IFI: shared education is key to a shared future
International Fund for Ireland Chairman Dr Adrian Johnston explains the benefits of shared education and calls for a radical shift in policy.
The advancement towards a shared future has to include opportunities for shared education. Groundbreaking work has already proven that classrooms can be bridges of reconciliation and underpin peace-building without compromising identity.
But as the Sharing in Education Programme heads into its final phase, action is needed to sustain its positive momentum. We must ensure that the lessons learned are not lost. This will require a radical change in policy.
The International Fund for Ireland’s Sharing in Education Programme (SiEP) started in 2008 and will conclude in December 2013. It supports a range of projects which facilitate reconciliation for a shared future through the medium of education and related services, and particularly those which:
• promote shared education by linking schools representative of the two communities;
• build on community relations within and between schools;
• support cultural outreach amongst young people representative of the differing communities or traditions; and
• address strategic gaps in achieving reconciliation through a cross-community, cross-border approach through education and the related services sector.
The SiEP encompasses pre-school, primary, post-primary and special education; the promotion of community relations within and between schools; and teacher education.
The SiEP is managed by the Department of Education (DE) which works with providers in education, registered youth organisations and related services to support educational experiences which are shared between young people representative of the two communities, where reconciliation is an overriding objective.
The DE acts as the agent for the Fund, which has committed £16.8 million towards 22 projects.
SiEP projects span a wide range of activities from short films produced by young people which deal with division and conflict (Reel Frontiers, Cinemagic), to good relations training to meet the needs of educators in Area Learning Communities (Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education).
The challenge of embedding peace still requires a direct interaction at school level. The projects initiated by the SiEP have delivered educational benefits for pupils and lasting relationships between schools and communities.
The SiEP has placed proven and curricula-compliant approaches within easy reach for policy-makers. It is time to look at how available tools can be used to give children a key role in building a shared future.
Dr Adrian Johnston, Chairman, International Fund for Ireland
