Tony Gallagher has worked for over 15 years on shared education, which involves collaboration between schools from different communities in divided societies aimed at promoting social cohesion and school improvement. He currently works on projects in Northern Ireland, Israel and Los Angeles. This is part of a career-long focus of work on the role of education in divided societies, including work on minority rights, equality policy, and the role of education in ethnic conflict. He has also led work on the impact of differentiated education systems.

This research has included within Northern Ireland work on shared education has led to significant policy change and the mainstreaming of collaboration within the education system. The model of collaboration is being adapted for use in Israel, involving Jewish and Arab schools, and in Los Angeles, between charter and traditional public schools. 

Specific research activities have focused on the pupils’ and teachers’ experience of collaboration, the development of network solutions to education problems, social network analysis as a way of analysing educational change, collaborative leadership, sustainable change in education, and the policy-practice nexus in education

The objective of the research activity is to inform education policy and practice in jurisdictions where the structural arrangements for education reflect wider social and ethnic divisions in society