Community Relations

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What is the relationship between the Citizenship programme in Northern Ireland and Community Relations?

Hartop et al’s (2005) definition helps here. As can be seen, one way to think about this is to view community relations as the “local” part of “Local and Global Citizenship”…

“With regard to school-based community relations, we understand this to carry the explicit expectation that, as part of their teaching, teachers will attempt to address issues relevant to community divisions in Northern Ireland. Consequently, we define school-based community relations as purposeful activity, through the whole-curriculum and whole-school experience, that facilitates young peoples’ identities as citizens who:

  • are accepting of equity and non-oppression in the civil domain, such that everybody can enjoy equally their human rights
  • are accepting of diverse ethnic identities
  • understand the central importance of, and value, interdependent relationships within Northern Irish society”

(Hartop, B., Kelly, C., McCully, A., Neill, J., O’Connor, U. & Smith, R.A.L. 2005 p, 3)

Additional items
Have a look at the Community Relations Index. This incorporates a range of useful frameworks and tools to help teachers undertake a deep scrutiny of everything that makes up institutional life in order to improve school-based provision for community relations.

The Community Relations Index: self-evaluation tools for schools and classrooms [894 Kb]

Exploring the relationship between citizenship and community relations –In the context of education in Northern Ireland – Helen Henderson, MSc: Education for Contemporary Society [107kb]

Further Information

http://www.creni.org
http://www.transformconflict.org