At the same time, our data suggests that no one school setting has supremacy in promoting social cohesion. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Neighborhood Effects of Intergroup Contact on Change in Youth Intergroup Bias

“…Common approaches to decreasing negative intergroup attitudes include increasing contact for individuals or small groups of children and adolescents. Although attempts have been made to integrate contexts such as schools for youth in Belfast, progress has been limited and many youth still live, learn, and work in segregated spaces (Furey, Donnelly, Hughes, & Blaylock, 2016;Shirlow & Murtagh, 2006). In addition to replicating findings that quality of contact at the personal level is related to lower intergroup bias, the current results suggest that neighborhood norms of contact that is frequent and high quality predict slower increases in intergroup bias.…”

How the “Northern Irish” National Identity Is Understood and Used by Young People and Politicians

“…It is now the preferred option for 25% of citizens, making it the third most popular in the region, and the only one that is accepted by equivalent numbers of both Catholics and Protestants (ARK, ). The limited body of work that has investigated Northern Irish identification has shown that it tends to be associated with more conciliatory attitudes towards outgroup members and higher levels of intergroup contact (Furey, Donnelly, Hughes, & Blaylock, ; Hayes, McAllister, & Dowds, ). It is typically presented as a “common ingroup identity” (a superordinate identity that is inclusive and composed of two or more subordinate social categories) due to its perception of inclusivity (Hayes & McAllister, ; Lowe & Muldoon, ).…”

Integrating Northern Ireland: Cross‐group friendships in integrated and mixed schools

“…However, research indicates that children and young people are moving away from traditional identity labels (Ganiel, ). Further, there is a growing body of research to suggest that pupils attending integrated schools reject more traditional identities and allegiances on issues such as national identity and constitutional preferences (Hayes et al ., , ; Furey et al ., ). Researching young people who have chosen to disidentify with their community background, favouring an alternative to the traditional bipartite system, presents a unique challenge.…”