About this Event
Between the development of the civil rights movement in the mid-1960s and the dissolution of devolved rule in early 1972, a substantial degree of change and conflict took place in Northern Ireland, with significant consequences for everyday life. Schooling was no exception. This paper proposes that there was a dual impetus driving change for girls in post-primary schools in 1960s and 1970s Northern Ireland: broader social change affecting girls’ education across the UK, and the outbreak of conflict in Northern Ireland.
The broader picture of educational change taking place across Great Britain in this period affected Northern Ireland to a similar, if not identical, degree. The raising of the school-leaving age to sixteen in 1972 is one example of Westminster’s educational policy shaping that of Stormont; similarly, qualification patterns for secondary-age girls in Northern Ireland closely followed those of their counterparts in England and Wales. However, the divided nature of education along religious lines and the outbreak of the Troubles in the late 1960s added a unique dimension of difficulty for girls attending secondary schools in Northern Ireland. Here, it is evident that girls in Northern Ireland faced significant additional roadblocks throughout the course of their post-primary education.
Becca Mowbray is a PhD student at Queen’s University Belfast, under the supervision of Professor Sean O’Connell, Professor Diane Urquhart, and Dr Caitlin Donnelly. Her thesis is centred on the relationship between education, conflict and gender during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, with particular focus on access, attainment and aspiration in post-primary education, and the relationship between history of education and twentieth-century sociological research. Becca holds a BA in History from Royal Holloway, University of London, and an MPhil in Modern British History from Newnham College, University of Cambridge.
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Event venue & nearby stays
Irish Studies Room, 27 University Square, 27 University Square, Belfast, United Kingdom
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