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In societies emerging from conflict, education plays an important part in instituting peace and reconciliation, and school leaders are key to this. This paper examines the complexity of school leadership in Northern Ireland. Despite the peace agreement of 1998, Northern Ireland's communities are still deeply divided, and this is reflected in education. The school leaders who were interviewed as part of this research work within school partnerships as part of 'shared education' projects which involve schools working together and with twin aims of improving both educational and reconciliation outcomes for young people. The challenges that school leaders face when working in partnership in post-conflict societies have not been given the attention they deserve in the literature, so this work is significant in that it brings a focus on how school leaders can best be empowered to be agents of change, in turn empowering pupils. While the context is Northern Ireland, the outcomes from this study will be of wider interest and significance for school leaders facing similar challenges in other divided situations.

A geographic information system (GIS) can be defined as a computer-based system that enables the collection, management, analysis, visualization, and sharing of spatial data. As this technology is a fundamental and fast-growing part of the global economy, there is a growing global demand for a skilled workforce that can use it to address an array of spatial issues. However, while there is potential to embed GIS as a commonplace tool in schools, doing so has been a perennial challenge, with an array of obstacles to overcome, and support for those "intrepid souls" who pioneer GIS use in schools is needed. Universities may have a part to play in this. This paper describes the authors' experiences of a multipartner approach whereby GIS students (undergraduates pursuing Geography and Environmental Science degrees who are enrolled for GIS classes), under the guidance of tutors, collaborate with preservice and in-service geography teachers to prepare and deliver GIS activities in classrooms.

This small-scale design-based study describes a cyclical model of professional learning between three stakeholders in initial teacher education (ITE) namely: university-based educators (UEs), student teachers (STs) and co-operating teachers (CTs). This model promotes the development of digital learning leaders through an innovative mentoring process. This process started with university-based educators (UEs) mentoring their student teachers (STs) in the pedagogical use of Virtual Reality (VR) and the creation of re-usable learning objects (RLOs). STs were supported and encouraged to cascade this learning to their placement schools as digital learning leaders connecting the innovative practice from the university directly to their classroom practice. Through bi-directional reverse-mentoring the STs and CTs supported each other technically (with the VR) and pedagogical (through the links to the curriculum) to create additional subject-specific RLOs which the STs were able to demonstrate to the UEs on their return to university. Thus, providing the final link in the cycle of learning leaders across the triad of partners in ITE.

There is a considerable literature concerning divided societies and the role of education in such societies. In the case of Northern Ireland, education is characterised by a largely separate system of education for its two main communities. There is also a considerably smaller integrated schools sector, where the two communities learn together. A more recent intervention is that of shared education where separate schools are retained but shared classes and other opportunities for sharing are offered. Politically, there has never been extensive support for integrated education, particularly from the two largest parties in the Assembly and power-sharing Executive: The Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin. While not active proponents of integrated education the two parties have embraced shared education and with their own interpretation of its implementation. The introduction of shared education can be seen as a triumph as the two main parties in the coalition have agreed on a policy designed to bridge the gap in education. An alternative view is that shared education is the least-worst option for these two parties but may do little to advance reconciliation.

Divided societies emerging from conflict are found around the globe, and these divisions can cause, and may be perpetuated by, disunity in educational provision. Establishing sound and equitable education is considered vital in promoting reconciliation in places with apparently intractable conflict. Northern Ireland was involved in ethno-sectarian violence for 30 years. Society there is still fundamentally divided and there is considerable duplication of services supplying the needs of each community. This is true also of education with multiple schools each catering for 'their own' population. Sometimes these can be too small to be sustainable and/or may be inefficient. In this research GIS analysis is used to identify 32 pairs of primary schools and their levels of sustainability are estimated, alongside some additional cost of the duplication, although this can be difficult to quantify. Bringing schools together in a society emerging from conflict will not be easy for communities. However, economic costs may drive difficult structural change. Perhaps an even more important driver, in addition to financial costs, is the less tangible but even more important costs to future social cohesion should separation continue.

There is considerable literature concerning the impact of education in divided societies. Some seek to defend separate schools, often for different faith groups, while others stress the benefits of school integration on social cohesiveness. Contact theory has been employed in efforts in many countries to address social discord. Northern Ireland is a deeply divided multicultural society with a largely separate system of education for its two main communities. There is also a small but growing Integrated schools sector, where the communities learn together and where contact is maintained. A more recent intervention in Northern Ireland is that of Shared Education where separate schools are retained but shared classes and other opportunities for sharing are offered. This paper examines these models of educational provision and evaluates them in light of political developments. This is of particular importance as the structure of education is key to social cohesion for the people in Northern Ireland, as well as in other jurisdictions across the world contemplating educational solutions for divided societies.

The digital transformation of the educational landscape is an integral part of 21st-century learning, yet not all regions have capitalized on the benefits edtech brings. However, Northern Ireland's (NI's) education system presents a uniquely opportune environment for embracing edtech, acting as a veritable Goldilocks zone—where conditions appear just right for educational technology's successful deployment. This work provides a significant expansion to the range and depth of research into educational technologies in NI and important point of reference for schooling, internationally. Notably, the research reveals an urgent need for a robust teacher competence framework. This framework would focus on developing the digital skills of educators, which would, in turn, enhance their digital capital—the skills, knowledge, and attitudes toward digital technologies that enable meaningful engagement in digital activities. The findings also underscore the critical importance of a strategic vision in the application of digital technology in pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers are increasingly integrating ICT into formal education (McKnight et al. "Journal of Research on Technology in Education," 48(3), 194-211, 2016), helping to incorporate technologies in learning and teaching. However, an important expectation relating to ICT integration is that Initial Teacher Educators model their own practice as well as developing digital skills and competencies in pre-service teachers (Haydn 2010; Gudmundsdottir and Hatlevik "European Journal of Teacher Education," 41(2), 214-231, 2018). To test these expectations, this paper reports on a convergent mixed methods study that consisted of twelve interviews with Initial Teacher Educators as well as a series of questionnaires that were distributed to four teacher education providers in Ireland and four in Northern Ireland. Findings suggest that, while there are certainly pockets of excellence and some individual models of good practice, it is evident that there is a limited coherent integration of ICT within and across Initial Teacher Education providers, despite efforts to achieve this.

Data from a sample of teachers, parents and pupils in Northern Ireland about their experiences of blended and online learning during the pandemic has thrown light on effective practice and some of the reasons for this. After an initial period of uncertainty and confusion, most of the five schools studied found ways to provide regular online lessons which in many cases had high levels of interaction between teachers and pupils and in some cases between pupils. This was true also in schools which had high levels of pupil disadvantage measured through entitlement to free school meals. The reasons for the emergence of good practice were the prior investment in ICT facilities for every school, the support provided through educational authorities and local teacher networks, and the quality of leadership in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early years education is offered free to all three-year-olds in Northern Ireland, prior to starting primary school, and most parents take advantage of this offer for their children. An experience of early years education has been shown to considerably improve life chances and to be important in starting the process of building a shared society, particularly important in a divided society emerging from conflict such as Northern Ireland. This paper will examine the degree to which that provision is segregated using GIS analysis and explore the factors which influence those divisions within the wider context of a deeply segregated system of education. Pre-school education in Northern Ireland is found to be highly segregated by community background, and there is a tendency for pre-schools to be more segregated than the areas in which they are located. This may exacerbate existing divisions within education and adding a further year of segregated education may provide a further impediment to building a shared future for communities in Northern Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of studies suggest that integrating Geographical Information Systems (GIS) into Geography teaching in schools has been and is challenging, and it seems that much of the early promise for the technology supporting learning in Geography has not been realised. This paper examines the progress made in Northern Ireland in implementing GIS in secondary schools. The deployment of a centrally procured entry-level GIS, in the context of a programme of centralised provision of information and communication technology (ICT) services to all schools, is examined and the results of an online survey of 85 Geography teachers provides an insight into how effective that provision has been. This combination of a regional strategy on GIS, curriculum changes and increased access to computers seems to have ensured that GIS is being used in many Geography classrooms. There is evidence that a range of GI systems are being used in schools and in a number of different ways, but mostly for teacher rather than for pupil use at present. Teachers expressed a need for coordinated training in order to make full use of the hardware and software available. (Contains 2 tables, 2 figures, and 3 notes.)

This paper examines and reflects on the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking devices as a method to understand and analyse young people’s everyday movement in Northern Ireland, a divided society emerging from conflict. The paper also seeks to contribute to the extensive body of literature which already exists on young people’s geographies and movements within the Northern Ireland context. We highlight how the use of GPS together with more traditional methods gives us considerable insights of movements of young people in Northern Ireland and sheds light on the communal divisions in one town in Northern Ireland, Coleraine. We argue that the use of a GPS methodology significantly adds to the understanding of young people’s movements and geographies, particularly in a post-conflict context where notions of place and territory have particular significance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]