The educational response to ethnic and cultural diversity in transitional Northern Ireland: a critical review of policy and research

Ethnic diversity has increased substantially in Northern Ireland’s schools over the past two decades, with statistics showing that the number of minority ethnic pupils doubled between 2013 and 2023. In this article, we examine how two features of education in Northern Ireland, the school system and the curriculum, have responded to this greater ethnic and cultural diversity. Adopting the lens of critical multicultural education to review relevant research and policy, we argue that, rather than challenging group-based inequalities within educational structures, education in NI risks embedding and perpetuating them. Extant evidence indicates that minority ethnic pupils risk marginalisation in denominational schools that privilege (white) Catholic/Irish and Protestant/British identities, while academic selection can exacerbate inequalities based on ethnicity, socio-economic status and migration background. Furthermore, although analysis of the post-primary curriculum reveals a more substantial response to societal change, there remains a need for greater attention to racial equality (in addition to current emphases on ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion’) and to the representation of diverse histories and cultures.