EDUCATING FOR CHANGE – LESSONS FROM NORTHERN IRELAND
By Norman Richardson
The initial ‘lessons from Northern Ireland’, about which I’ve been asked to speak, relate in the first instance to how education has attempted to deal with issues around our local divided society, often simplistically described as a conflict between ‘Protestants and Catholics’, but they also relate no less to the wider cultural diversity that has been an increasing feature of that jurisdiction, especially since the late 1990s.
In the early 1970s, when Northern Ireland was in its first decade of the awfulness that we know as “The Troubles”, two academics attempted to initiate some programmes that would offset the impact of a system that was significantly divided through its parallel systems of schooling: the state Controlled schools system which has normally served the culturally Protestant and unionist community, and the Maintained schools, which have traditionally served the Catholic and nationalist community. The two academics were concerned to develop opportunities for contact between pupils from the two systems and also to develop and promote teaching resources that would tackle some of the usually avoided controversial historical, political and religious issues that were tearing society apart in real time. One of these academics was Malcolm Skilbeck, a Professor of Education at what was then the New University of Ulster, who observed in a controversial paper that teachers were “… naïve bearers of sectarian culture …” (Skilbeck, 1976), raising many eyebrows! It sounded more insulting than it was intended to be; Skilbeck’s case was that suspicion, ignorance and sectarian division was being unwittingly promoted by the continuation of a divided system in which teachers, pupils and communities generally had no means of getting to know each other. John Malone, a former high school headmaster, based in Queen’s University, put it rather more delicately, but still with a kick: ‘...What is required is a wholesale reassessment of aims and objectives and relative priorities - not within the schools alone but within the whole education system - in the light of the needs of this community and the children who are growing up in it.’ (Malone, 1972, p.4).
Half a century later we are certainly in a very different place. Initial small-scale projects like those of Skilbeck and Malone have been superseded by funded government initiatives[1] and voluntary projects that have opened up many new opportunities for pupils and teachers from divided communities to learn about and with each other. My own journey from classroom teacher (of Religious Education and Music) to teacher education academic became possible through the provision of Northern Ireland Department of Education funding support for me to work for over a decade as an ecumenical Peace Education Officer for the Irish Churches, mainly in Northern Ireland but in partnership with others in the Republic of Ireland. In the 1980s when I started in that role, many schools seemed perplexed about how they would be able to find time and resources for teaching about cultural and religious diversity; some were just sceptical, a few were openly hostile. Over the years many more teachers have come to recognise the personal, social and educational benefits of learning together – for themselves as much as for their pupils – and some have taken that enthusiasm and commitment into the establishment of integrated schools, a still small but growing sector of more than 70 schools or about 8% of the school-going population[2]. Earlier initiatives such as the curricular focused ‘Education for Mutual
Understanding’ programme[3] and tentative cross-community inter-school contact schemes have developed into the Shared Education programme, which funds collaborative curricular-based work between schools, including some on a cross-border basis. The programme is supported by government and often facilitated by not-for-profit organisations such as the Corrymeela Community, Community Relations in Schools (usually known as CRIS) and others. Both Corrymeela and CRIS work with all school types and age groups, though in recent times Corrymeela has tended to focus on older pupils in schools and on youth groups. CRIS has extended its work with children and young people in schools to provide encounter-based programmes for their parents, grandparents and local communities, deliberately challenging and offsetting the often heard critique that ‘when the kids get home, they’ll soon forget about all those wishy-washy ideas about being nice to each other’! Teacher education courses have also included joint programmes and activities over these years, and while some of this has, in my view, been rather tokenistic in nature, I know that some student teachers have had very positive and transformative experiences of cross-community and intercultural learning which they will certainly take into their future teaching posts. Some other initiatives have not fulfilled expectations, most notably the ‘Shared Campuses’ programme, initiated in 2014, where schools from different sectors were encouraged to build in the same grounds and share resources while yet retaining their ‘cultural identity’. So far only one such campus has opened, in Limavady, with just two others in development, one of which, in Omagh, is many years behind schedule.
Unsurprisingly, many people have asked why we need shared campuses when shared/integrated schools could be much more intense, normative and effective.
Many of these initiatives have undoubtedly been valuable in changing attitudes and values, in building trust and new relationships, but the process usually has to be built on the taking of small, steady steps. Indeed, one of the organisations referenced above, CRIS, has as its motto: “Peace builds at the speed of trust”. This is not just true for Northern Ireland; it is important in any society. One of the surprising things at times has been to find others elsewhere in these islands or further afield asking those involved in these programmes in Northern Ireland for advice on how they can deal with their own difficult and divisive situations. But we ourselves still have much to learn!
The relatively new factor for Northern Ireland has been in the post-Troubles increase in ethnic and religious diversity, a very evident reality in many schools in Belfast and other parts of Northern Ireland. This has brought new but not unfamiliar challenges into educational inter-community work. Trying to deal with religious ignorance and prejudice about Catholics and Protestants may seem small fry when we face Islamophobia, Antisemitism and hostility to people of colour in general, or indeed to anyone who just seems different! Sadly, racism appears to be an offspring of our capacity for sectarianism, and it’s all too easily provoked in some often vulnerable communities. We have seen these manifestations of hatred festering in the past few years, and many teachers seem to feel helpless in knowing how to respond, not least because they themselves have little or no background knowledge, training and experience in such issues. In some schools, however, there has been exemplary work in providing resources and both pastoral and learning support for ‘newcomer’ pupils. Many of the lessons from this are the same as those we learned the hard way during the Troubles, and the education system as a whole is learning that it needs to take these intercultural relationships extremely seriously.
Despite genuine progress, our system of separate schools continues to impact on around 90% of those attending schools in Northern Ireland. This is not unique to that region, of course. It is a feature of other divided societies, often hardened by linguistic divisions, and it is not unknown – though very different in many ways – here in the Republic. A major factor in this is religion – in all its many meanings and manifestations – and I’d like to make some observations about this in particular.
Throughout the Troubles, and still, I think, religion has the capacity to pull people in two different directions, whether or not they are religiously committed or involved. For some, religion is the key problem, and it has highlighted our separateness, drawing people apart and creating a sense of “them and us”. For others, however, religious faith has been the key motivation for working towards understanding, trust, co-operation and reconciliation. Our narrow, churches-dominated Religious Education (RE) syllabuses in Northern Ireland, over many years, have been generally unhelpful in providing opportunities for inter-religious awareness and encounter, and have too often helped to reinforce some people’s perception that religion is simply divisive and should be taken out of education completely. There have been notable exceptions to this, from within the RE community, and through the work of voluntary organisations and bodies such as Corrymeela and the Northern Ireland Interfaith Forum, but there remains significant opposition in some quarters to moving away from an almost exclusively Christian syllabus. There is currently a glimmer of hope for a more inclusive and constructive way forward with the new proposals for an RE Syllabus that will be “critical, objective and pluralistic”[4], but there is much to do to prepare teachers to have the knowledge and skills to take it forward. For this we need good strong partnerships with a range of governmental, statutory and voluntary agencies, and an emphasis on opportunities for meeting and interchange. All faith communities could be very effective in facilitating this, though in the past some have been overly cautious and wary of lifting their heads above the parapet. We could learn so much from each other!
My own role over several decades, most particularly in teacher education, has been one of trying to develop and promote these opportunities and processes, especially in relation to learning through encounter between different traditions, religions and worldviews. So I would like to conclude this brief overview by sharing some of the things that I have learned over the years and that I have tried to share, especially with student teachers. There is nothing stunningly original here, but I think that these principles and ideas could be helpful not just for formal educational situations, but in other community contexts too.
I have often quoted the UNESCO “Four Pillars of Education” (UNESCO, 1996):
· Learning to KNOW
· Learning to DO
· Learning to LIVE TOGETHER
· Learning to BE.
Learning to live together is so crucial, in all parts of Ireland and everywhere else in our world; a perspective that we cannot afford to set aside! In order to work towards that goal I have often suggested the following principles to my students and others. This process should be about:
What you teach – be aware of important issues, and don’t avoid those that seem difficult or controversial; and never stop being a learner yourself!
How you teach – be a facilitator and a co-learner; build trust with other learners.
How you relate – teachers and leaders (in all formal or informal contexts) cannot avoid being role models (good or bad); your attitudes are on view; involve others whenever possible.
The ethos that you establish – the atmosphere and spirit within your learning community; a sense of inclusion; vision.
Taking a broad view – ensure that there are opportunities for encounter, for building partnerships, for sharing both locally and globally.
This is not a prescriptive recipe, but rather a guide to the equipment that may help on our journey – the journey of learning to live together that we call peacebuilding.
Norman Richardson
September 2026
References:
Malone, J. (1972) Schools’ Project in Community Relations (Personal Report: June 1972), Belfast, Queen’s University
Skilbeck, M. (1976) ‘Education and Cultural Change’, in Compass: Journal of the Irish Association for Curriculum Development, Vol.5, No.2, May 1976
UNESCO (1996) Learning: The Treasure Within – Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century (‘The Delors Report’). Paris: UNESCO Publishing
Endnotes:
[1] Such funding has been provided over many years by both UK and Irish governments, as well as by the European Union.
[2] At the time of writing (September 2026) the NI Department of Education lists 70 Integrated schools, but other official bodies give the figure as 76.
[3] For several years (1993-2007) Education for Mutual Understanding (EMU) was a formal ‘Educational Theme’ within the Northern Ireland Curriculum and was later replaced with Personal Development and Mutual Understanding (primary) and Local and Global Citizenship (post-primary).
[4] At the time of writing, these proposals are in a public consultation stage.
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