Review of the Integration Strategy
A submission by the DICE Network
About the DICE Project
The DICE Project is a national strategic educational initiative funded by Irish Aid, which
works with four colleges of education and one University-based department of education in
the Republic of Ireland: The Church of Ireland College of Education, Marino Institute of
Education, Mary Immaculate College, St. Patrick’s College Drumcondra and the Froebel
Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education at the National University of Ireland,
Maynooth.
The DICE Project provides support to these institutions to utilise, develop and further
extend staff capacity and expertise in integrating development education and intercultural
education into existing initial teacher education programmes. The DICE Project aims to
equip student teachers with the necessary values, skills and knowledge to integrate
development education and intercultural education across all relevant areas of the Primary
School Curriculum.
As such, the DICE Project represents a unique and distinctive inter-institutional entity. It
comprises specialists in development education, intercultural education and human rights
and citizenship education who have close links with students, teachers and lecturers, and
also with the non-formal sector. The DICE Project is a significant contributor to national
debate on development education and intercultural education within primary education in
Ireland. For further information, please see www.diceproject.ie.
Section 1: Language and Terminology
While it is accepted that not everyone may be satisfied with the final terminology language
chosen in any policy paper, the DICE Project strongly urges the Minister to critically reflect
on the language which will be used throughout any updated strategy document. Migration
Nation utilises phrases such as such as ‘non-national’ and ‘non-Irish’ which define people in
terms of what they are not, rather than who they are. This does not show any respect for
the complexity and intersectionality of the multiple identities of people living in Ireland.
Additionally, using terms such as ‘new communities’, ‘newcomers’ and ‘new Irish’ as ways of
describing the diverse migrant population is now problematic. This is indicative of a
tendency among policy-makers to theorise diversity as something ‘new’ or ‘sudden’, or
‘exotic’ which only warrants being itemised on the department’s agenda in the last ten
years. It is suggested that ‘migrant’ is considered a less problematic umbrella term for
describing people from other countries who are now living or working in Ireland.
Positioning diversity as something ‘new’ is a misrepresentation of the Irish cultural
narrative, within which immigration, emigration and diversity have always co-existed. Multiethnicity in Ireland is not a new occurrence; Irish Travellers, black-Irish people, Jewish
people and other immigrants have been part of Irish society for decades (Lentin and
McVeigh, 2002). Furthermore, there have been distinct religious and linguistic traditions in
Ireland which have played a significant part in our history for generations.
Finally, the subheading of Migration Nation is ‘Statement on Integration Strategy and
Diversity Management’. DICE would urge the Minister not to position diversity and
integration as things that needs to be ‘managed’, but rather to regard them as normal and
enriching parts of everyday life in Ireland.
Section 2: Background and Context
Migration Nation heavily references the involvement of several specific stakeholders in the
development and implementation of its content. These include the Office of the Minister for
Integration (OMI), the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism in
Ireland (NCCRI), the National Action Plan against Racism (NPAR), as well as the Commission
on Integration, the Ministerial Council on Integration and the Task Force on Integration. It is
important to note that the current government discontinued the OMI in 2011, the NCCRI
was disbanded as a result of Budget 2009 and NPAR finished in 2008. It is not clear what
stage the Commission on Integration was at when the OMI was discontinued or who took
over the work of the Ministerial Council or Task Force at this time. This clearly
contextualises the statutory vacuum in which work on integration has been happening in
Ireland since approximately 2011. The DICE Project is nonetheless hopeful that the Minister
will use this Review as an opportunity to reach out to her colleagues in other departments,
for example, the Department of Education, to fill this void and establish coherent interdepartmental collaboration on integration policy in the future. Migration Nation very clearly
recommends a ‘whole of government’ approach to integration and it is hoped that this line
of thinking will be brought forward into any new policy document that is developed.
Section 3: Centrality of Intercultural Education
The DICE Project appreciates the rationale for prioritising the target areas of language
training, interpretation provision, funding arrangements and housing policy in Migration
Nation (2008). However, DICE would strongly argue for the inclusion of education, namely
support for intercultural education, as an additional strategic direction in any future policy
paper. This is supported by the references included to the European Common Basic
Principles of Integration, which highlight the criticality of efforts in education in preparing
immigrants and their descendants to be more successful and active participants in society.
This review of the Integration Strategy can be cognizant of the fact that the last decade has
seen the emergence of key policy documents which articulate a vision for intercultural
education - Intercultural Education in the Primary School: Guidelines for Schools (NCCA,
2005); National Action Plan against Racism (Government of Ireland, 2005); Intercultural
Education in the Post-Primary School: Guidelines for Schools (NCCA, 2006); Report and
Recommendations for a Traveller Education Strategy (Government of Ireland, 2006); the
Intercultural Education Strategy (Government of Ireland, 2010). It is also important to note
that recently, the DES have asked schools to update their codes of behaviour to include
measures against racist bullying as part of the new Action Plan on Bullying (Government of
Ireland, 2013).
In a broader context, a review of national and international policy literature around
intercultural education reveals a number of common themes. These include: Intercultural
education as a method to raise children’s awareness of other cultures and to attune them to
the fact that there are multiple ways of living (Government of Ireland, 2002; NCCA, 2005;
UNESCO, 2003), to respect, appreciate and ‘celebrate’ diversity, (CRC, 1992; NCCA, 2005),
and the guiding principle that all children have a right to intercultural education, regardless
of their age, ability or ethnic background (NCCA, 2005; Government of Ireland, 2002). It is
significant to note that many of these legislative and policy documents also go further with
their conceptualisation by framing intercultural education within a Human Rights
perspective and affording intercultural education the responsibility to support students to
both identify and learn to challenge, racial prejudice and unfair discrimination in their lives
(UNESCO 2003; NCCA, 2005; Government of Ireland, 2002; Government of Ireland, 2006).
Intercultural education will be an important touchstone for this review of the integration
strategy because of the breadth of its scope and its wide benefits to young people.
Intercultural education is not an ‘add on’ or ‘afterthought’ subject in the daily life of the
school (UNESCO, 2003; NCCA, 2005). Intercultural education is an attitudinal education, a
transversal discipline and one which should be infused naturally throughout all areas of life.
Finally, it is important to note an additional benefit of Intercultural education is its intersectionality with some other ‘adjectival’ educations such as development education and
human rights education. These are also educations which advocate a child-centred and
world-minded approach to education and stress the importance of attitudinal and skill
development. Intercultural education draws on a myriad of perspectives and wealth of
cross-disciplinary knowledge for its pedagogy and the DICE Project believes that this
richness should be reflected in future developments of Integration policy in Ireland. Having
a strong basis in education for social justice will benefit the long-term success of any
Integration Strategy in Ireland. The DICE Project, with support from Irish Aid, has been
working in intercultural education since 2003 and is well placed to support integration
across both the primary education sector and in initial teacher education.
Section 4: Nature of interculturalism and integration
The DICE Project is concerned about the limited conception of interculturalism which
underpins the discourse in Migration Nation. The policy is almost exclusively targeted at
migrants, and in one sense, migrants for whom English is not a first language. It focuses on
proficiency in the English language as a key acquisition for migrants and envisages
citizenship and long-term residency to be contingent on proficiency of skills in the spoken
language of the country.
In comparison with more common understandings of interculturalism and integration, in
particular some EU policies which are even mentioned in the report, Migration Nation
adopts a very narrow understanding of these terms. It makes no attempt to engage with the
complexity of identity of people living in Ireland, choosing to view residents of the country
within a binary spectrum of ‘Irish’ or ‘not Irish’. As a result, there is no scope for selfidentification, or dual or multiple identities within the policy, whether they be along
religious, ethnic, cultural or linguistic lines. It is hoped that in future developments of the
strategy a more holistic approach to interculturalism will be adopted, whereby integration
strategy will be seen as a vehicle for challenging all types of prejudice and discrimination in
Ireland. It is hoped that throughout the consultation period, the department will cast the
net as wide as possible and in addition to targeting migrant-led organisations, also talk to
groups who undertake broader intercultural work, such as Traveller organisations and
asylum advocacy groups. The DICE Project believes this will result in a more coherent
integration policy which responds more meaningfully to the challenges and opportunities of
living in modern Ireland.
Concluding remarks
The DICE Project welcomes this review of Integration Strategy in Ireland and commends the
Department of Justice for moving forward with the review at a time of immense upheaval
and change. We would like to thank former Minister Alan Shatter for commissioning the
review at this important juncture and also to wish Minister Fitzgerald well with her new
brief.
We would be pleased to consult with the Department of Justice and Law Reform and to
assist with any further phase of consultation or programme of activities which may be set
out in future developments of the strategy. Staff connected with DICE support students and
educators who work in diverse settings in Ireland and we are well aware of both the
challenges and opportunities such teachers encounter on a daily basis. As a result, we
believe we are in a unique position to contribute to this debate in both a theoretical and a
practical way and are pleased to contribute to the review at this stage.
References
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Government of Ireland. (2010). Intercultural Education Strategy. Dublin: Stationery
Office
Government of Ireland. (2006). Report and Recommendations for a Traveller
Education Strategy. Dublin: Stationery Office
Government of Ireland. (2005). National Action Plan against Racism. Dublin:
Stationery Office
Lentin, R. & McVeigh, R. (2002). Racism and Anti-Racism in Ireland. Belfast: Beyond
the Pale
NCCA. (2005) Intercultural Education in the Primary School: Guidelines for Schools.
Dublin: National Council for Curriculum and Assessment
NCCA. (2006). Intercultural Education in the Post-Primary School: Guidelines for
Schools. Dublin: National Council for Curriculum and Assessment
UNESCO. (2003). Guidelines on Intercultural Education. Paris: United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Section of Education for Peace and
Human Rights)
United Nations. (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child. United Nations:
General Assembly