School partnerships in a post-conflict society: addressing challenges of collaboration and competition

Abstract

In societies emerging from conflict, education plays an important part in instituting peace and reconciliation, and school leaders are key to this. This paper examines the complexity of school leadership in Northern Ireland. Despite the peace agreement of 1998, Northern Ireland’s communities are still deeply divided, and this is reflected in education. The school leaders who were interviewed as part of this research work within school partnerships as part of ‘shared education’ projects which involve schools working together and with twin aims of improving both educational and reconciliation outcomes for young people. The challenges that school leaders face when working in partnership in post-conflict societies have not been given the attention they deserve in the literature, so this work is significant in that it brings a focus on how school leaders can best be empowered to be agents of change, in turn empowering pupils. While the context is Northern Ireland, the outcomes from this study will be of wider interest and significance for school leaders facing similar challenges in other divided situations.

Keywords:

• school leadership
• Northern Ireland
• Shared education
• collaboration
• schools

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the school leaders from across Northern Ireland who contributed to this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stephen Roulston

Stephen Roulston is a lecturer in the School of Education and Course Director of the PGCE Geography Programme at Ulster University. His research interests include ICT in education, teacher leadership, and education in divided societies.

Sam McGuinness

Sam McGuinness was formerly the Head of the School of Education at Ulster University and had been the Principal of two Post-Primary schools in Northern Ireland. His research interests include international educational leadership and policy.

Jessica Bates

Jessica Bates is a senior lecturer in the School of Education and Course Director for the Library and Information Management Programme. Her research interests include Education and Library and Information Science, and the importance of individuals and communities to have a voice in decisions that affect their lives.

Una O'Connor-Bones

Una O’Connor-Bones is a senior lecturer in the School of Education at Ulster University, Head of the Research Graduate School and Deputy Director of the UNESCO Centre, Ulster University. Her research interests include social inclusion, with a particular focus on disadvantaged groups of children and young people, and special educational needs.