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closely related to their work with TIDE. The link between an Irish dimension in the history
curriculum and anti-racist and global issues appears to have been a significant feature of their
work.
How far can links be made between TIDE projects and an Irish dimension in the history
curriculum? It is appropriate to restate the fact that the underlying rationale for TIDE’s work
was to promote development education and it did not specifically set out to establish this
development within the history curriculum. Nevertheless, it drew links between aspects of
Irish history and other global issues through a succession of projects related to Ireland from
the early 1980s. The focus of most work related to the emergence of the recent conflict in the
north rather than a broadly based approach towards understanding Ireland’s past. It has also
attempted to explore different attitudes towards the conflict. In this sense it has much in
common with the overall focus of the School History Project. However, whereas the latter
certainly required pupils to compare the situation in Northern Ireland with different contexts,
the comments from the interviewees indicate that TIDE focused on global issues and used
recent events in Ireland to exemplify ideas such as conflict and resolution and compare them
with other contexts. Its also commonly related the situation in Northern Ireland to issues
within multicultural Britain.
It is difficult to gauge the impact of the various projects with teachers in the region, although
disappointing sales for the pack based on Derry/Londonderry suggest that some caution is
needed when considering the pack’s wider impact. Nevertheless, the substantial numbers of
sixth formers attending the Let’s Talk project reflects an innovative teaching and learning
approach, whether or not work related to Ireland was embedded into the school history