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07 June 2010
Prisoners teaching youngsters lessons of the past
 Political ex-prisoners are helping young people learn lessons from our troubled past through a new learning pack for schools.
From Prison to Peace – Learning from the experiences of political-ex prisoners, has been produced with the help of Lesley McEvoy from the School of Education at Queen’s University, Belfast.
Developed as a resource for Local and Global Citizenship at Key Stage 4, the pack was launched at a special event at the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA) on Friday, June 4.
Former political prisoners working as part of the Prison to Peace – Building on Experience Partnership, administered by the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland, helped develop the pack.
The project is part financed by the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund through the EU Programme for Peace and reconciliation (Peace III), managed by the Special EU Programmes body.
Minister for Education, Caitriona Ruane MLA, was on hand to launch the programme.
The Office of the First and Deputy First Minister for Northern Ireland also work on issues relating to the role of political ex-prisoners and Bruce Robinson, Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, provided a foreword for the pack, as did the Former Methodist President, the Rev. Harold Good, who witnessed the decommissioning of IRA weapons.
Lesley Mc Evoy said; “As a resource for local schools, this special pack will be of use to teachers working to encourage active citizenship.
“While its content is challenging, we know from experience that young people are keen to explore these issues.
“The activities are split into three sections based on the narratives of a number of political ex-prisoners, and cover three key themes; Becoming involved in the conflict, Understanding the prison experience and Contributing to Conflict Transformation and Community Development.
“Some of our young people remain involved in activities detrimental to their communities and this is a way to engage them in community development and conflict transformation, including issues like interface violence.
“All the former political prisoners groups involved in this project are supportive of the peace process and want to share their experiences with young people to demystify romantic or ill-informed notions of conflict and the prison experience.
“We’re delighted the Minister for Education was there to hear how this resource can help reduce community tension and build a future for our young people free from the stresses of the past.”
Margaret McTeggart, the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland’s Community Support Officer for Peace III projects, said; “Initiatives like this are incredibly positive and can leave a lasting impact on the young people benefiting from interaction with the former political prisoners.
“A DVD production accompanies the pack to illustrate the personal nature of conflict and the contributors will no doubt strike a personal chord with participants.
“Our thanks as always go to the European Union, whose Peace III Programme has funded the Prison to Peace Partnership Building on Experience Partnership.”
From Prison to Peace – Learning from the experiences of political-ex prisoners will be rolled out to schools over the next academic year.
Youth clubs and providers will also be targeted to spread the impact of the scheme.
For further information, please contact the Community Foundation on 028 90 245 927.
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