Integrated education in Northern Ireland: Education for peace?

Across the globe, education is used as a tool to promote peace and build harmonious relations. Integrated, mixed or inclusive education is one example of this, where children and young people from different racial and/or religious backgrounds are educated together. This is usually with the hope of helping to create a non-discriminating and cohesive society, particularly in places with a history of conflict. Northern Ireland is just one example of this. Since the outbreak of the conflict, known as the ‘troubles’, education has been used as one means to improve intergroup relations in Northern Ireland. This paper reviews the existing literature on integrated education in Northern Ireland and assesses the impact, when attending an integrated school, on intergroup relations. In addition, it presents findings from 11 years of national survey data collected amongst Northern Irish 16-year-olds. Results show that young people who attended integrated schools feel more positive towards the outgroup and are more likely to endorse contact and mixing, than those who attended religiously segregated schools. These findings are discussed in relation to policy implications and new educational initiatives in Northern Ireland.