The 1998 Good Friday Agreement (GFA) brought an end to conflict in Northern Ireland (NI). However, the peace process has not brought about the reconciliation which many had hoped for. The purpose of this article is to consider the role of ‘peace education’ and ‘integrated education’ in fostering reconciliation in Northern Ireland. My research contains the views of primary school and secondary school principals and head teachers to ‘peace education’ and ‘integrated education’ in Northern Ireland. The research is positioned in (...) the tradition of previous research literature and contemporary concerns relating to integrated education and the Shared Education Bill that was passed by the Northern Ireland Assembly on the 8th March 2016. My research adds to the emerging knowledge in the area and offers an insight on the attitudes of educators in Northern Ireland to ‘peace education’ and ‘integrated education’. It also engages with ‘interventionist research’. This paper is written from the point of view that genuine and effective ‘peace education’ requires ‘integrated education’ where children from diverse backgrounds are educated together every day in the same classrooms. (shrink)

The 1998 Good Friday Agreement (GFA) brought an end to conflict in Northern Ireland (NI). Nonetheless, the peace process has not brought the reconciliation for which many had hoped. This purpose of this article is to consider the relationship between Remembrance, Commemoration and Reconciliation. The particular focus is on how the Centenary of 1916 (The Easter Rising and the Battle of the Somme) should be commemorated. My research also contains the views of politicians in Northern Ireland, in general, to the (...) issue of ‘Commemoration, Remembrance and Reconciliation’. The research is positioned in the tradition of previous research literature and contemporary concerns relating to Commemoration, Remembrance and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland and internationally. It also engages with ‘Interventionist Research’. My research adds to the emerging knowledge in the area and offers insight and perspective on the attitudes of politicians in Northern Ireland to ‘Commemoration, Remembrance and Reconciliation’. (shrink)

After a historic agreement was reached, between the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein (SF), Power-sharing government resumed in Northern Ireland in 2007. Both political parties committed themselves to peaceful, democratic and consensual self-government in Northern Ireland. This was the first time that Northern Ireland was to be run by a government in which all the main nationalist (nationalists want Northern Ireland to be reunited with the rest of Ireland) and unionist (unionists want Northern Ireland to remain part of (...) the United Kingdom) parties were to agree to serve together. Forty years of civil strife and conflict are over. There is now political stability; nonetheless, the peace process has not brought about the positive changes which many had expected. This article looks at the pressing issue of reconciliation in Northern Ireland; it is not the intention of this article to solely blame one ideological tradition, community, or political party. (shrink)