gov - Minister Foley’s address to Shared Island Dialogue: Learning from each other – the future of education on a shared island

I am very pleased as Minister for Education to open this session of the Dialogue, looking at key themes for the future in primary and post-primary education on the island.

Working in the classroom for over twenty years as a teacher, I have always been inspired by the creativity, passion and enthusiasm of young people and how they engage with the world around them.

A young person’s view is forward-looking, imaginative; less concerned with the traditional ways of doing things; or with pre-conceptions of how we relate to each other.

I have been visiting schools and engaging with many young people in this role, and one of the most striking features of my visits is the civic engagement and awareness of global issues of the young people I speak with. I am continually impressed and heartened by their desire to be involved, to influence, to be a force for change in the world around them.

When launching the Shared Island Dialogue series almost one year ago, the Taoiseach emphasised the important role for the coming generation to complete the journey of reconciliation we began in 1998, through the Good Friday Agreement.

In that context, an overarching question for this Dialogue is how – through our education systems and other interactions – young people are best enabled to reach their full potential and to take their own steps towards a deeper reconciliation on this island.

It is important that this Dialogue will hear from younger generations on their views of new and innovative ways to connect and deepen mutual understanding across communities, both in education and more broadly.

In our education sector, there is a rich history of collaboration across the border. School leaders and teachers, North and South have worked together over many decades to enrich the experiences of their pupils, and lay the foundations for strong person to person relationships.

Leadership in school settings deserve our praise and support for their actions. They set the example for young people, and we must provide the opportunities for building these relationships. I am strongly supportive of opportunities for young people to interact across the island, including the North South Schools Exchange Programme. I had the opportunity to engage with participating students on this programme in May of this year.

The commitment and confidence of the young people to embrace the understanding difference was truly remarkable.

The Government is committed to expanding this exchange programme out to 2025, so that we achieve 100 such cross-border engagements per year. Civic, cultural and social interactions across communities and traditions enrich us all, and it is so important that young people have those opportunities.

The Government’s Shared Island initiative aims to harness the full potential of the Good Friday Agreement to bring us closer together by working, North/South and East/West, on the things that matter most for the people of this island.

And through the Good Friday Agreement, cooperation and exchange across our education systems has flourished since 1998 – opening up opportunities such as enhanced training and professional exchange, cross-border education partnerships, and better access to specialist education services on the island.

The Middletown Centre for Autism is one of the best examples of what we have to gain by working together. The vision of this Centre is to “To enhance the lives of children and young people with autism and their families, through the delivery of specialist educational services”

It is also proof that by working together, we can enhance people’s lived experience and our political and wider societal relationships.

Our education systems interact through the North South Ministerial Council and the British Irish Council, in so many beneficial ways, in areas ranging from teacher qualifications; to cooperation between inspectorates; including in recent times on managing the pressures of the pandemic.

These are really valuable collaborations in their own right. Importantly also, this cooperation means that we better reflect our connections, both North/South and East/West.

That is why, in the years ahead, the Government will work to deepen all-island education connections, through continued investment in the Middletown Centre for Autism and seeking other opportunities to do more sharing of experience and resources.

Addressing education underachievement is also a key area for the Government and Executive at the North South Ministerial Council Education sector, reflecting the priority we share on this in our school systems, and its vital importance for our communities. I know that we will be hearing from a number of panellists today on how they help to address educational disadvantage within their communities.

There is no tool more powerful than education if we want to effect change, and for this reason, we must ensure that all children and young people have the opportunity to access excellent education.

I see that Dr Noel Purdy will be contributing to the discussion too, and in another example of collaboration, I was pleased that officials from my Department were able to share the experience of the DEIS programme, as Noel and his colleagues were gathering opinions as part of the ‘Fair Start’ consultation process in Northern Ireland.

There is much that we can learn from each other’s experience and approach in education. All the more so as we strive to minimise the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic for all in education, particularly for children who face hurdles to full education participation and attainment.

This is also an important theme for discussion in this Dialogue session. I know there is a wealth of expertise and experience among participants – including pedagogical experts, teachers, students and community leaders, from across the island.

As part of the Shared Island initiative, the Government is commissioning a comprehensive research programme, across a range of sectors, to support discussion and thinking on the opportunities for enhancing our cooperation and connections across the island.

As part of that exercise, I am very pleased to launch at this Dialogue a significant new Shared Island research partnership with the Standing Conference on Teacher Education North and South, known as (SCoTENS).

This new research programme, funded by the Shared Island Unit in the Taoiseach’s Department, is for action-oriented research, on educational underachievement issues and on a range of teaching and learning themes, for teachers, on curriculum delivery.

The aims are to support continuing and increased engagement in teacher education on the island; to share experience on key themes for teachers; and to inform development of policy, research and practice, on a shared island basis, in the years ahead.

The call for applications is open now to the wide SCoTENS network of colleges of education, university education departments, teaching councils, curriculum councils, education trade unions and education centres, and research partners they may wish to involve, on the island of Ireland, in Britain or internationally.

I am sure that the four successful research projects will add significantly to teacher education practice and exchange, and contribute to the scope for deeper cooperation at a policy level on the island.

I also look forward to the publication later this year of Shared Island research being conducted by the Economic and Social Research Institute, examining patterns of educational participation and attainment, North and South, and assessing with education stakeholders, what lessons we can take for the future.

As I begin to conclude, I want to thank everyone for participating in this Dialogue session. Amidst so many current demands for the education sector, North and South, it is important that we have settings like this to listen to and learn from each other on a shared island basis in open, inclusive, practical and forward-looking ways.

Education has always been the bedrock for progress and prosperity on this island. It is an enabler. We all have a duty to ensure that education enables children from early years through to their departure from the post-primary system to develop their personal and professional ambitions, to contribute, to make their mark. Whether I am in Tralee, Dublin or Belfast, the goal of all of us here today is to enable just that.

I know that the participants in this Dialogue have much to offer in considering how we ensure that education is also at the foundation of our shared, reconciled future, founded on the Good Friday Agreement. I look forward to the outcomes of today’s participation.

Thank you.