Culture, curriculum and educational policy in Northern Ireland

Abstract

Abstract Education in Northern Ireland is undergoing its most extensive reform since the late 1940s. For the first time ever the whole curriculum is being subjected to a degree of prescription by the Department of Education which is affecting all subjects in the most profound ways. A significant focus of interest is the manner in which the curriculum is being planned as a means of promoting a greater knowledge and understanding of Northern Ireland's different cultural traditions than was possible in the past. To this end, the Department of Education is requiring that all subjects of the new Common Curriculum should incorporate elements of a theme entitled ‘cultural heritage’. In effect, this means that all subjects, in so far as it is possible and feasible, will include cultural themes and topics reflecting the different traditions to which the people of Northern Ireland are heirs. The inclusion of cultural heritage marks a break with curriculum practices of the past which had to a considerable extent been influenced in mutually exclusive ways by Northern Ireland's two denominationally separate school systems, one Roman Catholic and generally Irish nationalist in outlook, the second Protestant and generally unionist and British in outlook. This paper discusses the historical background to recent reforms, their nature as far as cultural heritage is concerned and some of the community reactions which they have evoked. Considerable space is devoted to discussing two pioneering projects in the area of cultural studies, both of which paved the way for the general introduction of cultural heritage. Attention is also paid to the manner in which cultural heritage will be considered within particular areas of the curriculum. In this respect the changes affecting the status of the Irish language are highlighted.