Education

Co-operation Ireland believe that it is important to give our young people an opportunity to meet, learn about the traditions and cultures of other young people living on the island of Ireland if we are to create a more peaceful respectful stable society.

In Northern Ireland in particular many children are separated from their peers at a very young age, as early as 4 years. Often they go through their formative years without having the opportunity to meet someone their own age who is from a different religion or cultural background.

Over the years Co-operation Ireland has developed numerous programmes based around education and the education system, all of which aim to improve relations between our young people and communities.

Co-operation Ireland has two main education based projects – Civic-Link and Arts Link.

Civic-Link

The Civic-Link Programme is a unique action learning and exchange programme for and about young people from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It is the only initiative on the island of Ireland which allows young people from the two parts of the island to work collaboratively on projects based around citizenship and civic responsibility.

Co-operation Ireland’s Civic-Link Programme has proved so successful it now has an international dimension – with the Department of Education in Idaho, which means some Idaho schools are linked with the North/South school partnership. This three-way partnership allows the young people to explore citizenship issues on a much wider international basis.

For more details, including a list of participating schools, please see the Civic-Link website

ArtsLink

Arts-Link used the arts as a medium for a post-primary North/South schools exchange project that ran from 2006 - 2008.

Using the Co-operation Ireland reciprocal exchange model, the participating schools are linked on a North South basis and using various arts formats they explore issues of cultural identity and reconciliation.

Its objectives were to:

  • Use the arts to challenge young people to explore and push the boundaries of thinking in order to examine diverse attitudes within society
  • Promote stronger links between young people and schools on a cross-border and cross community basis
  • Train and equip teachers to develop their skills of utilising the arts, in particular the fields of drama and filmmaking as community relations tools.

On the second of October 2007, 18 short films, comprising documentaries and short films made during the Artslink project were screened at Queen's Film Theatre, Queen's University, Belfast to Artslink students, teachers, members of school management, local politicians and invited guests. Speaking at the event, the Minister for Cultre, Arts and Leisure, Mr. Edwin Poots said: "This is an excellent project and a great way to encourage young people to be more creative and get involved in filmmaking. Through the medium of film, pupils have been able to produce something they can be proud of and I am hopeful that this cross-border initiative will continue to grow in strength"

During 2007/2008 a number of documentaries and fictional short stories were produced by the young participants. These videos are currently in post-production, and will be able to be viewed on the ArtsLink website later this year.

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