This essay will explore the contribution of integrated (mixed Catholic and Protestant) schools to peacebuilding in Northern Ireland and it will highlight some of the challenges ahead in an increasingly diverse society with a legacy of conflict. It draws on and is illustrated by exemplars from the extensive data that I have gathered over more than ten years. The essay will focus on three particular areas – the long-term impact of attending an integrated school, variation in leadership approaches to integration within the schools and emergent models of good practice in response to the cultural diversity of students. A number of theoretical perspectives will be brought to bear upon the data, including social identity theory and political science perspectives on multiculturalism. I will argue that integrated education provides a unique opportunity, in a still segregated society, for children and young people to learn from each other, enjoy sustained engagement and interaction with other perspectives, develop empathy and build long-term friendships across the divide. At the same time, I will question whether the current approaches to integrated education hold equal possibilities for peacebuilding.

The context for peacebuilding through education

In divided societies like Northern Ireland, emerging from a period of intense community violence, the role of education in peacebuilding is complex and needs to be carefully contextualised not least historically, politically and socially. Looking first at history we see that prior to partition in 1922, the six counties of Northern Ireland shared a general Irish education system based on the National School system.