The views of young people in Northern Ireland on anti‐sectarianism

Abstract

This article reports the findings from a series of “Talkshops”—interactive facilitated discussions—undertaken with 114 young people from six secondary schools serving one town within Northern Ireland. The young people first met with the researchers in their own schools, then an elected group came together in combined Talkshops and, finally, a group of six young people, one from each school, met with the researchers to help analyse the data and prepare a presentation on the results. Through the Talkshops the young people explored their views on sectarianism, and the factors they felt helped such attitudes develop; they considered how this impacted on their day‐to‐day lives and how they had learned to deal with difference. They also considered how things could be different in the future, suggesting ways to promote anti‐sectarianism. The article reports the views of the young people, concluding with their summary statement—the message these young people wanted to be heard by adults within Northern Ireland.