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In Northern Ireland, children are divided between Protestant and Catholic schools. As such, the path of integrated education there is slow and complicated. Through research as well as interviews with experts and people directly affected, I hope to give an American audience an understanding of integrated education in Northern Ireland and draw connections between integration in the States and Northern Ireland. Less than 10% of Northern Ireland's students were enrolled in integrated schools during the 2019-2020 school year according to a study performed by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Unlike in the United States, education and religion have never been entirely separate in Northern Ireland. As far back as 1831, British authorities proposed creating non-denominational national schools. When Northern Ireland broke off from the rest of the island in 1921, the leaders of the new Protestant-leaning government responded to popular pressure to ensure that the 'state' schools were essentially Protestant, according to scholars. The Catholic Church then insisted on maintaining its own schools. The Education Reform Order 1989 mandated the Department of Education promote integrated education. It was the first time the government committed to support initiatives for the development of new integrated schools. Nationalists targeted Holy Cross, a Catholic all-girls school in the middle of a Protestant neighborhood in Belfast, in 2001. Several acts of violence flared up, including throwing stones at students and their parents as they walked to school. Riot Police and the British Army lined the streets in order to protect them. Some people believe integrated education will lead to an increased understanding between Protestants and Catholics bringing an end to situations like what happened at Holy Cross. By the end of the semester, more Zoom interviews will be done to show the direct impacts of integrated education on schools, parents and students.

After the partition of Ireland, the newly established parliament in Belfast was given control over education. The unionist government, mainly representing the majoritarian Protestant population, embarked on a reform of the pre-existing denominational education system and tried to persuade all the churches to transfer their schools to state control in exchange for public funding. Despite the sincere efforts of the first Minister of Education, the Catholic Church rejected interference in education from a government that its followers perceived as hostile, while the Protestant churches became increasingly intransigent in their demands for more control over state schools. In order to ensure their support, the government met their requests, ignoring the instances of teachers and principals who called for independence from clerical managers. The result was a segregated education system that contributed to maintain the deep divisions of the Northern Irish society.

Citizenship education is often focused on the symbols and rituals that, in a Durkheimian manner, provide bonds of connection within a national community (Durkheim and Lukes, 2013). How might this operate in a divided society, one in which the fault-lines of politics, nationality and religion over-determine one another? This is the challenge facing Northern Ireland, an area which carried an historical burden of conflict and division, including a recent period when political violence scarred the landscape for over a quarter century. Almost the same time period has now elapsed since the paramilitary ceasefires in 1994, but old divisions die hard, and although new shared political institutions have emerged, and have successfully navigated two electoral cycles, politics still has a strongly confessional/national character. When we add to this mix the fact that Northern Ireland has always operated with denominationally separate schools, then the challenge of formulating and implementing a citizenship education programme becomes even more marked. This chapter examines this experience, beginning with an outline of the historical and educational background to highlight some of the challenges that were being faced. The chapter then examines the genesis and development of the citizenship education programme, before providing an outline of its structure and form. The final part of the chapter reviews evidence on the impact of citizenship education in Northern Ireland and a number of critical perspectives on this and related educational measures.

During the years of political violence in Northern Ireland many looked to schools to contribute to reconciliation. A variety of interventions were attempted throughout those years, but there was little evidence that any had produced systemic change. The peace process provided an opportunity for renewed efforts. This paper outlines the experience of a series of projects on 'shared education', or the establishment of collaborative networks of Protestant, Catholic and integrated schools in which teachers and pupils moved between schools to take classes and share experiences. The paper outlines the genesis of the idea and the research which helped inform the shape of the shared education project. The paper also outlines the corpus of research which has examined various aspects of shared education practice and lays out the emergent model which is helping to inform current government practice in Northern Ireland, and is being adopted in other jurisdictions. The paper concludes by looking at the prospects for real transformation of education in Northern Ireland.

Contact theory argues increased interaction between social groups will help prejudicial attitudes and alleviate racial and ethnic divisions. Contact theory has become the framework for integrated education in Northern Ireland promoting reconciliation, positive change, and equality by bringing Protestant and Catholic children and staff together. Continued political violence and sectarianism, Northern Ireland is in need of holistic mechanisms to promote reconciliation; religiously integrated schools are part of this process. This study is a qualitative analysis of the effectiveness of integrated education in Northern Ireland, limitations of contact theory, and the role of education in promoting reconciliation in post-conflict societies.

Contact theory argues increased interaction between social groups will help prejudicial attitudes and alleviate racial and ethnic divisions. Contact theory has become the framework for integrated education in Northern Ireland promoting reconciliation, positive change, and equality by bringing Protestant and Catholic children and staff together. Continued political violence and sectarianism, Northern Ireland is in need of holistic mechanisms to promote reconciliation; religiously integrated schools are part of this process. This study is a qualitative analysis of the effectiveness of integrated education in Northern Ireland, limitations of contact theory, and the role of education in promoting reconciliation in post-conflict societies.