Contact as a Mechanism for Promoting Better Relations in Integrated Schools in Northern Ireland and Bi-Lingual/Bi-National Schools in Israel

Abstract

Contact interventions have played an important role in efforts to manage conflict and promote better relations between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland and Arabs and Jews in Israel. The target for many such initiatives has been children and young people. Reflecting this and in parallel developments, both countries have seen the creation of new and innovative approaches to educating, together, children of diverse religious, political and national backgrounds. In Northern Ireland, integrated schools emerged in the 1980s as an alternative to existent segregated schools. At around the same time, bi-lingual, bi-national schools were first established in Israel as an experiment in Arab/Jewish coeducation. In both contexts, the schools reflect an ideological commitment to a more peaceful society and are based on the theoretical premises of the contact hypothesis, according to which constructive or guided contact can improve inter-group relations. Based on qualitative research in four schools, this paper examines the nature of the contact experience in two integrated in Northern Ireland and two bi-lingual/bi-national schools in Israel. Through comparative analysis, it illuminates some of the contextual and process variables that seemingly mediate the quality and moderate the effectiveness of contact in each school setting.