0:00:06 > 0:00:08For more than half a century,
0:00:08 > 0:00:10the BBC has captured the changing face
0:00:10 > 0:00:14of everyday life in Northern Ireland.
0:00:14 > 0:00:19It all seems so innocent today but without these moments,
0:00:19 > 0:00:23something of who we are now would be lost forever.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27These are the archives, and those were the days.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32It's completely invaluable to look back at film
0:00:32 > 0:00:37because they take us back to another time.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43Hearing people talk about their lives - that's priceless.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45And we should be proud of the footage we have
0:00:45 > 0:00:48of our people talking about their lives.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50I think what those films do show you
0:00:50 > 0:00:55is sometimes change is evolutionary but sometimes there is a huge leap.
0:00:55 > 0:01:01Whether it was a good or a bad thing, those films tell us we have lived in interesting times.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11MUSIC: "School Days" by Chuck Berry
0:01:11 > 0:01:14# Up in the morning and out to school
0:01:14 > 0:01:17# The teacher is teaching the golden rule... #
0:01:17 > 0:01:19Fresh faced and raring to go,
0:01:19 > 0:01:24these children are a product of the local school system, 1950's style.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28And when BBC cameras came calling, they found boys and girls
0:01:28 > 0:01:32aged 4 to 14 sharing the same classroom and the same teacher.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36This style of education hadn't changed in over 100 years,
0:01:36 > 0:01:41as footage of this small rural school in Scraghy, County Tyrone testifies.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44It's a real culture shock to see such an old-fashioned school
0:01:44 > 0:01:47and to see all the children crammed in to a very small area
0:01:47 > 0:01:49and all the old-fashioned equipment.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51And the very caustic comments about
0:01:51 > 0:01:54how bad the old school was
0:01:54 > 0:01:57for teaching and learning, which I don't think I agree with.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59'This school was in use two months ago.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02'It was not just dull, it was dismal
0:02:02 > 0:02:05'and two rooms were crammed to overflowing also.'
0:02:05 > 0:02:08# Back in the classroom open your books
0:02:08 > 0:02:10# Gee but the teacher don't know how mean she looks... #
0:02:10 > 0:02:13The discipline is something that strikes you
0:02:13 > 0:02:16when you see all those old films from even 20 years ago,
0:02:16 > 0:02:18let alone 30/40 years ago.
0:02:18 > 0:02:23Some of these teachers had four sets of different aged young people.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25Maybe 70 in a room.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29Therefore, discipline was the only way in which you could handle that.
0:02:29 > 0:02:35Things have changed greatly since the days when the teacher was the master.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39Very often a man and very much revered in the community
0:02:39 > 0:02:42and now not nearly like that.
0:02:42 > 0:02:47Some schools even allow the children to address the teacher by their first name.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50After the minister, the priest and the doctor, there was the teacher.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54The idea of teaching then was, the teacher knew more than the children
0:02:54 > 0:02:57so the teacher told the children what they needed to know
0:02:57 > 0:02:59and they internalised and learnt it.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03That's wrong, of course, because you don't learn by being told,
0:03:03 > 0:03:05you learn by doing or by experimenting.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11Education was completely unworkable.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14That time was going through the readers in strict order
0:03:14 > 0:03:19book one, book two, book three and you didn't get onto book three until you finished book two.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22So, they were able to read. Apart from that,
0:03:22 > 0:03:25the standard of education they reached was very questionable.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27So the system as a whole was completely flawed.
0:03:27 > 0:03:32It was clear the local education system needed a complete overhaul.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35And here in Moss-Side village in County Antrim,
0:03:35 > 0:03:37a somewhat rustic way of life
0:03:37 > 0:03:40was jettisoned in favour of a progressive building programme
0:03:40 > 0:03:43whose star pupil was this shiny new school.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49What was most interesting about this school building film
0:03:49 > 0:03:53was there was a firm belief that if you changed the buildings,
0:03:53 > 0:03:54that would make a difference.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04The curriculum didn't feature at all in any way.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08What was actually being taught didn't seem to have any significance.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12It focused entirely on the notion that, if we change these buildings, it's going to be better.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15There is a point where they go to the new building
0:04:15 > 0:04:19and the narrator says, you can see already that these children are cleaner.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22What was really interesting for me was, when you looked at their faces,
0:04:22 > 0:04:24they were still bored out of their heads.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28They were cleaner but didn't care any more about what was going on in the classroom,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31because the curriculum had not been addressed.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35'One almost forgets what the old Moss-Side school was like.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39'The children have forgotten quickly and that must be a good thing.'
0:04:39 > 0:04:41If those programmes were made now,
0:04:41 > 0:04:43the first people we would talk to would be the children.
0:04:43 > 0:04:48And no-one wanted to hear what these children had to say about the education they were having.
0:04:48 > 0:04:53I think the really sad thing about those children is they have, what I would call, lost eyes.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56They didn't know why they were there or why this was happening to them.
0:04:56 > 0:05:01No-one had explained to them, perhaps, that this was their passport to somewhere else.
0:05:01 > 0:05:06And that somewhere else was unveiled in the 1960s
0:05:06 > 0:05:11when BBC Northern Ireland rolled out the first of its specially-made programmes for schools.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14Designed to educate and entertain,
0:05:14 > 0:05:18these films opened a window on the world and beamed new light
0:05:18 > 0:05:21and new life into the once insular classroom.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26The people who made these programmes had been teachers mainly.
0:05:26 > 0:05:30They all knew what it was like to stand in front of a class of children.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35They all knew how far you could go and what you could extract from a child.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39So, they were working from a very solid foundation.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41Hello, and welcome to
0:05:41 > 0:05:44the last programme in Ulster In Focus this year.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46It's called On A May Morning.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49You got little gems of films which stand up even today.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51# Ging gang goolie goolie goolie goolie woosha
0:05:51 > 0:05:54# Ging gang goo, ging gang goo
0:05:54 > 0:05:57# Ging gang goolie goolie goolie goolie woosha
0:05:57 > 0:06:00# Ging gang goo, ging gang goo... #
0:06:00 > 0:06:05Looking back at the White Park Bay film,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08for its time, it was groundbreaking stuff.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12And even apart from the educational aspect, it's lovely to watch.
0:06:12 > 0:06:17While I was sitting on the bus on my way to White Park Bay,
0:06:17 > 0:06:20I said to myself, "I wonder what it'll be like at the hostel.
0:06:20 > 0:06:25"Will there only be one big bedroom where all of us will sleep, boys as well?
0:06:25 > 0:06:30"Or will it be a long dormitory, like the bedrooms in the hospital?"
0:06:30 > 0:06:34In 1971, I was a recently-qualified teacher
0:06:34 > 0:06:36and was teaching in Strandtown Primary.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39It was just part and parcel of teaching, as far as I was concerned,
0:06:39 > 0:06:41that I would be going away
0:06:41 > 0:06:44or I would be doing things with children at weekends.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47And I think I got as much fun out of it as the children.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57The youth hostel was our base the whole time, in those days.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00I suppose it introduced the children of youth hostelling
0:07:00 > 0:07:03and just the pleasure of going away for very little money.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09'We all have our duties at the youth hostel.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11'On Monday we have to make the pack lunch
0:07:11 > 0:07:14'and on Tuesday we have to clean out the kitchen.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17'Each morning we have to get up at 7:30am
0:07:17 > 0:07:20'and the girls who make the breakfast have to get up even earlier.'
0:07:20 > 0:07:24The one dread on those trips was cooking scrambled eggs
0:07:24 > 0:07:28because you were catering for maybe 30 people
0:07:28 > 0:07:30and you had 60 eggs in a big pot
0:07:30 > 0:07:34and they didn't look as though anything was ever going to happen to them.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40So, we did things like that - scrambled eggs and sausages.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43We had sausages on that particular occasion
0:07:43 > 0:07:45and the cameras had stopped filming
0:07:45 > 0:07:48and I had extra sausages which I took in.
0:07:48 > 0:07:53I said, "Would anybody like any more sausages?" And there was this great cheer of, "Yes, yes, yes!"
0:07:53 > 0:07:57So, stop, get the cameras set up again and it was all filmed again.
0:07:57 > 0:08:02- Does anybody want anymore sausages? - CHILDREN: Yes!
0:08:02 > 0:08:06All right, everyone, bedtime. Come on, pack up these games.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08CHILDREN GROAN
0:08:08 > 0:08:11Come on, hurry up, up to your dormitories. We've had a long day today.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16There's a terrific shot where
0:08:16 > 0:08:20we see kids at the peak of a cliff. And the kids run down
0:08:20 > 0:08:24this quite steep sandy dune.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26And, as we do that, the camera pulls
0:08:26 > 0:08:29back to reveal a very wide beach and then follows the kids round.
0:08:29 > 0:08:34Beautiful art. And you get a sense of complete freedom, openness.
0:08:34 > 0:08:39When we pull out to that wide shot, you know that's as wide as the imagination can be.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41It's absolutely beautiful.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46MUSIC: "Happiness Runs" by Donovan
0:08:51 > 0:08:56There's a great scene where one of the kids in the film discovers a dead seagull.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01# Little human upon the sand
0:09:01 > 0:09:04# From where I'm lying here in your hand... #
0:09:08 > 0:09:11It looks as though it's been shot under the wing.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14Must've been in flight while it's been shot.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20I think I'll just put it back and bury it.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24And for the kid to lift that up and to touch it
0:09:24 > 0:09:28and to feel that seagull and then to re-bury it in the ground,
0:09:28 > 0:09:33you felt you were that kid, watching it. Or you wanted to be.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37I was thinking if I'm touching it, how long had it been there, with the hands.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39We had to get him straight back to the youth hostel,
0:09:39 > 0:09:42get your hands washed - scrubbed - make sure they're clean.
0:09:48 > 0:09:53I could imagine children watching that programme in the early 1970s,
0:09:53 > 0:09:59really wanting to be there. It was such an attractively made programme
0:09:59 > 0:10:03I could imagine the kids wanting to be on that beach,
0:10:03 > 0:10:06wanting to go to Dunluce Castle.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09And I think, if that film did anything,
0:10:09 > 0:10:14it was to give kids that sense of adventure and exploration
0:10:14 > 0:10:18and that is so important in children.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23By 1971, black and white had given way to colour
0:10:23 > 0:10:26and schools television had become a part of the timetable
0:10:26 > 0:10:28in our children's education.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32But the changing role of the teacher was also coming into focus
0:10:32 > 0:10:37and local current affairs television was ready to write its report.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39This programme investigated why young teachers
0:10:39 > 0:10:43were struggling to cope with a new generation of education.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46What were the differences between
0:10:46 > 0:10:50the way I made that shape and that rotation, and that rotation?
0:10:50 > 0:10:52'Bill Heron is aged 29.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55'After eight years spent teaching in primary schools,
0:10:55 > 0:11:00'he's earning a salary of £15,000 a year and he's very far from satisfied with that.'
0:11:00 > 0:11:03I think people feel that teachers shouldn't talk about money.
0:11:03 > 0:11:08It's a dirty subject. But the situation has now been reached
0:11:08 > 0:11:10when teachers have to talk about money.
0:11:10 > 0:11:11There's a bit of deja vu in that film
0:11:11 > 0:11:16because, nowadays, you hear so much from teachers saying they're not well enough paid,
0:11:16 > 0:11:18that their workload is very, very heavy,
0:11:18 > 0:11:22that the impact of change is really too much to cope with.
0:11:22 > 0:11:29We don't really value brain-work. Intellectual output.
0:11:29 > 0:11:34We value making a lot of money, having a very nice Paul Smith suit
0:11:34 > 0:11:38or a Prada frock. That's what we regard as important.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40We don't favour the people who teach.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42- Where's the point of rotation? - It's where the pen is.
0:11:42 > 0:11:47I think the image basically is that teachers have a soft job.
0:11:47 > 0:11:52It's that teachers have a short day, long holidays.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54Whenever I meet someone during the holidays,
0:11:54 > 0:11:57they often say to me, "Oh, I see you're on holidays again."
0:11:57 > 0:11:59And this sort of annoys me a bit.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04What you see the beginning of in that programme is that now
0:12:04 > 0:12:10most people in our society think that teaching is for losers.
0:12:10 > 0:12:15I don't think it is. I think teaching is the most important job in the world.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18This documentary revealed an education system
0:12:18 > 0:12:21facing fast-changing and uncertain times.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25But it also captured an extraordinarily poignant scene
0:12:25 > 0:12:29in which a teacher explains life after school.
0:12:29 > 0:12:34Now, in ten week's time, next June, you boys all finish.
0:12:34 > 0:12:40School is over. You're schoolboys now, ten weeks from now you become working men.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44Mr Clarke is working in a school with boys who are leaving at 14
0:12:44 > 0:12:48and he's talking to them about apprenticeships.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52And that was absolutely heartbreaking because you looked at those boys
0:12:52 > 0:13:00and they weren't in uniform and they had kind of a strange melange of hairstyle.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03Some of them were still in the '50s or even the '40s
0:13:03 > 0:13:07but some of them were looking forward to the skinhead era and the mid-to-late '70s.
0:13:07 > 0:13:12The whole gamut of hair was taken in in a single class.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15- So, excuse me, do you start an apprenticeship at 15?- No, 16.
0:13:15 > 0:13:20Usually, you leave school at 15 and you become 16 somewhere before Christmas or so, don't you?
0:13:20 > 0:13:25The best way, if you want to get an apprenticeship in some particular firm,
0:13:25 > 0:13:30is to get into that firm as a boy and let them get used to you about the place.
0:13:30 > 0:13:36The boys had no idea about what was waiting for them,
0:13:36 > 0:13:39what they were going to do, what life was like,
0:13:39 > 0:13:42and he was patiently trying to explain to them
0:13:42 > 0:13:47that they would stop school and then they were going to go out into the big, bad world
0:13:47 > 0:13:50and they had to work and support themselves.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55And their faces were extraordinary because they were kind of boy-men.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58You could see what they would be like when they were men
0:13:58 > 0:14:02but they were still boys. There was that strange mix of,
0:14:02 > 0:14:09the were naive and enthusiastic and sullen and right-hard, all at the same time.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16And you knew that what they were going to go out to was what?
0:14:16 > 0:14:22Early '70s - horrible industrial work here, very low paid,
0:14:22 > 0:14:26very dangerous and, in the background,
0:14:26 > 0:14:29the entire society is going up in flames.
0:14:29 > 0:14:30Awful. Hideous.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32MUSIC: "Freak Out" by Chic
0:14:34 > 0:14:39If school leavers were facing an uncertain future in the 1970s,
0:14:39 > 0:14:42school visitors were proving to be a big hit,
0:14:42 > 0:14:45especially when they materialised in Belfast
0:14:45 > 0:14:48from the biggest show on television.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51I would've killed to have had Tom Baker come to my school.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54In 1978, he was the coolest man on television.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56It's as simple as that.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02That was his own initiative. He had a couple of days
0:15:02 > 0:15:06and decided to come to Belfast.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10American presidents would eventually do that when they had a few days
0:15:10 > 0:15:13but idea that a Time Lord would come in...
0:15:13 > 0:15:15Why are you all smiling?
0:15:15 > 0:15:18CHILDREN LAUGH
0:15:18 > 0:15:21Gosh, I can hardly believe it.
0:15:21 > 0:15:26Time Lords do not acknowledge sectarian divides, this is a simple fact.
0:15:26 > 0:15:31He has the wit to go to different schools and spread his visit out.
0:15:31 > 0:15:36He went east and he went west and the kids on Mersey Street,
0:15:36 > 0:15:38they were confined to the classroom and, of course,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41you've always got that feeling that the teacher's watching you,
0:15:41 > 0:15:46so you've got to be very careful about what you do and say. There may be a test later on.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48But in Barrack Street, he went outside and they just ran.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51# Aaah, freak out!
0:15:51 > 0:15:53# Le freak, c'est Chic
0:15:53 > 0:15:55# Freak out!... #
0:15:55 > 0:16:01They didn't really know what else to do so they ran up the playground and then back down the playground.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04He didn't really know what to do so he ran as well.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07That was fantastic cos that is timeless.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11You could have landed in Belfast anytime in the last 100 years or the next 100 years
0:16:11 > 0:16:15and if you get a lot of kids in the playground, they'll run you up and down.
0:16:19 > 0:16:25School visits were dull, generally. It wasn't superstars or guys from TV.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28To have Tom Baker in your school letting you try his hat on,
0:16:28 > 0:16:31signing posters for you, bantering away,
0:16:31 > 0:16:33it's just absolutely priceless.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36He has one trick - "Can you put on my hat?"
0:16:36 > 0:16:38One wee lad says he wants the hat to look like a cowboy,
0:16:38 > 0:16:41clearly not a big Doctor Who fan.
0:16:41 > 0:16:43Put it on me and I'll be a cowboy.
0:16:43 > 0:16:48Put it on you and you'll be a cowboy. There we are.
0:16:49 > 0:16:50Yes, it looks very good.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54But he came to Northern Ireland. He came to see us. He wanted to come over.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58And I think that's to his credit. I think that is a remarkable thing,
0:16:58 > 0:17:02that a Time Lord came to visit us at a very bad time.
0:17:02 > 0:17:05Travelling back in time to 1981,
0:17:05 > 0:17:09and the world's media had descended on a field on the outskirts of Belfast
0:17:09 > 0:17:13to film an exceptional group of 11-year-old schoolchildren.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15MUSIC: "New Life" by Depeche Mode
0:17:15 > 0:17:16In a school system
0:17:16 > 0:17:21that remained largely separated by the religious divide,
0:17:21 > 0:17:25these children were pioneering a new era in local education.
0:17:25 > 0:17:26For the first time,
0:17:26 > 0:17:30Protestant and Catholic children were going to school together...
0:17:30 > 0:17:33at the new, integrated Lagan College.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39My main interest at that stage was kicking a ball around a playground.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41You're an 11-year-old kid,
0:17:41 > 0:17:43you're meeting other children at 11,
0:17:43 > 0:17:47so whilst this was an educational experiment in many ways,
0:17:47 > 0:17:51for us it was making friends and doing the things that 11-year-old kids do.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54'The picnic integration was already something of a hit.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58'Clearly, no-one had told these Catholic and Protestants
0:17:58 > 0:18:01'they were supposed to throw stones at each other.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05'And even the prospect of a new school term was beginning not to seem so bad.'
0:18:05 > 0:18:11As a Catholic living in east Belfast, I think it was something my parents firmly believed in.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15They took this huge risk. It was really, you know, into the abyss.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17You had no idea what was going to happen.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21But they firmly believed in integrated education
0:18:21 > 0:18:24and the ethos of going to school together.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28I think it's right how Catholics and Protestants should be able to get on better together.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31And that's what the trouble is in Northern Ireland. This is good.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35If there were more of them, I think the trouble wouldn't be as bad.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37I think it's a solution, maybe,
0:18:37 > 0:18:39to solve the troubles in Northern Ireland.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42We had gone to a Protestant school, so we had
0:18:42 > 0:18:46- and you didn't really meet Catholics.- But now that we have,
0:18:46 > 0:18:48they're what I expected - just normal.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51I didn't think there was any difference really.
0:18:53 > 0:18:54We're just humans.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58The majority of folk in the Lisburn area that I came from
0:18:58 > 0:19:01would've been from the Protestant denomination.
0:19:01 > 0:19:06So, just by the circumstance of that, I wouldn't really have come into contact with Catholic children.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09So, really, this was the first time that that was happening.
0:19:09 > 0:19:15And that's just simply the way the education system had been working in Northern Ireland until that point.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18# New life, new life... #
0:19:18 > 0:19:22I followed the creation of the integrated movement right from the start
0:19:22 > 0:19:25and watched Lagan College being set up.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30Lagan College started off in a scout hut.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33The children seemed to really love being there.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36They had a certain freedom and they felt they were pioneers.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39And also the teachers felt that they were pioneers,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42striking out on their own to do something
0:19:42 > 0:19:45which they thought would improve the situation in Northern Ireland.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49Lagan College may have started with a media fanfare
0:19:49 > 0:19:54but its first term began against a much more subdued and cautious backdrop.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58Sensitivities at this turbulent time meant its 28 pupils
0:19:58 > 0:20:03were taught in a leafy location far away from the troubles around them.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07I think you've got to remember that this was set in 1981.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11The political event of that time was the hunger strike.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13They were really dark days in Northern Ireland,
0:20:13 > 0:20:16really a lot of tension...
0:20:16 > 0:20:22So, the fact Lagan College was the first integrated school in Northern Ireland was a really big thing.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26I think for some people it was seen as a beacon of hope.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30MUSIC: "Only You" by Yazoo
0:20:34 > 0:20:37We were always taught that we were the one religion,
0:20:37 > 0:20:41which we really were. We were all Christians, in that sense.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45It was just the split up of different denominations within Christianity.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50So, it was a mix of everyone. There were people from real staunch areas on both sides.
0:20:50 > 0:20:55And actually, those were the pupils that probably made the school work.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58There were many an argument in the playground over this or that
0:20:58 > 0:21:06but, looking back, I don't think I can ever remember an argument over religion - I really can't.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09'Religion will be taught through common Christian principles
0:21:09 > 0:21:12'and in separate classes for Protestants and Catholics.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15'History could be more difficult.'
0:21:15 > 0:21:17Yes, history will require very careful planning.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21We shall be teaching both British and Irish history
0:21:21 > 0:21:24but, obviously, I'm not going to go into detail yet.
0:21:24 > 0:21:25We'll start with the early years
0:21:25 > 0:21:28and that, perhaps, is a little less controversial.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35It was lovely to see the footage of Mrs Greenfield.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37She was a lovely person, first and foremost.
0:21:37 > 0:21:42She was so welcoming. She made you feel really, really, comfortable.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45She was the perfect principal to get that school up and running.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47She just had this warmth about her.
0:21:47 > 0:21:53I think she was coming into a situation where she had to be very balanced and very fair.
0:21:53 > 0:21:58The ethos of the school was it would be as integrated as possible
0:21:58 > 0:22:01and they would never let the percentages go more than 60/40.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04And that has been the way the school started and continues.
0:22:09 > 0:22:14I think Northern Ireland's society has come a very long way since those days.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16The school has an excellent reputation now
0:22:16 > 0:22:22and I think one of the exciting things is it has forged the way for other schools
0:22:22 > 0:22:25who've felt they've now been able to follow.
0:22:25 > 0:22:32I'm very proud, actually. Very proud of the school, not so much proud of myself.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36I lived away for many years and have come back to Northern Ireland
0:22:36 > 0:22:42and when I see kids running around town with the Lagan College uniform,
0:22:42 > 0:22:43I look at it and I'm very proud.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46There's a little element of "well done".
0:22:46 > 0:22:49MUSIC: "The Only Way Is Up" by Yazz
0:22:50 > 0:22:55In the 1980s, it wasn't just our education system that was beginning to change.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59Local television was also experiencing an image overhaul.
0:22:59 > 0:23:01Programmes were not just being made for young people
0:23:01 > 0:23:05but by and starring a new generation of movers and shakers.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07Youth TV was born.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09Hi, and welcome to...
0:23:09 > 0:23:11'It was an unbelievable time.'
0:23:11 > 0:23:16There were no other youth programmes departments in the entire BBC worldwide.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20There were children's departments and then it was adult's programmes.
0:23:21 > 0:23:27A very thoughtful man called Peter Vall decided it was time to set up a youth programmes department
0:23:27 > 0:23:29and it was time to give young people a voice.
0:23:29 > 0:23:30Somewhere over the summer
0:23:30 > 0:23:34this new department was starting to gel, being pulled together.
0:23:34 > 0:23:39We started this weekly show that was a youth magazine called Channel One.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45Now, if girls motorbike and more girls is what turns you on
0:23:45 > 0:23:49then stay tuned to the old box cos later on we'll have a story on an all-girl motorbike club
0:23:49 > 0:23:54and from Rathcoole down there in Newtownabbey we'll have another story in our Talkback series.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56'There was no money in it. We all got hired'
0:23:56 > 0:23:59and I think the starting pay went from a pound a week
0:23:59 > 0:24:03to 30 quid a week and depending where you were on the radar
0:24:03 > 0:24:06and how much work you were doing, nobody was getting more than 30 quid a week.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08I was just happy to be working
0:24:08 > 0:24:11and kind of doing stuff I was interested in
0:24:11 > 0:24:16but I didn't see myself as being a TV presenter - it's not really what I wanted to do.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19But equally, I didn't have a proper job either
0:24:19 > 0:24:24and I thought this was working OK until someone actually realizes, "He's not that good."
0:24:24 > 0:24:28To start off with tonight, we have a band with a big following round Belfast.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31They're Ten Past Seven and here they are with Tom Waits.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38Youth television was about more than education,
0:24:38 > 0:24:41it was about young people being given that all important break.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44First time performers like Brian Kennedy,
0:24:44 > 0:24:48who, in years to come, would become household names.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54# Tom Waits
0:24:54 > 0:24:58# Tom Waits patiently high
0:24:58 > 0:25:01# I can't leave
0:25:01 > 0:25:04# I saw a face, strong bone... #
0:25:04 > 0:25:09It was amazingly popular. People never missed the youth programmes.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16You'd watch these programmes like Channel One
0:25:16 > 0:25:22and hear about this new band - The Hothouse Flowers or Sinead O'Connor or whoever it was -
0:25:22 > 0:25:24and they're going to be playing at some venue.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27That's where you found out what was happening.
0:25:27 > 0:25:32# When I feel your heart beating... #
0:25:33 > 0:25:38I thought that it turned into something that was quite strong, good and credible
0:25:38 > 0:25:42cos, above all, a youth programme should have some sort of credibility.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49We made this programme called the All Square Quiz
0:25:49 > 0:25:54and, unashamedly, it was probably a rip off of Blockbusters for young people.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56Good evening to our audience
0:25:56 > 0:25:59to the second of our semi-finals of our brand new quiz show,
0:25:59 > 0:26:02done with the Northern Ireland Association of Youth Clubs
0:26:02 > 0:26:03and the programme is called All Square.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06CHEERING
0:26:06 > 0:26:10I think it was the first programme actually... It was filmed in a cattle shed
0:26:10 > 0:26:15up at Balmoral, behind King's Hall, which masqueraded as the BBC studio
0:26:15 > 0:26:18but, believe you me, it was a cattle shed with black drapes.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21- What country is the footballer...? - BUZZER
0:26:21 > 0:26:22Yes, Cairnmartin.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24LAUGHTER
0:26:24 > 0:26:28I'd like to see you answer this, Carol, this could be quite interesting. Go for it.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30Argentina?
0:26:30 > 0:26:33No. OK, hand it over to John Paul - full question.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36The funny thing about it, if you look back at the programme now,
0:26:36 > 0:26:42there are several things. A, the style. B, all the guys had moustaches
0:26:42 > 0:26:45even though we were 14 or 15. That was the style at the time.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47So, everybody looked about 35 when they were 15.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51But if you look closely enough, in the Cairnmartin team,
0:26:51 > 0:26:56there's a very young, slim, plenty-of-hair fella
0:26:56 > 0:26:59who now masquerades under the name of Stephen Nolan Esq.
0:26:59 > 0:27:04MUSIC: "When Will I Be Famous? by Bros # When will I, will I be famous? #
0:27:04 > 0:27:08He was the young guy of the team and he had to do all the challenges like put together a jigsaw.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10Could he do it? Could he squat. God love him.
0:27:15 > 0:27:20He then had to match up cars and where those cars were made,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23you know, is the Mercedes made in Germany or is it Romania.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27He had 15 seconds to do it and if you watch those clips now
0:27:27 > 0:27:29he's going, "Oh! Oh!" The stress factor.
0:27:29 > 0:27:35He comes across as so in control on the radio but the stress factor back then was extraordinary.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38OK, what have we got. One... No, we have got one right out of three.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41It should have been Mercedes-Benz to Germany,
0:27:41 > 0:27:43Volvo to Sweden and Buick to the United States.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45Well done, anyway, Stephen. Good show.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47APPLAUSE
0:27:47 > 0:27:50Looking back on that whole period of youth programmes,
0:27:50 > 0:27:54I think it was groundbreaking, I really do.
0:27:54 > 0:27:56Not because of anybody that was in it
0:27:56 > 0:28:00but because an individual at the BBC decided it was time to do programmes
0:28:00 > 0:28:03that were driven by young people, fronted by young people,
0:28:03 > 0:28:07about young people, not somebody patronising young people.
0:28:08 > 0:28:16The story of our schools, teachers and young people is a lesson in how we used to live.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19And thanks to a rich archive and the magic of film,
0:28:19 > 0:28:22we can bring those bygone days back to life.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26# Those were the days my friend
0:28:26 > 0:28:29# We thought they'd never end... #
0:28:29 > 0:28:32Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:32 > 0:28:35E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk