The role of education in promoting tolerance and social cohesion in multi cultural and plural societies remains hotly debated, and has been the subject of some tension between those who espouse assimilation values, vis-à-vis those who support the right of faith-based groups to have their own schools (Gallagher 2002). The source of this tension is the perceived potential for education to promote cultural and religious ‘belonging’, against the role that education can play in reducing inter-group tension, thereby contributing to sharing and integration. In Northern Ireland, more than 90 percent of children continue to attend separate schools, so defined by religious association to Protestant and Catholic denominations of the Christian faith. Here the education debate has centered on the contribution that integrated education can make to improving inter-group relations in a society that continues to be characterized by hostility, sectarianism and division. Based on some variant of contact theory, advocates of mixed schools argue that the education together of Protestant and Catholic children, with those from other and no denominations, can enhance relationships and improve social attitudes (NICIE, 2009). This contention has sustained a research industry in Northern Ireland since the establishment of the first integrated school in 1982, and there now exists a body of empirical evidence that is largely supportive of the argument that integrated education can ameliorate prejudice and facilitate the development of more tolerant, moderate and respectful inter-group attitudes (McGlynn, 2006; 2007; McGlynn et al. 2004; Hayes et al. 2007). However, the counter assumption; that separate schools ‘promote intolerance’ and can help ‘foster terrorism’ (Canter, 2008), remains largely untested (Grace, 2003). This latter position informs our research, which seeks to explore sense of identity and in-group/out-group attitudes amongst children in a separate school. Drawing on theories relating to contact (Allport, 1954) and identity (Barth, 1969; Cohen, 1985; Jenkins 2004), the following converging themes will help locate our research: 1. Group identification is a generic process that influences behavior; 2. Categorization – external identification, the process of placing people into collectivities – is also a generic process that contributes group identification; 3. Collective identification is not just an internal matter, but arises during inter-group relations; 4. Collective identifications are real for individuals and mean something in experience; 5. Identification is situationally variable; and 6. Identification necessarily involves the interplay of similarity and difference.

The emphasis in this research is on subjective understanding of own identity and the understanding of, and relationship with, perceived others. The methodological approach is qualitative and located in the interactionist tradition that seeks to understand identity as an outcome of complex social interactions. The school selected for this research is a large State controlled, Protestant secondary school, located in a rural market town, approximately 12 miles from a large urban centre. The rationale for selecting this school is that children attending it are likely to have only minimal contact with members of the Catholic community, making it an obvious choice for examining the impact of segregation. In addition to secondary data analysis of the School prospectus and other associated materials, and interviews with staff, we interviewed 30 year 8 pupils in 10 friendship groups of 3.

Analysis of research data is currently ongoing. However, based on our preliminary findings, we anticipate that the research will confirm an association between sense of own group identity and response to the perceived out-group. We also predict that spheres of association comprising primarily in-group members (including school; home and social interaction) and a corresponding sense of threat posed by the out-group, will inform identity constructions that reflect a strong in-group bias and stereotyped and prejudiced attitudes towards the out-group. It is also clear at this stage that there is an inter-play between sense of self, community and other that relates not just to in-group and/or out-group contact, but also to the influence of wider political and social processes. It is within this context that we will seek to interpret the role of the school as an agent of identity construction and as contributing to social fragmnetation.