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Sharing In Education Programme

International Fund for Ireland

Background

The International Fund for Ireland ('the Fund') is an independent international organisation set up by the British and Irish Governments in 1986. The Fund's objectives are:-

  • To promote economic and social advance; and
  • To encourage contact, dialogue and reconciliation between nationalists and unionists throughout Ireland
  • Support programmes and projects which aim to facilitate the sharing of educational experiences amoung young people on a cross-sectoral basis.

Any Project seeking funding is expected to demonstrate the potential to contribute towards the Fund's strategy for 2006-2010 "Sharing this Space".

sharing_this_space_-_ifi_strategy_document.pdf

SHARING IN EDUCATION PROGRAMME

The Sharing in Education Programme supports the strategic objectives of the International Fund for Ireland by providing support for the projects that enable young people to participate in shared educational experiences.

The Programme is managed by the Department of Education who work with providers in education, registered youth organisations and related services to support educational ecperiences which are shared between young people representative of the two communities, where reconciliation is an overriding objective.

The Sharing in Education Programmes aligns with the Department's role to promote personal well being and social development, so that children gain the knowledge, skills and experience to reach their full potential as valued individuals and active citizens and complement the Departments Community Relations, Equality & Diversity in Education Policy.

It seeks to break down the barriers arising from our historic conflict by providing a range of opportunities for young people to learn together and in reaching the highest possible standards of educational achievement.

Twenty two strategic projects, with a combined value of close to 17m have been supported encompaning pre-school, primary, post primary and special education; the promotion of community relations within and between schools; and teacher education. Details of the projects are available on the IFI website: www.internationalfundforireland.com

The Sharing in Education Programme supports a range of projects which facilitate reconciliation for a shared future through the mediun of education and related services and particularly those which:

  • promote shared education by linking schools representative of the two communities;
  • build on community relations within and between schools;
  • support cultural outreach amongst young people representative of the differing communities/ traditions; and
  • address stragic gaps in achieveing reconciliation through a cross community, cross boarder approach through education and related services sector

The programme which is due to terminate on 31 December 2013 is now closed to new applications.

Education and Training Inspectorate - Interim Evaluation Report

The Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) were commissioned to undertake an evaluation on 19 of the 22 projects. An initial review was completed in September 2011, followed by an extensive evaluation during January to April 2012.

Asummary of the key findings in relation to the Sharing in Education Programme and evaluation of the individual projects was released in June 2012. A copy of the report is available at www.etini.gov.uk

The remaining 3 projects are subject to a separate evaluation under the auspices of the Shared Education Learning Forum (SELF) group.