Title

A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) Evaluation of the ‘Prison to Peace’ Educational Programme.

Research Team

Ms Lesley Emerson (PI), Professor Paul Connolly (CI), Dr Karen Orr

Timescale

March 2012 – February 2014

Funder

Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM)

Aims and Objectives

‘Prison to Peace’ is an educational resource for use in the Local and Global Citizenship curriculum. Based on the narratives of 15 political ex-prisoners, the programme invites young people to explore the reasons why people became involved in the conflict, the impact of prison and the contribution former prisoners are now making to the community.

This research project aims to evaluate the impact of the ‘Prison to Peace’ educational programme on young people’s knowledge, attitudes and behaviours towards inter-communal conflict and violence, and citizenship engagement within their community.

Methodology

This project will use three different methodological approaches.  1) Twenty post-primary schools (approximately 1400 pupils) have been recruited to participate in the cluster RCT, 10 were randomly and blindly allocated to the intervention group and 10 to the control group.  Pupils from  years 10, 11 and 12 will complete an online questionnaire, designed to measure knowledge, attitudes and behaviour,  both before and after implementation of the ‘Prison to Peace’ educational  programme.  2) In depth qualitative case studies with 4 of the 10 intervention schools will also be conducted.  This qualitative work will involve classroom observations, as well as interviews and focus groups, which will be conducted with a variety of stakeholders, including the pupils and the teachers.  Qualitative case studies in contexts other than those involved in the trial (to include examples drawn from the youth sector, alternative education centres, community sector, and cross-community school projects) will also be conducted.  3) Additionally, in order to adopt a children’s rights-compliant research methodology a ‘Young people’s advisory group’ has also been established in order to meaningfully engage young people throughout the course of this project.

Outputs

An interim report is due December 2013 and the final report is due February 2014.

Further information

For further information please contact Ms Lesley Emerson