Our Shared Education expert academics Tony Gallagher and Joanne Hughes were delighted to attend today’s CASE Shared Education event at Queen’s University to celebrate the significant progress achieved in mainstreaming Shared Education in schools and the societal, educational and economic benefits it brings. To date, the CASE project has supported almost 400 schools in delivering shared education activities to over 140k students in primary and post-primary schools through cross-sector and cross-border partnerships. Today’s event shared key findings from the impact evaluation of five years of shared activity through ‘Sharing from the Start’ and ‘Collaboration Through Sharing in Education’ (CASE) and launched a series of case studies being highlighted this week.

Tony Gallagher commented: ‘It is a little staggering to think that Shared Education has become such a fundamental part of the educational landscape in Northern Ireland. From modest beginnings, with the initial pilot programme with 12 schools in 2007, we are now celebrating hundreds of Shared Education Partnerships across Northern Ireland. Everyone at Queen’s is proud of the role we have played in helping to develop this model, locally and internationally. We look forward to seeing the culture of collaboration that lies at its heart play an even deeper role in schools in future.’ 

Joanne Hughes commented on taking local expertise to a wider audience: ‘The Shared Education team at Queen's has worked extensively in other conflict and transitioning societies to explore the potential for sharing and collaboration in education to promote intergroup relations and better educational outcomes for all children. Adapted versions of the Northern Ireland Shared Education model have now been piloted or are in development in places like Israel and some Balkan States, and it has been a privilege to engage with colleagues nationally and internationally to extend and apply the learning from shared education in Northern Ireland.’