Political parties in Northern Ireland want to break down divisions in education, according to a new report. And the political groupings, including some in the Irish Republic, also want peace studies to be included in the curriculum.
The revelations come in a report by a Church of Ireland working group set up to monitor the post-ceasefire situation. The group, headed by Bishop Brian Hannon, met all political parties including Sinn Fein, and the fringe loyalist parties with close links to Protestant paramilitaries.
The bishop refused to identify which parties had made the suggestions, on grounds of confidentiality, but said their report represented a consensus. The working party said the divisions between the mainly Catholic maintained schools and the state sector needed to be broken down, and peace studies could be included in lessons.
The church group said dialogue and understanding between pupils in both primary and secondary schools was important and could be facilitated through joint class projects involving schools from the different traditions, schools attracting pupils and teachers from both communities, and “the challenge of integrated schools”.
But they refused to give an opinion on the idea of peace studies, although stating that a structure for it exists already under the required cross-curricular themes of education for mutual understanding and cultural heritage.
The report also pointed to the common core religious education syllabus agreed four years ago.
The politicians said the churches should support the work of the Dublin-based Irish School of Ecumenics, which has been hit by financial difficulties, and the Church of Ireland group said it already did so with an annual subsidy, and because many clergy and lay members were students or graduates of it.
