AbstractsEducation Research & Administration

Abstract

How to relate to a difficult past is a challenge facing many societies coming out of violent conflict. One important aspect of this challenge is how to deal with this past in school history education, something which only recently has received significant attention in theory and in practice. This study examines the introduction of the revised Northern Ireland history curriculum, which for the first time requires all students to learn about recent Northern Irish history. The focus is on what most see as a requirement for teachers to teach the violent period from the late 1960s onwards known as the Troubles. Through this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews have been conducted with six teachers and 38 students from five post-primary schools in Northern Ireland. In addition, nine history lessons have been observed. Seven history educationalists have also been consulted to complement these findings. Three aspects of teaching the Troubles in Northern Ireland have been examined. First of all, the aims as stated by the revised curriculum and history educationalists are compared with the aims teachers and students see as important, both regarding history teaching in general and the Troubles in particular. Secondly, the prospect of whether the Troubles will actually be taught in the time to come is assessed. Lastly, the challenges and opportunities in dealing with the Troubles discernable from teachers and students views are discussed. It should be mentioned that the fact that three persons were shot dead by dissident Republican paramilitaries during the period in which the fieldwork was conducted was something that influenced the study. In addition to it being incorporated in the questions I asked interviewees, it was an issue that also arose in lessons and interviews without direct questions from me, illustrating how the incident linked the present and the past for many. Previous literature has described a gap between the aspirations as expressed through the curriculum and history educationalists on one hand, and teachers views of the aims of history teaching on the other. The mentioned gap seems narrower than previously described judging from my sample, even though a certain discrepancy was found between teachers views and their concrete plans for teaching about the Troubles. The perhaps most striking gap found in my sample was between the very high level of interest in the Troubles among the students, and the mentioned reluctance on the part of teachers to teach the topic. Regarding the actual prospect of the Troubles being taught in the years to come, the revised curriculum has played a central role in placing the topic on the agenda of history teachers, and will evidently cause teachers to teach this historical period. The degree to which this will happen is uncertain, but the number of teachers doing so is likely to increase, probably to a majority of teachers within a few years. Lastly, challenges and opportunities in teaching about the Troubles are presented. Some important factors are support for…