Addressing educational disadvantage in Northern Ireland 1921–2021: a history of squandered opportunities?

ABSTRACT

A century after partition, this article presents a critical reflection on efforts to address educational disadvantage in Northern Ireland using a Foucauldian genealogical theoretical framework. Beset by religious, political and cultural divisions from the very formation of the state in 1921, the article charts the history of opportunities heralded and then lost, including the initially ambitious though arguably naïve vision of the first Minister of Education, Lord Londonderry; the post-war egalitarian promise of the 1947 Education Act; and the introduction of the common Northern Ireland Curriculum in 1989. It is argued that, historically, education and in particular addressing educational disadvantage has not been a key policy priority for successive governments in Northern Ireland, whose attention has instead too often focused on political power struggles. Set against such a context of political instability and intransigence, the article critically examines the latest and perhaps most promising of all opportunities presented by the publication of A Fair Start, the final report and action plan of the Expert Panel on Educational Underachievement in Northern Ireland, established under the terms of the New Decade, New Approach political settlement of January 2020 and published in June 2021.

KEYWORDS:

• Educational underachievement
• disadvantage
• Northern Ireland
• Foucault

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Noel Purdy

Dr Noel Purdy is Director of Research and Scholarship at Stranmillis University College, Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he is also founding Director of the Centre for Research in Educational Underachievement.