Since the early 1980s schools across Northern Ireland have been involved in Community Relations Projects in an attempt to create a peaceful and shared society for our children and young people.  These have been pivotal in the establishment of Shared Education and since 2015 three funded projects have helped over 650 schools engage in Shared Education Partnership working.  The Shared Education Signature Project (SESP), Collaboration and Sharing in Education (CASE) Peace IV and Sharing from the Start (SfS) have contributed over £50m in supporting pupils, teachers, leaders and the wider community to engage in Shared Education.

A new programme for schools yet to engage in Shared Education has now been launched by the Education Authority. This programme entitled ‘Steps into Sharing’ has received 221 expressions of interest from schools across Northern Ireland. Ove the next 18 months the programme aims to focus on the following areas:

·         Building Leadership Capacity – this will focus on developing principals and middle leaders to support Shared Education Partnership working

·         Teacher Professional Learning – This will help develop the skills required, by teachers, to plan, implement and evaluate high quality Shared Education

·         Planning for Pupil Engagement – This will explore the collaborative planning process involved in the development of Shared Education Programmes