Denominationally Integrated Education in Northern Ireland—Panacea or Civil Right

The relatively rapid spread of multi-denominational or religiously integrated schools in Northern Ireland over the past decade invites consideration as to their development, historically as well as in the contemporary context. Reviewing this development and, in particular, focusing on the background to the current successful phase, this chapter poses the question whether integrated education is more than the realisation of a civil right for those who desire a third option in school choice in Northern Ireland.This discussion reviews attempts to ensure that the national school system in Ireland, established in the 1830s, would be multi-denominational and the resistance to such attempts on the part of the Christian churches. Particular attention is paid to the special effort made to ensure that the network of model schools, set up partly as local, elementary teacher training establishments, would exemplify the benefits of integration.Northern Ireland becomes the focus for discussion of developments post-1921 when Ireland was partitioned. There, persistent community conflict attracted special attention from those convinced of the benefits of denominationally integrated education. Early attempts failed and it was not until the 1970s in the midst of renewed violent conflict that fresh efforts to establish integrated schools began to meet with success. It is this period that becomes the focus for the final section of the paper

Context (archaeology · Economic growth · Economics · Northern ireland · Panacea (medicine · Political science · Public relations · Realisation · Resistance (ecology · Sociology · Irish and British Studies · Public Administration · Religious Education and Schools

• Going local, heading nowhere

  Open Access•Martin Peter Newman•Irish Political Studies•2022

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