Citizenship and Citizenship Education in Northern Ireland and Israel

Abstract

This chapter looks in detail at key concepts relating to citizenship and citizenship education in general, as well as the particular opportunities and challenges presented in the cases of Northern Ireland and Israel. It briefly considers the history of how ‘citizenship’ has developed before discussing the particular challenges involved in educating for citizenship in a divided society as well as the tensions relating to whether young people are ‘citizens-of-now’ or ‘citizens-in-waiting’. Then, it turns to the two case jurisdictions, providing contextual information on Northern Ireland and Israel. For both jurisdictions, it details a brief history of the conflict and its key elements with regard to the main ethno-national groups, their numbers and aspects of their identities. It then turns to citizenship education and considers the divided schooling systems and the historical background and current state of the school subject. The chapter closes with some key comparisons of Northern Ireland and Israel in terms of citizenship and citizenship education.