Public Policy
Permanent URI for this community
Browse
Browsing Public Policy by Author "Borooah, Vani K."
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Open Access Inequality, segregation and poor performance: the education system in Northern Ireland(Educational Review, 2016) Borooah, Vani K.; Knox, ColinNorthern Ireland is now a post-conflict society but one of the legacies of the “troubles” is an education system which is defined by religious affiliation/identity. A parallel system of schools continues to exist where Catholics largely attend “maintained” schools and Protestants “controlled” or state schools. While segregation along religious grounds is the most obvious fault line in Northern Ireland schools, more insidious problems of access and performance inequalities exist which has been overshadowed by efforts to improve community relations between children and promote integrated education. This article uses school leavers’ data to examine the nature of inequality in schools and consider an alternative policy option for tackling inequality and segregation, respectively.Item Open Access The Contribution of "Shared Education" to Catholic-Protestant Reconciliation in Northern Ireland: A Third Way?(British Educational Research Journal, 2012) Borooah, Vani K.; Knox, ColinNorthern Ireland has achieved political stability and its devolved government is now tackling public policy issues neglected during periods of sectarian violence. Notwithstanding the prevailing political optimism, one legacy of the conflict is a deeply divided society. This is particularly manifest in the education system where around 90% of children attend either state (Controlled) schools (de facto Protestant) or Catholic (Maintained) schools, with integrated schools accounting for less than 6% of the school population. In an attempt to address this wasteful duplication of services, external funders have piloted an initiative entitled The Shared Education Programme (SEP) where schools working in cross-community partnerships deliver shared classes and activities in order to improve education outcomes. This paper attempts to: quantify the educational returns for pupils participating in the SEP; articulate the qualitative reconciliation benefits from the perspective of teachers, parents and pupils; and, locate the findings of the research in the ongoing policy debate about restructuring education provision in Northern Ireland at a time of budget retrenchment and declining school rolls.