The Greater Shankill Partnership Board and Children and Young Persons’ Zone has been working with the primary and post-primary schools serving the Shankill community to identify areas for support.

A clear consensus emerged on the need for tailored professional development support for teachers and school leaders, so we were invited to lead some discussions to identify key priority areas. These discussions identified four main areas of interest: support for middle managers in schools; the sharing and dissemination of good practice; supporting school principals; and an induction programme for new teachers on the history of the Shankill community. With the support of the schools and the Greater Shankill Partnership, we have established Design Teams to develop professional development programmes on all four themes. Once this work is completed, we will together seek funding to run the programmes for teachers across all the schools. The key features of the proposed programmes are that they will be co-designed by the schools, community and University, and they will address specific challenges and opportunities facing schools in the Shankill area.