Promoting Reconciliation in Northern Ireland: The Importance of Equality

• In Event: Activist Pedagogy, Critical-Democratic Citizenship, and Shared Education in Divided Societies: International Perspectives and Next Practices

Abstract

During the years of political violence in Northern Ireland interventions were applied through schools, most of which catered separately for Protestants or Catholics, to promote reconciliation. The existence of separate schools was often taken as a reason for societal division and while much of the theory informing these interventions was based on the contact hypothesis, most of the analysis focused on community misperceptions. This paper will argue that the role of equality was significantly underplayed in these analysis and that achieving equality was necessary for progress.

An assessment of the impact of the education interventions during the period of violence concluded that, despite some good work by educators, there was little evidence of systemic change in education. In response a new initiative was piloted from 2007 to 2014 using social network theory to place contact on a more sustained basis. This approach of ‘shared education’ developed a model of school collaboration in which locally-based Protestant and Catholic schools would work together to run shared classes for students from all the schools and professional development support for teachers. The model was given legislative support in 2016 and currently 62 per cent of elementary and high schools are involved in shared education partnerships.

Why was there such a difference in terms of the impact of interventions during the conflict, as opposed to the period after the conflict had ended? As noted above the operation of separate schools in Northern Ireland was often blamed for fueling prejudice and division in the wider society. Furthermore, the blame for maintaining separate schools was, and is, most usually focused on Catholic schools. This obscures three important factors: first, the Catholic school system was the only public institution for that community and the only place in which its Irish identity could be freely and publicly expressed; second, societal division in Northern Ireland was not due to perceptual misunderstanding, but rather to a regime of inequality in which the Catholic minority faced discrimination in access to employment and other opportunities; and third, segregationist systems are based on power and the capacity of a dominant group to use public policy to maintain its position of dominance. Taking these issues into account recasts the situation such that the operation of separate schools by the Catholic community becomes a form of resistance and that addressing issues of inequality was a sine qua non for effective education interventions towards social cohesion.

The failure to address claims of discrimination against the Catholic minority raised by the NI Civil Rights movement in the 1960s helped spark political violence. It was not until 1989 that effective laws against religious discrimination were introduced and not until 1993 that systemic inequalities in the treatment of Catholic schools were corrected. These and other reform measures provided a context within which the peace agreement became possible and strategic interventions in education could be undertaken. The lesson for other divided societies seeking to promote social cohesion through education is the importance of addressing inequality as a core issue.

Author

• Tony M. Gallagher, Queen's University - Belfast