Society in Northern Ireland can be characterised as being underpinned by an enduring cultural, religious and political divide between two dominant communities: Catholics and Protestants. The educational system largely reflects and contributes to the reproduction of this separation. Teachers are generally deployed in schools that are consistent with their community identity. Teaching is a very heavily unionised profession, but there has been very little research conducted into the manner in which the community divide has affected the character and composition of the unions that represent teachers in NI. This mixed method investigation addresses that gap in knowledge. It is revealed that although sectoral separation is a significant feature of the profile of union membership, there is considerable consensus with regard to the unions’ stance on the policies that maintain the pattern of teacher deployment. The composition of two unions in particular is ideogrammatic of the community division in education. It is noted however that a combination of economic, political and social factors has contributed to a pragmatic re-configuration of old alliances and rivalries. This realignment has the potential to ensure that teacher unions remain relevant and serve the needs of their members in a post-conflict society.

北爱尔兰社会的特点是由两个主要社区之间持久的文化、宗教和政治分歧支撑：天主教徒和新教徒。教育系统在很大程度上反映并促进了这种分离的再现。教师通常部署在与其社区身份一致的学校。教学是一个工会化程度很高的职业，但很少有研究探讨社区分歧如何影响代表 NI 教师的工会的性质和组成。这种混合方法调查解决了知识差距。据透露，虽然部门分离是工会会员身份的一个显着特征，对于工会在维持教师部署模式的政策上的立场，有相当多的共识。特别是两个工会的组成是教育中社区划分的表意。然而，值得注意的是，经济、政治和社会因素的结合促成了旧联盟和竞争的务实重组。这种调整有可能确保教师工会在冲突后社会保持相关性并满足其成员的需求。