Abstract

This paper describes the results of a survey of schools in Northern Ireland on issues of diversity and community relations. The survey was carried out as part of the International Fund for Ireland funded Classrooms Re-imagined: Education in Diversity and Inclusion for Teachers (CREDIT) programme. The core aim of this programme is to provide courses for teachers to assist them in developing awareness and practical skills in dealing with division, diversity, inclusion and community relations, and reconciliation in the classroom and on a whole-school basis. A questionnaire was distributed to a sample of all schools in Northern Ireland to attempt to ascertain attitudes to diversity and education for community relations before the programme commenced. Definitions of these terms were provided to minimise ambiguity. Results of the questionnaires were analysed using suitable software and a thematic approach was adopted to classify data. Findings show that most schools have policies and programmes in place to deal with these issues but that teachers feel lacking in confidence and skills to directly address such issues in the classroom.