From Reporting the Troubles to the Troubles in Classrooms

Deric Henderson and Ivan Little are very experienced journalists who reported on the Northern Ireland conflict for most of its duration. Subsequently, their two highly acclaimed compilations of reporting from the time have made an important contribution to public understanding of the period from the insider perspective of those who recorded those turbulent and horrific years. In more recent times, journalism has been openly critical of the role of schools, and history teachers, in failing to adequately provide young people with a grounded understanding of the nature of the conflict and its continuing impact on Ireland in the present. This online session brings together the journalists, Deric Henderson, Brian Rowan and Freya McClements, of the Irish Times, history teachers and interested others, first to listen to Deric and Brian's experiences of reporting the Troubles, then to consider the validity of criticisms of current history teaching practice and discuss the contribution that the journalistic legacy might make to enhancing the teaching of the Troubles in classrooms.