Northern Ireland: educating for peace in a post-conflict society

This chapter critically examines the role of education and its contribution, not only to peace-building, but also in helping social work students to appreciate and understand difficult pedagogy. The chapter will focus on Northern Ireland as a case study, where 2023 marked 25 years since the signing of the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Peace Agreement, ending “The Troubles”, the anodyne moniker referring to this country’s 30-year long period of violent political conflict. The reader will firstly be presented with how the Northern Ireland education system attempted, albeit in a very limited way with just over 7% of children from differing religious backgrounds educated together, to educate young people on issues related to “The Troubles” before young people later as social work students are introduced to very direct and immersive teaching on the impact of “The Troubles” as a necessary aspect of their social work education experience. This chapter will argue that in order for such micro-level measures in the social work curriculum to have positive impact, where contested issues are directly brought to the fore and confronted, the macro-approach to education in divided and conflict riven societies, such as Northern Ireland, also has to imaginatively and positively reflect such an inclusive approach. This chapter is written by a father and son. Joe Duffy is a Professor of Social Work at Queen’s University, Belfast, who leads on specialist teaching on “The Troubles” on the Bachelor of Social Work degree programme where citizens with direct and lived experience of bereavement, injury and trauma share these personal narratives with students as a way of deepening their knowledge, competence and insights. The latter pedagogic work will feature in this chapter as a way of highlighting an inclusive approach to social work education whereby newly qualified social workers are more positively enabled to confront difficult and contested issues in a post-conflict society. Joe Coulter is an independent researcher and Fulbright Scholar who was educated in Northern Ireland’s integrated education system. This chapter will have resonance to other societies affected by war and political conflict as it will stimulate important reflections on the role of education and its contribution to peace-building.