Translocations: Migration and Social Change
An Inter-Disciplinary Open Access E-Journal
ISSN Number: 2009-0420
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Educational integration in a divided society: lived experiences of settled
immigrants in Northern Ireland
Yuko Chiba
School of Law, Queens University, Belfast, Email: y.chiba@qub.ac.uk
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Abstract
Incorporation of incomers into society is a multidimensional phenomenon, and
lived modalities of incorporation that take place in different spheres are interrelated.
Northern Ireland is growingly an immigrant receiving society but is simultaneously
characterised by ethno-national segregation between the two indigenous
populations. Due to the communal divide existing within, the question of
‘integration’ is a highly complex and contested issue in every aspect of society,
including education. Drawing upon qualitative data gathered through interviews, I
explore lived experiences of settled immigrants within the education system and
demonstrate how they interact with the divided nature of the Northern Ireland
society. Immigrants are integrated into the education system, crosscutting
segregation. However, they simultaneously privatise their ethnic and cultural
maintenance by separating the teaching of language and religion from schools. This
may reflect, and also be reinforced by, the highly mono/by-cultural character of
school that is a by-product of the communal divide.
Keywords: Immigrants, incorporation, education, divided society
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Introduction: immigrant incorporation and divided societies
In an era of ever-increasing international migration, the incorporation of incomers is
a prominent issue for many societies in Western Europe. Different theories and
concepts have been adopted in attempts to understand and explain how immigrants
are settled and incorporated into host society, including assimilation, integration,
multiculturalism, hybridity, segregation and ghettoisation. In particular, integration
is a widespread term in the literature on migration studies. Despite its widespread
usage, however, what it exactly means is rather ambivalent. While it is not my aim
to examine each theory and concept of immigrant incorporation in detail here, a
very brief note on a popular distinction between integration and assimilation can be
useful. Integration theories, often underpinned by multiculturalism, recognise
differences among members/groups in society and encourage them to retain their
own ethnic and cultural heritages while accepting the core values of the host society.
Integration has been discussed in contrast to theories of assimilation (e.g. Barretto
and Muños 2003; Marrow 2005), which maintain that ethnic and cultural
differences among people are not to be tolerated and thus are eliminated eventually,
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mostly at the expense of minority members (Häryrynen 2006; van den Berghe
1987). Elsewhere, integration has been used synonymously with incorporation as a
holistic and neutral term simply referring to the modality of a modern, multiethnic
society (e.g. Alexander 2001; Hall 2009).
At policy level, assimilation has been challenged in its emphasis that immigrants
must abandon their old identities and everyday practices in order to become full
members of society (e.g., Parekh 2008). It has also been criticised for exhibiting a
racist implication that visible minorities are unable to completely become part of
society (Fanon 1986; Parekh 2008). In comparison to assimilation, integration has
been projected as a more realistic and also morally acceptable approach (Watson
2000), embracing the coexistence of different groups that participate in public
institutions. Parekh (2008) argues that many societies have shifted from
assimilationist to integrationist approaches, although a pragmatic policy often
entails both assimilationist and integrationist elements (Bleich 2005). Moreover, the
concept of interculturalism provides a different dimension to the understanding of
immigrant incorporation. Interculturalism can be said to be similar to
multiculturalism in that they both recognise differences and minority rights.
However, the former focuses more on the mixing of different social actors and a
consequentially produced hybrid culture that is distinguishable from any original
cultures (Jiang 2006: 415; Salvadori 1997: 188). As noted earlier, while boundaries
between various theories and concepts are ambiguous, they help us assess the
situation of lived modalities of immigrants.
Immigrant incorporation is a prominent and challenging task for most societies. It is
a longitudinal process involving change in both immigrants’ lifestyles and identity
and the host society’s definition of itself (Davy 2005). It is also continuous and
changing as it is shaped by the interplay of numerous dynamic factors, including the
attitudes of incomers, demographic composition of society, immigration policies
and the global and local economies. Moreover, the question of immigrant
incorporation is a particularly complex issue for a divided society that lacks an
agreed definition of itself and a solid overarching identity within. Indeed, on the
whole, migration studies have largely failed to take into account the political
context of the host society into which incomers are incorporated. Insufficient
attention has been paid to divided societies like Northern Ireland that consists of
contesting indigenous ethno-national communities and has a problematic issue of
social cohesion.
Education and immigrants
Research on education-related experiences of immigrants in divided societies is
fairly limited although, for example, some important studies have been reported
from the Spanish Basque Country (hereafter the Basque Country). Etxeberria and
Elosegi (2008) notably investigate how immigrants are incorporated into the
education system of the Basque Country and these authors argue that the school
choices of immigrants significantly differ from those of native Basques. The same
authors find that immigrants, who come from a variety of ethnic and linguistic
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backgrounds, mostly choose public schools for socio-economic reasons, unlike their
native counterparts half of whom choose the private sector. From a linguistic
perspective, schools in the bilingual society are classified into three categories –
namely, Spanish-medium schools, Basque-medium schools and schools that mix
the languages – and half of the immigrants choose Spanish-medium schools, again
unlike their native counterparts, who mainly choose Basque/mixed-medium schools
(Etxeberria and Elosegi 2008; Etxeberria Balerdi 1997). Moreover, elsewhere it is
argued that the popularity of Spanish-medium schools with immigrants is related to
their negative attitude towards the Basque language (Ibarraran et al. 2008: 329). Yet,
the acquisition of the Basque language is found to greatly facilitate non-native
Basque speakers to identify with the host society (de la Calle and Miley 2008).
Therefore, immigrants are to a large extent educationally segregated and this,
together with their residential ghettoisation, negatively affects their integration into
Basque society (Etxeberria and Elosegi 2008).
A large volume of literature is available on immigrants’ educational experiences in
Britain, which have been assessed in various ways. Markedly, it has been
investigated through observation of the academic attainment and achievements of
minority ethnic people (e.g. Tikley et al. 2005; Wakeling 2009). Also, schools have
been highlighted as social spaces wherein children develop their social and cultural
capital, which influences their incorporation modes into society (e.g. Archer 2008).
Another significant issue is educational segregation, existing mainly in England,
which tends to segregate minority ethnic people from the indigenous population
(e.g. Burgess et al. 2005; Burgess and Wilson 2004; Johnston et al. 2008): this
leads to discussions on social (dis)integration as well as inequality in access to
education (e.g. Ouseley 2001; Tomlinson 2000; Walford 1998). In addition, issues
surrounding race and ethnicity exist in a school environment, and how they
influence minority ethnic children is examined (e.g. Archer 2008; Archer and
Francis 2007; Rassool and Morley 2000). Of course, the above noted issues are
inter-related and together shape educational incorporation of immigrants. Archer
and Francis (2007) emphasise that educational incorporation of immigrants is not
merely about academic performance but involves a wide range of issues including
identity/belonging and ethnicity/culture as well as social contexts.
Some research is reported from Ireland. Devine (2009), for instance, illustrates how
first-generation immigrant children living in the Republic of Ireland negotiate their
school lives with the native Irish culture and maximise their educational
opportunities. The same author argues that all ethnicity, gender and social class
interplay to form immigrant children’s school experience (Devine 2009). Devine
also finds that education is highly valued by immigrant parents. Moreover, Devine
et al. (2008) portray minority ethnic children’s sound experience of racism in the
classroom and point to the insufficient implementation of anti-racist policy in
schools. Research on education incorporation of immigrants in Northern Ireland is
rather scarce. Irwin and Dunn are the pioneers in the field of minority ethnic studies
in the region, and their report on the Chinese, Indian, Pakistani and Traveller
communities mentions high levels of educational attainment particularly among the
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first two groups (Irwin and Dunn 1997: 88-9). Also, the book edited by Hainsworth
(1998) touches upon the educational experiences of Chinese and Indians at local
institutions (see the respective chapters by Manwah Watson and McKnight and by
Irwin). More recently, Chan (2006) has located the Chinese community in present
Northern Ireland and importantly points to the racialised aspect of society: this has
some implications for the educational context in which Chinese (and other) children
learn. Moreover, Connolly and Keenan (2002) illustrate how minority ethnic
children experience racism in schools that are significantly inexperienced in dealing
with the problem.
The context of Northern Ireland
Traditionally in Northern Ireland, the issue of incorporation and social cohesion
refers to a mixing between members of the Catholic and Protestant communities.
An example in the education context is ‘integrated’ schools, which have been
established since the 1980s, aiming essentially to provide cross-community
education for children from different ethno-national backgrounds. At policy level
too, for a long time the focus of the democratically transitional government at
Stormont has been on achieving a peaceful coexistence of the two mutually hostile
communities. It is fairly recent in Northern Ireland that the term integration has
been interpreted to refer to social cohesion as a whole, including minority ethnic
members who do not automatically fit into either of the dominant ethno-national
communities. Traditionally, therefore, the question of incorporation of immigrants
into society was addressed in the context of racism and socio-economic needs that
were unique to them. This consequentially presented the question as a separate
issue from social mixing between the majority communities. This tradition has
started to change over the past decade. It is worth noting that in 2005, the devolved
government launched A Shared Future: Policy and Strategic Framework for Good
Relations in Northern Ireland (hereafter A Shared Future), which stated that
sectarianism (Catholic–Protestant relations) and racism (immigrant–host relations)
should be addressed collectively within a good relations strategy. Together with A
Racial Equality Strategy for Northern Ireland: 2005-2010, which was also
launched in 2005, A Shared Future demonstrated the government’s determination
to develop ‘good’ inter-community/race relations in Northern Ireland society.
However, since then the political parties at Stormont have struggled to agree on
how such integration should be achieved, and it was not until late July 2010 that the
Programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration (CSI) was drafted. One of the
practical aims of the programme is to create and increase shared space where
people mix and interact. In the education milieu, CSI claims to support and promote
integrated and inclusive education in which children from various backgrounds
physically mix and are accommodated. It also emphasises the provision of
citizenship education, through which pupils learn values and concepts that are key
to engaging in good relations.
All types of school in Northern Ireland are essentially Christian in tone (Smith
2001) and there are no faith schools serving faiths other than Christianity. However,
the education system is strongly characterised by ethno-national segregation. This is
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not to say that there exists no other types of segregation, but the most prominent
feature of educational segregation is the separation between Catholic and Protestant
schools (Byrne and Donnelly 2006: 18). This demarcation mostly mirrors the deep
communal divide in the society between two ethno-nationalist ideologies of Irish
and British. It must be noted that since the 1980s there has been an increase in the
number of integrated schools, which take in roughly equal numbers of children
from each of the two communities. Yet, they form a relatively small minority in
Northern Ireland: in 2009-2010 integrated schools comprised approximately 5.2
percent and 8.2 percent of the total numbers of primary and post-primary schools,
respectively (Department of Education 2010). In reality, ‘most Protestant and
Catholic children attend separate schools’ in Northern Ireland (Smith 2001: 559).
Catholic and Protestant schools differ from each other, not only in status, but also in
school curricula, such as the content of history and religious education, extracurricular activities including sports, and in the political climate of the school. Also,
the population of a school and the background of parents tend to mirror a particular
community. Therefore ethno-national segregation is both a rigid and an
institutionalised feature of the education system in Northern Ireland. Furthermore, it
has been argued that the existence of the parallel education structures not only
verifies the communal divide but also reinforces it (Donnelly and Osborne 2005).
For example, it is found that educational segregation contributes to preventing
interethnic friendship from developing at an individual level (Healy 2006).
Moreover, segregation is criticised for contributing to the forming of negative
intergroup attitudes and perpetuating inter-group hostility (Niens and Cairns 2005).
In Northern Ireland, where the educational institutions are segregated between the
dominant ethno-national groups, how immigrants (who do not automatically fit in
either of them) are accommodated is worthy of attention. Moreover, how their
education-related experience may relate to their identification with the bipolar
society is an important issue to examine. Indeed the impact on minority ethnic
people of the deeply divided nature of society, which appears as education
segregation in this context, has received little attention. In the rest of this article, I
first focus on educational motivations and school choice by settled immigrants in
Northern Ireland. Second, I explore their ethnic identity maintenance. Taken into
account here is the reality that incomers are largely accommodated in the
conventional education system and have their educational needs accommodated in
this context: these needs may differ from those of natives. How do immigrants
perceive the existing education system? Also, how do they maintain and reproduce
their culture and identity? Before presenting the findings, however, the basis of the
study is summarised in the next section.
The basis of the research study
The qualitative data used in this article is drawn from in-depth interviews with nonWestern immigrants living in Northern Ireland. While the largest immigrant
community in Northern Ireland at present is the Polish population, followed by
other East Europeans, these intra-EU migrant workers are very recent immigrants
arriving mostly since May 2004 (Jarman and Byrne 2007; McVeigh 2009). In
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contrast, non-Western immigrants comprise more settled and established minority
ethnic communities, some of whom have lived through the historical conflict with
the indigenous Catholic and Protestant populations. In addition, non-Western
immigrants mostly form visible minorities in the neighbourhood, which inevitably
suggests that they are not a part of the historical conflict in Northern Ireland that is
predominantly white.
Accordingly, organisations that were run by and/or engaged with non-Western
immigrant communities in Northern Ireland were initially contacted in order to gain
access to prospective research participants. A sample was drawn based on a
snowball approach, which was adopted in order to overcome the difficulties of
accessibility to the subject population. Interviews with the participants in the
research were conducted in a semi-structured manner, recorded and then transcribed.
A total of forty-one non-Western adult immigrants took part in the study, of whom
twenty-five were female and sixteen were male. The ages of the participants varied
from eighteen to seventy-six. As to regions of origin, twelve originally came from
East Asia, six were from Southeast Asia, eighteen from South Asia, two from the
Middle East and one from Latin America. The other two were second-generation
immigrants born in Northern Ireland. As this indicates, most of the participants
were first generation immigrants who came with their children, and six received
primary and/or post-primary education in Northern Ireland. As regards religion,
eleven of them revealed their identity as Muslim, ten as Christian (of which seven
were identified as Roman Catholic, two as Protestant and one as Orthodox), and
eight as Hindu. The participants presented internal diversity in terms of ethnicity,
migratory background, length of stay and socio-economic status. Nonetheless, they
made up a strong uniform group by sharing issues that they encountered due to their
visibility. In this article, all the participants are given pseudonyms in order to
protect their anonymity. The next section presents some of the research findings.
Educational motivations and school choice
The participants mostly exhibited their high educational motivations and regarded
education as the means to socio-economic success. For instance, Molly and Marcus,
a Chinese couple who had run a takeaway shop in a north-coast town for over
twenty years, told that they had spent money just on their children’s education.
Some participants perceived obtaining educational qualifications as an exit route
from the catering industry. Sabrina, a Chinese mother and takeaway owner,
explained her aspirations: ‘I wanted them [my children] to be well-educated and not
to do the same job [as myself]’. Faheem, a Bangladeshi restaurateur, expressed a
similar view: ‘The way I have been living, I don’t want my children to go through
that’. Habib, a catering worker also from Bangladesh, said that education was
important for a better life. As a child, Sam from Hong Kong had been determined to
enter university because he ‘really hated working in the catering industry’. However,
such attitudes were not unique to those who were engaged in the catering industry.
A retired Indian cloth retailer, Hiresh, recalled the days when he had had to work
hard at weekends, travelling to different towns throughout Northern Ireland. All of
his three children went into higher education and gained high-skilled jobs. He
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himself had little by way of formal educational qualification. He looked back: ‘I
didn’t bring any of my family, anyone, into my business. I don’t regret it now
because…I now feel I did the right thing, because nowadays [the cloth retailing]
business is not going that great’.
With such high motivations, how immigrants perceive the education provision in
the society is also worth attention. It appeared that the participants were, to a large
extent, content with the existing education system. Moreover, their foremost
concern was the academic aspect of schools. For example, Afiq, who had
previously lived in England, felt that schools in Northern Ireland academically
performed much better than those in England. Likewise, other participants
expressed their satisfaction with the academic level of schools in Northern Ireland.
Also, another reason for positive evaluation of the education system was the
comparatively relaxed educational environment and less competition for children.
Sanjay, an Indian father of two children, believed: ‘Here there is not much
competition. They don’t have to make it so competitive, whereas in India, it’s not
like that’. Semi, another Indian father, shared the opinion that his children would
have to work extremely hard to go to university in India. Another Indian father, Raj,
also suggested:
I think education is better here. In terms of… not much stress on a child.
Back in India it would be very difficult for a child. It takes that much
pressure. So I feel for the child it could be good here.
Evaluation of the educational environment referred to lifestyle in Northern Ireland
as well: an Indian father, Hiranya, mentioned that as a parent he was able to spend a
lot of time with his child in Northern Ireland, which would not be possible in his
own country. As illustrated above, the views of the participants on the education
provision in Northern Ireland were generally positive for a variety of reasons. It is
noteworthy that the ethno-nationally segregated character of the education system
per se was hardly mentioned here.
School choice can play a vital role in pursuit of educational aspirations: what are
the factors involved in immigrants’ school choice? Denessen et al. (2005) who
studied parental choice of school across different ethnic groups in the Netherlands
report:
Parents can have ideological (i.e., religious and/or pedagogical) reasons for
choosing a particular school. The geographical distance of the school from
home or work can play a role. The quality of education can certainly be a
reason for the choice of a particular school. And certain non-educational
characteristics of the school, such as the characteristics of the school
population, can be of importance (Denessen et al. 2005: 351).
The factors identified that govern parents’ school choice, either immigrant or native,
here are: ideological; geographical; academic; and non-educational. In addition, the
quality of education of a school was rated as most important by parents in general
(Denessen et al. 2005). However, unlike their native counterparts, immigrants also
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tend to consider a school’s open attitude towards different cultures and religions as
an important factor in school choice (Denessen et al. 2005).
In the present study, the participants were asked about their reasons for school
choice. Those who had an under school-age child were asked the same question in a
hypothetical manner. It was found that many of the participants had rigorously
sought information about schools before/during decision-making procedures. They
gathered information from their fellow ethnic people, native friends and work
colleagues and/or both. Moreover, difference was perceived between the choice of
primary schools and that of post-primary schools. As regards primary school,
geographical distance was the main reason given by the participant parents. In fact
this factor, close proximity, was often the sole reason. For instance, an Indian father,
Arjun, said about the primary school:
It’s close to our house. And I don’t think there are any other schools nearby.
This is the closest one.
Author: Did you consider any other factors?
Not really. It’s quite close and convenient.
Likewise, Faheem chose a nearby primary school for his children because ‘it’s
local’. For others, however, geographical distance from home was not a sole reason
but was supplemented by other reasons. Sanjay, for example, stated that his
daughter changed primary schools when they moved house within Belfast. He
chose a school that was closer to the new house and that was ‘better academically’.
Similarly, a Muslim mother, Jumaynah, explained her choice, ‘X [a primary school]
is very local. It’s closest just up the road. Also it’s a very good school. It’s an
excellent school, in terms of academic achievement. It’s one of the top schools’.
These examples confirm the above-noted finding that the academic level of the
school was important, and this factor was combined with the proximity factor.
The choice of post-primary school was significantly different. Unlike at primary
level, the geographical distance was far less important for the participants than the
academic level of school. In fact a strong preference for grammar schools was
revealed by some of the participants. For instance, Sanjura and Sanjay were both
happy when their son got a place at a prestigious grammar school in Belfast.
Faheem saw his daughter not pass the selection exam: he later appointed a home
tutor for her and his younger child, and hoped that the latter child would go to a
grammar school.
Other reasons for choosing a primary/post-primary school were related to school
ethos. Some of the participants raised the denominational factor as a reason for
selecting a particular school. On one hand, Catholic schools were a preferred option
for some of the Catholic participants. A Filipino mother, Roberta, believed, ‘Yes, it
[a primary school] is Catholic. Of course, I am from a Catholic community. I need
to bring up my boy in a Catholic school’. Similarly, a Latino mother, Leticia, also
said, ‘The main reason is I am Catholic, why [should I] choose another school?’ On
the other hand, such ethos was the very reason provided by some other parents,
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especially those following Islam, for avoiding Catholic schools. Some parents
supposed that state controlled schools would be, if not neutral in ethos, more open
to non-Christian religions than were Catholic schools. Kulsoom, a Muslim mother,
observed that she had avoided a Catholic school because she was sceptical about
freedom of religion within it:
There is a grammar school just for Catholics…near my house. It’s a very
good school, just for girls…But I don’t prefer to send my daughter there,
because I want my religion to be respected. They say children are free with
their religion but I am not really sure…It says Catholic, how can they give
her freedom to practise her religion?
Kulsoom and some other Muslim participants were content with the ethos of the
respective schools that they had chosen. However, for Afiq the problem of religious
teaching was becoming very serious. While positively evaluating the overall
education provisions in Northern Ireland, he was considering moving back to
England in order to provide his children with an Islamic education:
Because we can’t give what we want to give to our children religiously,
although education is better here than in England, we have actually decided
to move to the mainland, England, just for the sake of the kids, their
education and culture. They will be well educated and brought up here. If
they were European, that’s fine, but to be a Muslim, I feel that they need
basic Muslim education as well as education here.
He was planning to send his daughters to an Islamic post-primary school in England.
A couple of the participants expressed their preference for integrated schools. The
reasoning was the cultural diversity that they offered. For example, Chun, a Chinese
mother of a primary-school boy, chose an integrated school where she believed
there would be no racism due to its emphasis on accommodating different cultures.
Jumaynah also chose an integrated post-primary school for her eldest daughter. She
and her sister-in-law, who had chosen the same school for her own daughter,
initially had difficulty with the school that had been inexperienced with a Muslim
student, as she said:
When we went to choose a school for our daughters, we had to explain that
our daughters were not allowed to wear a skirt. If they want to, they would
have to adopt a scarf. It took the school a while deciding. They took a few
weeks to have a meeting and decide, because they had never had a Muslim
student before.
Eventually, her daughter and niece were both accepted in the school and allowed to
wear trousers and a headscarf. Since then her experience had been positive:
It’s a mixed school from different backgrounds, different religions. It’s not
strictly a Catholic or a Protestant school. It’s a very mixed school. We want
them to grow feeling a part of the community and not different, you
know… different people can get on together, different people can be
friends…I would like our children to be able to interact with anybody.
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Some parents associated fee-based education with a high academic standard and/or
good quality education. In some cases a preference for a fee-based school was
based on parental worries about not being able to help their children do homework
or learn English. For instance, Lucy, a Chinese mother, selected a boarding school
at post-primary level so that her son would receive help to do his homework and
learn proper English. In the case of Sabrina, she chose a fee-based grammar school
in the expectation of a ‘good education’ and less racism. Shuang, a Chinese mother
of three children, also sent her children to a fee-based school that was
recommended by her fellow Chinese people. She wanted her children to learn
‘proper English’, being a non-English speaker herself. In another case, Molly and
Marcus first chose a nearby state school but changed to a fee-based school after one
of their children experienced bullying in the former. They explained that the latter
provided a much better academic environment for their children because teachers
helped them do homework. Those who chose a fee-based primary school had aimed
for their children to pass the (now abolished) selection exam at the age of eleven
and to proceed to a grammar school which the former was attached to.
The maintenance of culture, religion and language
The fact that no minority faith schools were available and a school often provided a
mono-religious/cultural environment made ethno-cultural teaching a completely
private matter for many of the parents interviewed. Those who chose Catholic
schools for religious reasons could to some extent benefit from the school culture in
this respect, but other aspects of ethno-cultural maintenance such as native language
teaching, religious practice and cultural transmissions were left in the hands of
parents. In fact many of the participants were engaged in home education.
Unsurprisingly, some parents were keener than others. As Jumaynah explained
regarding her children’s education: ‘When it comes to teaching them Arabic or
Islamic studies, we have a teacher whom we go to on weekends. We teach them at
home as much as we can as well’. Similarly, Sanjay said, ‘In Hindu culture we have
our own temple at our house. We worship twice a day, like that. So we do
everything at home’. In addition to religious practice at home, the services of
minority ethnic organisations were also utilised. For example, the Indian
Community Centre in Belfast organised regular Hindu prayers and celebrated
Indian cultural events. The Muslim participants, too, partook of communal prayers
at several places, including the Belfast Islamic Centre and the mosque in
Newtownards. Also, it was learnt that some minority ethnic organisations provided
language classes to children and young people.
With regard to language, the participant parents acknowledged that mostly their
children spoke English as a mother tongue. In many cases, though, parents spoke to
their children in their own language at home. Some parents were more confident or
keener than others on the issue of language teaching. Kulsoom taught Arabic to her
children in the evenings and also had sent them to a summer language course in her
mother country. She said that it was essential that her children had good Arabic
language ability. In another case, Alia, originally from Bangladesh, did not have
English proficiency, so communication at home was always in Bengali. This was
10
similar to the situation of Shuang, who spoke to her children only in Cantonese at
home. Being illiterate herself, she could not teach them how to write or read in her
language, and her children communicated with one another in English. Sabrina also
valued language maintenance in order that her children could converse with
relatives in Hong Kong. Ellie, a mother of two children, also believed that it was
important that her children were able to talk to their cousins in the Philippines. On
the other hand, Sara had given up on native language teaching at an early stage. In
her experience:
We took them [our children] to India almost every year, so that they were
going to know their grandparents and country. We didn’t proceed with the
language; we should have. After a while they only relied on English and I
gave up. I used to speak to them in our regional language when they were
little. They very soon dropped the language and I should have pushed it.
They understand a little but there is no need because my husband and I
speak English to them. He has been here since 1975. When we go to India
everybody speaks in English. For them there is no need to learn the
language. They understand a little, they speak a little with a Northern
Ireland accent.
Immigrants from a non-English speaking background inevitably face bilingualism.
Particularly for first-generation immigrants, the acquisition of English is an
important issue. In fact the language barrier was mentioned as a significant problem
by participants who had difficulty with English. Several parents raised concerns that
could be put into two categories. First, they were worried about the disadvantages
that their children might experience in school and the concomitant effects on their
academic performance. For instance, Faheem said that his children learnt slowly
because having two languages was hard. These participant parents showed their
frustration in being unable to help their children with homework. In order to tackle
this issue, some of them appointed a home tutor who was a native English speaker.
In the case of Lucy, we recall, she chose a boarding school for her son so that ‘he
could learn proper English’. Sam, a Chinese person who had grown up in Northern
Ireland, admitted to the linguistic disadvantage he had experienced continuously in
school and at university. He started formal education in Northern Ireland at the age
of ten, and still struggled with the English language to some extent. The second
category was the difficulty that parents encountered in communicating with the
school. Habib, a Benglashi parent, reported that every time he received a letter from
school he would bring it to his workplace in order to seek help from colleagues.
Also, Shuang revealed that she had never attended a PTA meeting at school because
she would not understand the topics under discussion. Furthermore, it was learnt
that written and oral communications need to be distinguished. Without experience
in formal education, those who had oral English might not read or write English as
well. It was found that none of the participant parents who lacked fluency in
English had received consistent language teaching since their arrival in Northern
Ireland, despite their evident desire and/or need. It is considered that their
determination to achieve educational success, which was discussed earlier, could be
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undermined when there was a lack of support for children and parents coming from
non-English speaking backgrounds.
As illustrated above, many of the participants had been introduced to new culture
and language in schools in Northern Ireland. As a result of this, they pursued their
own ethno-cultural education at home. They took it for granted that teaching of
religion, language and culture was a private matter. Indeed many of the parents
interviewed spoke of their attitudes towards balancing the host and their own ethnic
cultures. The non-Christian participants were largely open to Christian culture in
the schools, but also they were often engaged in their religious practice and
language teaching at home and via minority ethnic organisations. One prominent
example is religious education. In many schools in Northern Ireland, Religious
Education (RE) lessons focus primarily, if not exclusively, on Christian
denomination(s) (Mawhinney et al. 2010). The participants accepted the reality of
predominantly Christian school environments including RE, and did not expect
schools to play a role in religious teaching for their children. Home was the main
venue for religious and language education, but also minority ethnic organisations
were agents that conducted it. Also, the participants who practised their religion at
home demonstrated a relative confidence in their work of transmission of religion.
Jumaynah said, ‘Our children attend RE classes. No problem. In fact it’s better that
they know about other religions’. This type of opinion was expressed frequently. In
fact, to varying degrees, the participant parents were willing to let their children
learn about different religions. For example, Faheem was happy with his offspring
singing Christmas carols with native children, while Kulsoom had a slightly stricter
attitude and did not let her children attend a Christmas party or school assembly.
Nevertheless, the participants mostly presented a relatively open attitude towards
religious education at school. This may be associated with their acceptance of the
host culture that is taught in school – whatever ethno-national ideology it is based
on – and attitudinal separation of ethnic identity maintenance from schooling.
Discussions and reflecting ethno-national segregation
In the previous two sections I have explored experiences of the participant
immigrants with a focus on their educational aspirations and achievements, their
school choice and the maintenance of their ethnic and cultural identity. These
themes are inter-related and together help us better understand how minority ethnic
people are incorporated into society in Northern Ireland from the perspective of
education. The immigrants interviewed in this study comprised a solid part of the
ethno-nationally segregated education system of Northern Ireland. They were not
educationally segregated from the native population in the way immigrants might
be in many Western societies. On the contrary, they were dispersed and
institutionalised in the existing education system, which was segregated between
the two native communities.
The participant immigrants possessed high educational motivation and generally
positive perceptions of the education system and provision of Northern Ireland
society. They valued and focused on the academic excellence of schooling,
12
particularly at the post-primary level. The focus on the academic aspect might be
related to their interpretation of education as a tool for socio-economic success.
Their choice of school was primarily based on the academic performance of a
school, which might be predominantly Catholic or Protestant in character, although
the denominational issue concerned some of the participants more than others.
Moreover, their experience of school choice did not seem to echo what was
reported from other societies where immigrants ethnically self-segregate in faith
schools and/or are disadvantaged and isolated in the education market due to socioeconomic reasons. There are at least three possible factors to consider in relation to
this. First, school choice is highly limited in Northern Ireland in an ideological
sense, given that virtually all schools follow a predominantly Christian ethos, and
there are no schools of other faiths. Second, the immigrant population in Northern
Ireland is too small to self-segregate itself in the education field. Children tend to be
ethnically segregated where their fellow ethnic members are numerous (Burgess et
al. 2005). Yet in Northern Ireland, immigrant children, who are geographically
dispersed throughout the region, remain a minority in the classroom, which
provides opportunity for them to mix with local children and thus prevents isolation.
Atika, a second-generation immigrant, remembered that she and her brothers had
been the only Indian children in the Cookstown primary and post-primary schools
that they went to in the 1970-80s. Even in the 1990s, Sara recalled, her children had
been the only Indians in a local primary school in Coleraine. Third, socio-economic
disadvantage did not necessarily undermine the educational success of immigrants.
The high-skilled participants exhibited high educational motivation and success.
However, the more modestly skilled participants overcame disadvantages in order
to achieve their educational aspirations.
What effect does ethno-national segregation have upon immigrants’ educational
experience and socio-political incorporation? Implications of the research findings
here are subtle yet worth consideration. First, as we have seen, the segregated
nature of the education system in itself did not undermine the educational
aspirations or achievements of the participant immigrants. Second, however, it can
be pointed out that denominational factors influenced some of the participants’
school choice. In fact, some parents favoured a particular (i.e., Catholic) sector of
mono-religious education while others consciously avoided it. In addition, those
who were concerned about a highly mono-religious/cultural environment in schools
preferred an integrated school. Therefore the segregated education system delicately
influenced the school choice of the participants in an ideological sense. Third, the
impact of segregation on wider social activities must be discussed. As argued
earlier, the segregated education system conditions the friendships that one
develops: it not only prevents a development of inter-communal friendship but also
increases mutual hostility between the groups (Healy 2006; Niens and Cairns 2005).
Thus ethno-national segregation may contribute to restricting cross-community
access for immigrants. Indeed Gareth, a second-generation Chinese immigrant,
revealed that most of his friends were from school and were from the Protestant
community, which was unsurprising as the school almost exclusively
accommodated Protestant pupils. Segregated education thus contributes to creating
13
a situation in which immigrant pupils intermingle only with natives of a particular
communal background, similar to the case of natives.
I have argued that immigrants were mixed with the native population and embedded
into the education system of Northern Ireland. Simultaneously, they appeared to
dissociate themselves from ethno-national segregation by focusing on academic
elements and not getting involved with political/ideological aspects of the education
system. Thus they were, at least in their own imaginings, free from the communal
struggle faced by indigenous members of society and benefited from the system.
Nevertheless, it was illustrated that they were inevitably affected by by-products of
educational segregation, such as mono-religious/cultural environments in schools
and limited inter-community relationships. Due to the deeply divided nature of
Northern Ireland society, non-political decisions and activities may have political
implications especially in the long run. One example can be found in the formation
of identity of a child from an immigrant background. School plays an important role
in shaping a child’s national identity, as it transmits political and cultural values of
society (Rex 1987). Thus spending school days in an environment coloured by a
particular ethno-national ideology or culture may greatly influence what identity the
child may develop. In the case of native children in Northern Ireland, their
community identification is likely to be established before entering the education
system. In fact, it is the factor that matters most in school choice for the vast
majority of native families. However, the situation differs in the case of immigrants
who do not belong politically and/or religiously to either of the local communities.
Of course, identity formation involves numerous other factors, such as family
background and friendship. Yet, the influence of school environment (which often
reflects a particular national identification and political affiliation) can be
particularly significant for immigrant children on the development of identification
with society in Northern Ireland. Education-related experience in this way may
have a potential impact on immigrants’ national and political identifications.
Conclusion
The socio-political context of society is important to social cohesion and integration.
Incorporation of immigrants is by nature a multifaceted, reciprocal process between
older and newer members of society, yet it is even more complex when the society
is deeply divided along ethno-national lines. In this article I have examined from an
educational perspective the lived modalities of immigrant incorporation in Northern
Ireland. The participants’ perceptions of the education systems and provision in
Northern Ireland were fairly positive despite the segregated character. Also, their
school choice was made largely independent of the ethno-national elements of the
education system. In consequence, the participant immigrants were embedded into
the current education system. Indeed, their modes of educational incorporation
crosscut the persistent division between the two indigenous communities.
The influence of educational segregation in Northern Ireland on immigrants’ school
choice and educational achievements was found to be not substantial at least from
the participants’ viewpoints. Moreover, once entering a school, the participant
14
immigrants clearly separated academic aspects of education from ethno-cultural
ones, by keeping the teaching of religion, language and culture at home. This made
the denominational/sectarian character of school almost irrelevant to their school
choice and level of satisfaction with education provisions in Northern Ireland. They
were thus independent from school in the ethno-cultural sense. Therefore, on one
hand, the immigrants were generally absorbed into the education system that was
built upon the divided nature of society. Yet, on the other hand, they were to some
extent dissociated from the ethno-national elements of the system.
I have also discussed possible long-term implications of the segregated education
system for immigrants’ experiences and incorporation into society. Many schools
create a mono-religious/cultural environment for immigrants, and this shapes their
social activities to a large extent and can prevent inter-communal friendships from
emerging. Also, given that school is an important space where children develop
their national identity and communal sense of belonging, the effects of the
segregated education system upon the development of immigrants’ identities and
sense of belonging to society cannot be underestimated. So long as schools remain
ideologically segregated, immigrants’ non-political school choice and behaviour
may have political implications, and their educational experience can influence
their mode of incorporation into society in Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland is currently in the process of reforming its education system.
Along with other issues, such as the replacement of the academic selection process,
accommodating immigrants in its education system is a prominent issue. Moreover,
this reflects the transitional political and social processes that the society is going
through, as illustrated by the recent launch of the Programme for Cohesion,
Integration and Sharing. By exploring lived experiences of immigrants, this article
has attempted to help to contemplate how the deeply divided society of Northern
Ireland can and should incorporate minority ethnic members into its education
system and beyond.
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the anonymous referees who reviewed an earlier version of
this article and provided me with insightful comments. Also I would like to thank
Paul Hainsworth for his useful comments. This article draws upon some of the
research for my PhD thesis: Incorporation of immigrants in a deeply divided
society: a case study of non-Western immigrants in Northern Ireland (University of
Ulster, 2009).
20