Exploring the relationship between citizenship and community relations

1
Exploring the relationship between citizenship
and community relations In the context of
education in Northern Ireland

• Helen Henderson
• Msc Education for Contemporary Society.

2
What do you think?

• Do you think that community relations and
  citizenship are connected?
• If so, how do you think they are related?
• How are citizenship and community relations
  different?

3
Rationale

• Funding for Education for Citizenship Support
  Project (SCPH) not renewed by Department of
  Education due to lack of community relations
  dimension.
• Wider debate about the role of citizenship
  education in peace-building and community
  relations in N.I.

4
Research Questions

• 1. Are citizenship and community relations
  connected in theory and practice?
• 2. What are the tensions in connecting
  citizenship and community relations and how can
  these be addressed?
• 3. What are the barriers that prevent positive
  collaboration between the formal and non-formal
  sectors and how can these be overcome?
• 4. Can policy offer a clear strategy to address
  these issues?

5
Methodology

• Documentary Analysis
• Semi-structured Interviews of key policy makers
• Bernie Kells (CCEA)
• June Neill (WELB)
• Johnston McMaster (JEDI)
• Duncan Morrow (CRC)
• Lousie Warde-Hunter (DENI)

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Findings Documentary Analysis

• A Shared Future
• The new cross-curricular theme of local and
  global citizenship has the potential to make a
  significant contribution to understanding the
  causes of conflict between and within communities
  both in N.I and elsewhere in the world. To make a
  real impact it is necessary that this work
  tackles the reality of living in a divided
  society
• (CRU 2005 34)

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Findings Documentary Analysis

• Through the concepts of diversity and inclusion
  young people can explore the breadth and depth of
  diversity in their own community.. (Arlow 2004
  286)
• Comparing Language
• CR EDI Equity, Diversity and Interdependence
• Citizenship Equality and Social Justice,
  Diversity and Inclusion, Democracy and Active
  Participation and Human Rights.

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Findings Interviews.

• Tensions in connecting Community Relations and
  Citizenship
• Lack of a shared understanding of what these
  concepts mean.
• Separated training but the same set of skills.
• Lack of connectedness
• Competitiveness
• there is a danger of people taking sides being
  in one or the other camp and defending their
  territory (Morrow)

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Findings Interviews

• How are they connected?
• Community relations is our context
  (Warde-Hunter)
• We have to start coming from the relationship
  perspective, within that web of relationships
  weve got EDI, the various citizenship issues,
  civic society, the political society (McMaster)
• There are different entry points into all of
  this, citizenship is one, community relations is
  one, so too is EMU, and community development
  (Kells)

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Barriers between formal and informal education
sectors.

• The formal sector of DENI needs to be much more
  in dialogue with the informal sector of that
  department. We use the expression joined up
  thinking, joined up talking would be a start
  (Kells)
• We need to decide better what the strengths of
  each systems is, we want to be complementary to
  each other. Some of our best teachers are the
  ones who have had experience working in the
  informal sector and have developed these
  methodological skills (Neill).

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Conclusions

• Community Relations and Citizenship are
  inextricably linked. It is the context in which
  CR and Cit are taught that creates the biggest
  difference (formal v informal).
• Citizenship builds social capital (Print, 2004)
  whereas community relations acts as bridging
  capital.
• Supports Morrows fears where,. there is
  citizenship of the community but not anything
  that connects.

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Model and Recommendations
13
Recommendations

• Over-arching policy that includes all these
  concepts.
• Communication and collaboration
• Combined training
• There is a need for educational policy to take a
  confident step to state that this work is
  important.