The resource seeks to promote effective teaching and learning practice and to provide guidance for exploring some of the more controversial issues which emerge in ways that are appropriate, safe, and create positive learning experiences. “Joined UP – Developing Good Relations in the School Community” explores these issues as an essential part of learning how to live in society, specifically in the contested and transforming society of Northern Ireland. The issues that tend to be avoided or kept hidden (“taboo” subjects) may be the very ones that most need to be explored. The resource seeks to promote effective teaching and learning practice and to provide guidance for exploring some of the more controversial issues which emerge in ways that are safe and appropriate, and which create positive learning experiences for children, young people, and adults alike. It recognizes that the most effective structure for this is a whole-school approach where there is a shared ethos and commitment to being a respectful learning community, which values all its members as well as those outsides. It was specifically developed to provide more training and support to student teachers, teachers, school senior managers, and others involved in education, enabling them to feel more confident in exploring controversial issues with their colleagues or pupils, particularly those relating to identity, diversity, and conflict, and to create an appropriate context for this work.
