Northern Ireland Initiatives

Early years anti-sectarian initiatives in Northern Ireland
The research from Northern Ireland shows that it is important to provide opportunities for very young children to think positively about issues of difference and diversity. The research by Connolly and Maginn (1999) found that children from about the age of three are able to develop an understanding of the categories of 'Protestant' and 'Catholic' (although possibly not using those precise terms) and to apply negative characteristics to these.

Northen Ireland Pre-school Play Association
NIPPA - the Early Years organisation in Belfast, Northern Ireland, offers a 6-hour training programme to Early Years workers on challenging sectarianism. Visit the NIPPA site for more information http://www.nippa.org/

The training allows participants to

explore the effects of sectarianism in the early years
explore their own thoughts on sectarianism
develop greater awareness of the effects of sectarianism within play settings
explore strategies to effectively challenge sectarianism in an Early Years setting

NIPPA link their training to the work of Dr Paul Connolly from the University of Ulster and the Research for Media Initiative from Queens University Belfast.

The Media Initiative for Children - Northern Ireland

http://www.pii-mifc.org/index.html

This is a joint effort between the Peace Initiatives Institute (Colorado, US) and NIPPA, the Early Years organisation (Northern Ireland) which aims to encourage young children to respect and include others who are different to themselves.

The project centres around three minute-long videos that were aired on television in Northern Ireland, and are intended for watching with nursery children. [Visit the site to view the three videos.]

The project has a clear Northern Irish slant, with much of its work being done in areas with a history of sectarian tension and violence. However, any nursery or Early Years setting interested in improving practice in the area of inclusion should visit the website of this initiative. The Media Initiative hopes to develop within very young people the:

ability to recognise instances of exclusion without prompting
ability to understand how being excluded makes someone feel and
willingness to play with others, including those who are different to themselves.

A checklist of approaches
It provides a useful but not exhaustive checklist of general approaches that can be used in Early Years settings to help respect differences. These include:

books and stories that portray a range of feelings, disabilities, race, culture, similarities and difference
posters, puzzles, games reflecting positive images of disability, race, gender, culture
bring parents together to make story sack props
using a sign language such as Makaton when singing rhymes
celebrating a range of religious / cultural festivals

The pre-school curriculum
The Media Initiative talks about 'the seven areas of the pre-school curriculum' which relates to Northern Ireland. In Scotland, we work from a different curriculum document but 'respecting difference' will also link to the 5 areas of the Scottish 3-5 curriculum framework.

The initiative is also clear about the role of the practitioner. The practitioner taking forward anti-sectarian work should be

aware of their own values and prejudices and how those might impact on children's learning.
support children in identifying and naming their feelings, i.e. happy, sad, frightened, angry etc.

The initiative is also supported by research evidence into why it is appropriate to work with young children on respecting differences, saying 'there is clear evidence that children notice human differences at a very early age and that these distinctions become part of the earliest construction of their social world.'

There is appropriate recognition of family involvement - acknowledging parents as first educators of their children. There are letters to parents (which would have to be adapted for use in Scotland) which include the website address - http://www.mifc-pii.org/ - which would allow parents to view the video their child has been watching at nursery. It uses stickers depicting the colourful animated characters in the story that go home to promote discussion with the child and his or her family.

To make best use of the video material a range of activities such as circle times about feelings, pictures depicting feelings and stories around feelings are suggested, making the video more meaningful.

The videos are used in a structured way that encourages children to consider the issues in greater depth, suggested prompts to discussion about the video are included.

Video 1 - Tom helps out
This video focuses on disability and physical differences.

looking at emotions of happy and sad
looking at similarities and differences between the two boys in the story
uses a puppet to further discussion
ways of making others happy
suggests a range of ways to extend the children's learning through free-play

Video 2 - Kim joins in
This video focuses on racial differences associated with racism. The activities around this video include collage work, cooking and songs about being special and respecting differences.

Video 3 - Playing the Same Game
The final video focuses on cultural differences associated with sectarianism.

All of the videos could be considered to be about being friends with everyone, and as such are clearly of use to all nursery practitioners, even if they are not currently trying to address issues of disability, ethnicity and religious beliefs. The videos could be used in any Early Years context within or outwith Northern Ireland on that basis. The third video would not necessarily illustrate to all children in a Scottish context, or indeed to all practitioners, that the children were not playing together because of a Protestant / Catholic divide. One child is wearing red and blue while another child wears green and white, which might have associations for some of Rangers and Celtic, but the band stick and hurling stick might not have the same symbolic meaning to a Scottish viewer. Despite this reservation, the children wanted initially to play different games then ended up with one child helping the other, ending with all of the children playing together, making the video a valuable resource using that level of meaning alone.

This initiative is being taken up by NES Arnold and the programme is being rolled out across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland during 2004/5. NES Arnold materials will be available for purchase.

To find out more about the programme visit the Media Initiative website or contact NIPPA on 028 9066 2825 or the Peace Initiative Institute on 07791 619 782.