This reading focuses on the positives of communication and technology, since The Troubles began in 1968 there have been many efforts to connect the two countries together. In 1980 the first ‘integrated school’ was established to unite the two religions together and encourage them to embrace the differences between the groups. This led to the provision in the 1989 Education Reform Act, which placed the importance on the Department of Education to ‘encourage and facilitate’ integrated education. Although this still only reaches a very small percentage of the total population across the whole of Ireland today.

The main focus of this was to cover the same curriculum, therefore both sides of the border will be taught the same things regarding the history of the country and the same citizenship courses. This, again, is to help the children understand and embrace the differences between the two countries. The children were born into the conflict and told who to hate, without a specific reason or even a complete comprehension of why they should hate someone if they have never met them before. I believe that this can have a significant impact on the children’s education, they are putting all of their efforts into being told that they should dislike a particular type of person just because of what they believe. I am not saying that the two countries need to be the best of friends, although I do believe they should have their children’s education as a matter of priority. It is important for children to be able to create their own opinions based on the facts, they should not be indoctrinated by teachers.

This project was to link schools on each side of the border, it was welcomed by teachers and actually started to have an impact on the skills and attitudes of the children. University students set up a network between 16 schools, 14 of those were partnered with a school of the different religion. The teachers attended a training day and were introduced to Fronter in 2013, they each had a student which was assigned to help them.  The idea was to open up a number of opportunities and facilitate a connection between the children of different backgrounds. The children are able to share their work between the schools, and since they are on the same scheme of work it provides more of a chance for social constructivism to take place. The children are able to take ideas and discuss about their work and the topics they are covering within their classrooms.

Although a downside to this is that the children don’t know who they are talking to, and ever since they have been able to use a computer, they have been encouraged to be aware of the people on the internet and not talk to anyone they don’t know. Therefore, this project seems much of a contradiction to everything that they have been taught, regardless of it being in a school. Another obstacle that the students and teachers face is the parents of the children, the majority of them had been born during the troubles and therefore they are teaching their own children their views. The children reflect the views of their parents and may object to speaking to their online partners because of this, building yet more barriers.