Report Launched on Social Attitudes and Integrated Education
New research finds integrated education is associated with more positive social attitudes, including greater respect for diversity and stronger relationships across communities.
Members of the Centre for Shared Education, Dr James Nelson and Professor Joanne Hughes, together with colleagues from the School of Psychology at Queen’s—Dr Danielle Blaylock, Dr Jocelyn Dautel and Ms Tara Pouryahya—and Dr Jessica Cherry from Ulster University, launched a report on social attitudes and integrated education on 24 November in Riddell Hall.
Commissioned by the Integrated Education Fund, the research investigated young people’s general social attitudes—such as peacebuilding and respect for diversity—as well as their views of people from different ethnic groups, socio-economic backgrounds, community backgrounds and those with different abilities.
The findings show that integrated education can be influential on pupils’ attitudes across three main areas:
1. Building Inter-Group Relations
Evidence suggests that integrated schools can promote social cohesion and support inclusive educational communities. Young people in these settings often experience more frequent and higher-quality interactions with peers from diverse backgrounds, fostering positive cross-community relations.
2. Developing Respectful Attitudes
While individual attitudes naturally vary, the study identified patterns linking integrated education with more positive social attitudes. Post-primary integrated environments, in particular, were associated with greater respect for diversity and more inclusive views of specific groups, including minority-ethnic communities, Traveller and refugee backgrounds.
3. Social Responsibility
Integrated education was also linked to the development of critical thinking about social issues, with these skills increasing as young people progress through post-primary education.
The research highlights opportunities for integrated schools to strengthen their impact further. These include creating more opportunities for pupils to develop social responsibility, increasing curricular diversity (for example, within History), and supporting more frequent and higher-quality contact among pupils from different ability, socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds.
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