Education specialist Amber Allott takes a look at three pieces of literature only studied in Northern Ireland.
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00:00Hello, my name is Amber Allitt and I'm a journalist specialising in education.
00:05Education is a devolved issue in the UK, meaning that the governments of each of the four countries
00:09are responsible for it.
00:11This means that what you study and your assessments can end up looking a little different depending
00:15on where you live.
00:17But English, Welsh and Northern Irish students still all sit their GCSE exams in secondary
00:22school.
00:23English is a compulsory subject in all three too, and as well as studying English language,
00:28many schools will also require their students to study English literature, which comes with
00:33quite a bit of reading.
00:35Teachers can choose which books and plays pupils will read from a set list.
00:39Here are three books and plays that are only on Northern Ireland's reading list.
00:44The first is Juno and the Pacock by Sean O'Casey, part of his collection Three Dublin Plays.
00:50The play tells the story of a working class Dublin family during the Irish Civil War and
00:56the repercussions for all of them when their lives appear to be turned around after coming
01:00into a sudden fortune.
01:02The next is How Many Miles to Babylon, a novel by Irish writer Jennifer Johnston.
01:07It's about two Irish boys from very different social classes before and during the First
01:12World War, and how this changes and challenges their friendship.
01:16Finally, Philadelphia, Here I Come is a play by Irish playwright Brian Friel.
01:21It tells the story of a young County Donegal man's migration to the US, and the complex
01:26public and private thoughts he wrestles with over the move.