Violence Prevention
Violence prevention programs often include a conflict resolution education component, but are more likely to include increases in safety and security issues relevant to the prevention of serious violent behaviors that are, luckily, still quite rare in schools (Burstyn et al, 2001). Violence prevention efforts seek to decrease serious risk behavior, including violence toward self and others, risky sexual behavior, and substance abuse (Wilson, Gottfredson & Najaka, 2001). Conflict resolution education is focused more on the development of important life skills, and especially communication skills, that help students find nonviolent ways to handle their problems and, thereby, may decrease violent behavior.
Videos of Possible Interest
- Conflict Resolution — Thinking It Through
- Nonviolence and Peace Education in School
- Help Increase the Peace (HIPP) program
- Conflict Resolution at Lewes New School
- Aik Saath – Supporting CR among Sikh, Hindu and Muslim youth in London
- Teacher.tv Behaviour Challenge video module
- Peaceful School Bus Program – Hazelden Foundation
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights animation
- We Want Peace – Emmanuel Jal (with lyrics)
- Urban Gardens and Peace Education in LA – AFSC Intern Video
- Playing and Practicing Peace in Baltimore
- Learn & Live: Resolving Conflict at O’Farrell Middle School
See MORE VIDEOS...
Sample Catalog Resources
Below you'll find a randomized listing of up to 20 related items (we may have more...) drawn from our Resource Catalog.
Resource Title | Description | Links |
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Violence begets violence, breaking conflict cycles | One page diagram illustrating the cycle of conflict caused by stress in a child. | |
Cultivating Peace in the 21st Century: Ready to Use Student Activities | This 60-page pdf is a lesson pack developed for use in Canadian classrooms. It consists of 7 distinct lessons "designed to actively engage secondary school students in the search for a deep understanding of the forces that can bring about tragedies such as the attack on the World Trade Center, and the means by which they can personally contribute to the ongoing search for peaceful coexistence. It provides teachers and administrators with concrete mechanisms for integrating peace education into the curriculum and the school environment." | |
Practicing peace: A peace education module for youth and young adults in Solomon Islands: 4th draft | 99-page word document developed "to help people resolve interpersonal and inter-group conflict through productive and peaceful strategies, and to teach young people how they can participate in public life. The module is intended for use with youth and young adults in community and school settings in Solomon Islands." Skill areas include: Understanding rights and responsibilities; Understanding cultural diversity; Restorative justice and reconciliation; Gender relationship skills; Ability to live with change; Leadership qualities Conflict prevention; Traditional definitions of peace; Understand[ing] interdependence between individuals and society and Respect[ing] different cultures." | |
Conflict resolution education vs. violence prevention | Word document comparing and contrasting conflict resolution education and violence prevention. | |
Real-World Scenarios for Campus Leaders from Divided Community Project | Created as part of the Divided Community Project’s Virtual Toolkit, these short hypothetical fact patterns propose several divisive incidents on college and university campuses to be used in training and discussion. The examples discuss a range of important issues. For example, how should university administrators respond to student protests against racial injustice? What role, if any, should campus police play when there is student unrest? What policies should schools consider to ensure student safety/well-being and to protect free speech on campus? These are only some of the questions that are worth discussing. The Divided Community Project encourages campus leaders to carefully think through each example, talk through the steps that one would take, consider relevant questions, and develop actionable plans. | |
M.O.V.E.: Mind over violence everywhere | 88-page PDF manual developed to provide learning materials on violence prevention for youth with low literacy skills. The objectives of M.O.V.E. are to: Increase awareness of violence and develop skills to prevent violence, increase literacy through non-traditional learning activities, encourage youth to participate actively and assist the facilitator in recording the workshop responses. The program is organized into five sections: Learning and thinking styles, Communication rights and responsibilities, Peer mediation, Resisting peer pressure and Social action. | |
Bullying behavior chart | Pdf document in table form which outlines three types of bullying, (physical, emotional and social), as well as levels of severity, with behaviors in each section, adapted from, "New Jersey cares about bullying." | |
Youth and Conflict: Best Practices and Lessons Learned | Mercy Corps, as an international NGO focused on "saving and improving lives in the world's toughest places" believes youth are a force for positive change -- the generation that can help transition their countries into productive and secure nations. However, youth are the primary participants in conflict today. The reasons they participate in conflict are multi-dimensional - they lack economic opportunities, political voice and a sense of belonging or connection to their communities. Often the only way young people can imagine changing their predicament is through violence. In Mercy Corps programs the focus is on catalyzing youth's desire for change into positive outlets. This 11-page pdf publication is a sample of Youth and Conflict Best Practices and Lessons Learned drawn from Mercy Corps' programs, other agencies, donors, think tanks and researchers. It is divided into six sections: * General Program Design and Implementation. This section includes advice on training, as it is a central part of many of our youth programs. * Economic Engagement * Political Participation * Youth-to-Community Connections * Youth-to-Youth Connections * Addendum: Lessons from Our Colleagues | |
Conflict Management Week High School Activity Guide | A 30-page guide filled with suggested activities to be used during Conflict Management Week (May 1-7, 2000) in Ohio High Schools. | |
Men stopping rape exercises | Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 6, Number 1, (Nov 2005), which presents a "list of some of the exercises developed by the members of Men Stopping Rape in Madison, WI, for use in anti-rape workshops, I compiled this list for use in Syracuse at a Man-to-Man training program entitled 'Practical Strategies for Ending Abuse: A Skill Training for Educators.'" | |
Educating for Peace and from the University: Memorial Anthology of a Decade | 488-page pdf in Spanish. The UNESCO Chair in Education for Peace was created in November 1996 from a cooperation agreement between the University of Puerto Rico and the Organization of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This Anthology provides an overview of the essays and documents developed in the first decade of activity seeking to promote reflection and attention to the problems of violence and hope and to encourage and provide direction for non-violent action towards peaceful coexistence. The Anthology was released on a commemorative CD and as this downloadable pdf. | |
Creating Spaces for Dialogue - A Role for Civil Society | This manuscript is published by Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) as part of a new GPPAC Dialogue and Mediation series. The stories presented in the book are authored by GPPAC network members who initiated a conversation between communities and societies polarised and divided as a result of conflict. Each story shows how civil society plays a vital role in rebuilding trust and enabling collaborations. The authors describe how the dialogue processes unfolded, and share resulting lessons and observations. They also present their views on the questions that need to be addressed in designing a meaningful process. Is there such a thing as the most opportune moment to initiate a dialogue? Who should introduce the process? How is the process of participant selection approached, and what are the patterns of relationship transformation? Lastly, what follows once confidence and trust have been established? The stories include civil society contributions to normalising inter-state relations between the US and Cuba, and Russia and Georgia and chronicles of community dialogues between Serbians and Albanians in Serbia and Kosovo, and Christians and Muslims in Indonesia. | |
Involvement of law enforcement officers in bullying prevention | Pdf document examining ways in which law enforcement personnel can be involved in the prevention of bullying. | |
2010-2011 Playworks Playbook | Playworks is a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play. The Playbook, a 390-page pdf, provides full descriptions of games and activities appropriate for K-5 school children. They are organized in the following categories: Ice Breakers; Readiness Games; Tag Games; Cooperative Games; Core Playground Games and Sports; Core Games Modifications; and Health and Fitness - FitKid Program. Also included is structured curriculum in Violence Prevention and Peace Promotion. The Violence Prevention materials focus on providing students with a set of foundation skills for preventing violence using a framework called the Five Fingers of Safety. The Peace Promotion materials focus on proactive measures to encourage and foster a healthy community, and can be used with a variety of student groups. | |
Human Total: A Violence Prevention Learning Resource | Human Total is a 303-page pdf manual created by Human Rights Education Association (HREA), the International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP) and the Instituto Mexicano de Investigación Familia y de Población (IMIFAP). Targeted towards young people between the ages of 10 and 14, the manual helps learners understand attitudes that promote violent behavior (often brought about by the misuse of alcohol) by males and cultivates methods to minimise these behaviors' harms and prevent their perpetuation. Human Total contains 32 adaptable lesson plans, including ways to recognise and understand violence in social contexts and techniques for minimising violence through education about human rights and active participation in the community. The manual also features a note for facilitators on how to use it, tools for outreach to parents and guardians, recommendations for additional resources, and eight annexes with supplemental information. The resource was piloted in El Salvador and Kenya. Human Total: A Violence Prevention Learning Resource is currently (July 2013) available in English and will soon be available in Spanish. | |
Preventing, Assessing and Intervening in Teen Dating Abuse | This training guide and related slides and handouts aims to provide school Specialized Instructional Support Personnel with information and skills to identify, assess, effectively intervene in, and prevent teenage dating abuse; as such, it is appropriate for upper middle school and high school communities (and some lower middle school communities). The full training kit with powerpoint and handouts is available at http://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov | |
Why is Everybody Always Picking on Me?: A guide to handling bullies for young people | This 10-chapter 131-page illustrated book, available as a pdf, is for youth ages 8-16. Lively color illustrations, exciting stories, and practical tips and role-playing exercises help give children the tools to avoid being victimized. Topics covered include: Cope with the "Schoolyard Bully"; Stop bullies by using the "School of No Sword"; Gain the confidence to win without fighting. Recipient of the Silver Benjamin Franklin Award. | |
Peer mediation programs: An end to school violence? | On-line journal article which "focuses on the ineffectiveness of PMPs [Peer Mediation Programs] to combat higher-levels of school violence, part I discusses school violence, both past and present, part II explores the shift from traditional methods of discipline to more proactive and education-based methods that are used in many schools today, part III addresses the fundamentals of peer mediation including what it is and how it is implemented, part IV examines which students PMPs should be targeting and why PMPs fail to prevent them from committing violent acts on their schools, finally, the conclusion recommends ways to reduce conflict in schools." | |
Bullying in our schools: protecting GLBT youth | Powerpoint presentation which discusses bullying in schools particularly involving gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgendered youth in schools. | |
Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes, Behaviors, and Influences Among Youths (2nd Ed) | This 373-page compendium, available as a pdf, provides researchers and prevention specialists with a set of tools to assess violence-related beliefs, behaviors, and influences, as well as to evaluate programs to prevent youth violence. Although this compendium contains more than 170 measures, it does not claim to be an exhaustive listing of available measures. Most of the measures in this compendium are intended for use with youths between the ages of 11 and 24 years, to assess such factors as serious violent and delinquent behavior, conflict resolution strategies, social and emotional competencies, peer influences, parental monitoring and supervision, family relationships, exposure to violence, collective efficacy, and neighborhood characteristics. The compendium also contains a number of scales and assessments developed for use with children between the ages of 5 and 10 years, to measure factors such as aggressive fantasies, beliefs supportive of aggression, attributional biases, prosocial behavior, and aggressive behavior. When parent and teacher versions of assessments are available, they are included as well. |