Reflections on ‘Supporting community cohesion through ICT: The epartners programme in Northern Ireland’

Austin, Hunter etc al’s article  ‘Supporting community cohesion through ICT: The epartners programme in Northern Ireland’ takes a look at how ICT can help to heal the deep divides seen across Northern Ireland. Ever since the Reformation and the actions of Oliver Cromwell the island has been deeply divided between the Catholic Republic in the south and the Protestant and British North of the island.  The religious and social divides are not just limited to the respective regions of the island though, in both the North and the Republic the wounds of the past are still strongly felt and this is indicative in the education system of the country with around 95% of children attending either a Catholic or a Protestant school. The British government has put the onus on Belfast to change this and attempt to integrate the two sides of the fence as well as ensure the creation of more ‘integrated schools’. A number of schemes have been introduced in attempts to fix this schism and unite the people and education system of the country including a common curriculum and shared education but the main focus of Austin et al’s research is how communication through technology can breed cohesion and tolerance.

The scheme, called ‘ePartners’ took 16 volunteer schools and asked them to ensure pupils used technology to communicate their ideas with each other in a competition to see who could design the best dish. Austin analysed two religiously juxtaposing schools to see the impact of the communication between the pupils and whilst the scheme did have some technical issues overall it did seem to be a success. Whilst taking his own research with a pinch of salt, admitting the sample size was rather small, Austin still argues that the ePartners scheme clearly has some potential. Austin states that the religious differences between the school never became an issue with pupils communicating with each other effectively.

On the one hand the scheme did seem to bring two opposing sides together in education with the teachers and pupils co-operating together. Despite this, when looking deeper it becomes apparent that the problems facing N. Ireland run far deeper than any forum can fix with the threat of terrorism and political upheaval still very strong. Whilst the systemic schism is practically entrenched in N. Ireland’s society, the government is attempting to fix it in the correct way by en-incorporating tolerance and acceptance into the education system. Furthermore, it’s clear from Austin’s research that ICT does have a role to play in this;  Tim Bernere-Lee’s says that he invented the World Wide Web as a communication tool that should bring people together and whilst Austin’s research does substantiate this to an extent it is still evident that ICT in the classroom is not a fix all solution. Whilst a great deal more is necessary to eradicate the socio-political political problems of N. Ireland, at least it’s a start.