During ‘the Troubles’, c1971–1998, the Open University, OU, fostered the emergent peace process which culminated in the 1998 Belfast Agreement. To evaluate the extent and impact of this nurturing there is recourse to David McMillan’s notion of a ‘sense of community’ and to the personal testimony of a range of prisoners, prison officers and OU staff. This material is framed by an assessment of the OU’s structures, as both a national and also local university and its pedagogy, which was developed to support isolated adult learners without prior qualifications and adapted for prisoners. There is also an appraisal of its ethos. Developed during its formative years, which were largely concurrent with those of ‘the Troubles’, it owed much to the idea that the central state could and should further democracy through directing technological, cultural, social and economic developments.

中文翻译：

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学习共同生活？开放大学、学生囚犯和“麻烦”

在 1971 年至 1998 年的“麻烦”期间，开放大学 (OU) 促进了紧急和平进程，最终达成了 1998 年贝尔法斯特协议。为了评估这种培养的程度和影响，可以求助于 David McMillan 的“社区意识”概念以及一系列囚犯、监狱官员和 OU 工作人员的个人证词。该材料的框架是对 OU 结构的评估，作为一所国家和地方大学及其教学法，该教学法旨在支持没有先前资格的孤立的成人学习者，并适用于囚犯。还有对其精神的评价。它在其形成时期发展起来，很大程度上与“麻烦”时期同时发生，很大程度上归功于中央国家可以而且应该通过指导技术、文化、