School-based Health Education Provision for Young People in Northern Ireland

Abstract

In Northern Ireland, young people exist in a health environment where the experience of social disadvantage is translated into serious risks to health and personal development. The years of political conflict have tended to obscure these health problems, and it is important that the difficulties faced by young people are examined and contextualized within the social, economic and educational issues relevant to our understanding of how the problems have arisen and how solutions can now be sought. The paper will draw on a range of research, including studies carried out by the authors, as Northern Ireland enters a period of relative political stability. In particular, the paper focuses on the relevance of health education provision to young people in experiencing transition to a post-conflict environment. In this present context, educational institutions are faced with pressures from policy-makers and, equally, have to take account of the contested nature of the current debates on health and the body.