This study seeks to understand the socio-ecological factors that influence how a child in a post-conflict society builds their sense of cultural identity. Using Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (1979) (EST) as a theoretical framework, the researcher intends to view the participant children through a variety of lenses, such as their immediate family, their school, class teacher, local community and status of socio-economic deprivation. Previous research (Connolly et al., 2002 and Taylor et al., 2021) explores children’s preferences for symbols and emblems along with prosocial behaviours connected with these across various ages and stages. This study, however, explores how this sense of cultural identity may have changed for children in Northern Ireland (NI) in today’s context. With the exception of Taylor et al. (2021), there has been little addition to the body of research surrounding cultural identity of children in NI, particularly in the context of recent political and economic changes such as immigration and Brexit. The change in demography, specifically the growing influx of families from ethnic minorities in NI and increasing cultural diversity across the province, may have some impact on children from more traditional local cultures. Therefore, this study seeks to understand to what extent these numerous facets of socio-ecology affect a child’s sense of identity and if so, how and in what ways.

Currently the Northern Ireland Curriculum Primary (CCEA, 2007) fosters Personal Development and Mutual Understanding (PDMU) as a key area of learning in schools across the province. This encompasses nine themes ranging from self-awareness, learning to learn and managing conflict, however, this study seeks to understand the place social cohesion and peacebuilding currently have in the NI Curriculum (CCEA, 2007) for children, how it is implemented in the classroom and across the whole school. The research questions the importance of PDMU in the classroom, if the current curriculum for peace building is fit for purpose and how teacher bias/background influences this, if at all. 

This study is important, not only in local Irish context, but also for a wider European audience. As suggested, many families choose to settle in NI for various reasons; NISRA (2022) states that just over 30% of immigration was for work, 18% for education, 30% for family and 13% for asylum. Additionally, DoE (2023) states that nearly 20,000 pupils in NI are newcomer, defined as one who has enrolled in a school but who does not have the satisfactory language skills to participate fully in the school curriculum, and does not have a language in common with the teacher. Of these, the majority come from Poland, Lithuanian, Romania and Portugal. These children from Europe and the rest of the globe benefit from the curriculum in NI, therefore it is important to consider how their cultural identity is celebrated and how schools can become more inclusive of pupils who do not associate with the traditional local cultural contexts.

As a result, the following research questions have been formulated from the perceived gaps in the current literature available:

1. What/who informs the identity of young children in a post conflict society?
2. Does exposure to other young children from different cultures impact upon this sense of identity?
3. To what extent do teachers and their implementation of the statutory curriculum influence a child’s sense of identity?
4. To what extent does a child’s socio-economic background and where they live influence their cultural identity?

The study gathered qualitative data from parents, teachers and children using semi-structured interviews and focus groups across school management type and areas of differing socio-economic deprivation. Free School Meal Entitlement (FSME) and the Multiple Deprivation Measure (MDM) (NISRA, 2017) define deprivation in this study. Schools with more than 60% FSME and in the lowest quartile of MDM were considered high deprivation. Schools with less than 40% FSME and in the highest quartile of MDM were considered low deprivation. Capacity building sessions were implemented with children over the course of three weeks before completing a focus group on who they are, their cultural identity and what that means to them. The capacity building sessions utilise drawings, games, puzzles and activities to act as stimuli and generate conversation around the three themes. The sessions focus on themes of identity, community and culture, specifically flags, symbols and emblems in the final capacity building session. Originally, seven year olds were selected as child participants for this study as previous research tended to focus on pupils at the end of their Key Stage, particularly in the early years and this was the upper age group of the children interviewed in the initial ‘Too young to notice?’ report (Connolly et al., 2002). However, after an initial pilot in the first school and discussion with on the ground peacebuilding practitioners, the researcher decided to collect data from eleven year olds as cognitively, the younger children did not seem ready to discuss concepts such as identity, community, and culture. Ethical approval was granted by the researcher’s institution in November 2022 and amended in Sept 2023 to reflect the change in participants and purposive sample. Data have been collected in seven primary schools; two Catholic maintained, three controlled, one integrated and one Irish medium unit. Four schools are in urban areas of socio-economic deprivation and have a high FSME. Three are located in more affluent, suburban areas and have a lower FSME. 10 teachers, 9 parents and 48 children have been interviewed thus far. The capacity building sessions were recorded and are used as data in the form of field notes. The data have been analysed inductively using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006).

Preliminary findings suggest that young children (age 7) find identity difficult to conceptualise whilst older children (age 11) have a sense of cultural identity but may or may not connect this with flags or symbols depending on school type and locality. Older children from areas of deprivation seem to have preferences for specific flags and symbols; some children display explicit negative reactions to flags from the ‘other’ community. Links between faith and culture are not obvious, however, children appreciate space to discuss these concepts as they do not feel this is readily available at school. Parents seem to avoid talking about cultural identity with their children and would prefer not to influence this aspect of their identity. Teachers feel that although Personal Development and Mutual Understanding (PDMU) (CCEA, 2007) is necessary and usually has a place in the class timetable, it is the first area of learning to be dropped if there are other priorities. Teachers prefer to focus on conflict resolution more generally and can find it difficult to be impartial when exploring sensitive issues. When complete, this study seeks to present to policy makers and curriculum creators the potential need to revise the current statutory guidelines for PDMU in NI (CCEA, 2007). The implications of this study may also reflect the need for more readily available training for both qualified and student teachers entering the profession on creating space in their timetable to facilitate discussion on identity, culture and community. Children have the capacity to contribute to these 'difficult' and 'sensitive' conversations as demonstrated in this study and programmes facilitated by other regional charities. Further funding should be made available to consider how the quantitative evidence has changed since the original 'Too Young to Notice?' report (Connolly et al., 2002) along with a larger scale qualitative study.

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