Peace Education Resources
A great deal of exciting educational reform and just generally good teaching falls under the heading of Peace Education. According to one international authority on this, “Peace education is a participatory holistic process that includes teaching for and about democracy and human rights, nonviolence, social and economic justice, gender equality, environmental sustainability, disarmament, traditional peace practices, international law, and human security” (Hague Appeal for Peace, 2005)
Conflict Resolution Education is typically understood to focus on the local/domestic level while the focus of Peace Education is generally more global in perspective. Peace Education also “has a stronger emphasis on social justice orientations and larger systemic issues of violence than conflict education programs” (Jones, 2004).
A portion of the growing collection of free Peace Education print resources found in our catalog is displayed at the bottom of this page. You can also choose to directly browse the full list of items categorized under peace education in our catalog. Other especially relevant materials include
- our collection of conference presentations
- our International Directory of Organizations (try searching on the term “peace” to refine the results)
- and the Manual for Community Colleges Developing Programs in Peace and Conflict Studies
all of which are hosted by our site. Lots of good content!
If you are interested in a broader bibliography of Peace Education readings, check out this Peace Education resource collection from Ian Harris and Mary Lee Morrison.
Videos of Possible Interest
- The S.T.A.R. Conflict Resolution strategy – Webinar Archive
- The Day After Peace – Classroom-Ready Version
- Peace Ed Skill-Building at Home Video Series
- The power of peace education in action
- Children in Armed Conflict
- Peace One Day Global Truce 2012
- Teaching Humanitarian Law with Raid Cross
- Power of Peace Network Introduction
- Seeing Both Sides of a Story
- Peace Learning
- Conflict Prevention the GPPAC Way
- Elementary Students Using Their Playground Peace Bridge
- Peace Studies at Greenfield Community College (promotional video example)
- What is Peace Education (Overview Animation)
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Training Module for Education for a Culture of Peace | This module, released in January 1999, is based on experiences working in Sierra-Leone. It was written to provide some relevant information on practical ideas to enhance women's traditional conflict resolution and mediating practices since they are also stakeholders in conflict situations but are often left out in conflict resolution initiatives. The material is divided into 8 units. Unit 1 - Understanding Gender and distinguishing between Gender and Sex Roles Unit 2 - Trauma Healing and Counselling Unit 3 - Conflict Resolution Unit 4 - Gender Awareness in Conflict Resolution/Reconciliation, Concept of Repentance and Forgiveness Unit 5 - Mediation and the role of Women in Peace Building within the Family, the Community, the School and the total Social Environment Unit 6 - Raising Awareness of Gender Issues and Peace Building through the use of Drama Unit 7 - Understanding Basic Rights and Freedom and their Limitations Unit 8 - Practices for sustaining Peace after the Resolution of Conflict/Institutionalizing transformation | |
| Learning to Live Together: An intercultural and interfaith programme for ethics education | Learning to Live Together is an interfaith and intercultural programme for Ethics Education that contributes to nurturing ethical values in children and young people. The programme was developed by the Interfaith Council on Ethics Education for Children in close collaboration with UNESCO and UNICEF and tested through the Global Network of Religions for Children to contribute to the realization of the Right of the Child to full and healthy physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development, and to education as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), in article 26.1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), in the World Declaration on Education for all and in the Millennium Development Goals. Learning to Live Together is a programme for educators (teachers, youth leaders, social workers) to nurture ethical values and spirituality in children and youth that will help them strengthen their identity and critical thinking, ability to make well grounded decisions, respect and work with people of other cultures and religions, and foster their individual and collective responsibilities in a global community. Learning to Live Together is built in two modules, “Understanding Self and Others†and “Transforming the World togetherâ€. It is based on four ethical values: respect, empathy, responsibility and reconciliation. The learning process focuses on methodologies based on experience, cooperation, problem solving, discussions and introspection. Additional materials and versions in other languages are available at http://www.ethicseducationforchildren.org | |
| Committed to building peace: The City Montessori School in India | Third online chapter from, "Education That Makes a Difference: Success Stories for Conflict Resolution Educators," describes the City Montessori School in Lucknow, India. CMS is the largest private school in the world and is dedicated to teaching peace education. Original Source: Chapter 11 from People Building Peace II: Successful Stories Of Civil Society (Project of the European Centre for Conflict Prevention) by Paul Van Tongeren, Malin Brenk, Marte Hellema, and Juliette Verhoeven (Eds), Lynne Rienner Publishers (2005) | |
| Inter-agency P.E.P.: Skills for constructive living: Facilitators and trainers training guide | 13-page pdf manual which is "one of the components of the "Inter-agency Peace Education Programme." "The programme is designed for education managers of ministries dealing with both formal and non-formal education and for agencies which implement education activies on behalf of the government ... This training guide in peace education is divided into four areas: content, method, environment (both physical and psychological) and output (or product). Often method and psychological are dealt with together as there is overlap." | |
| Learning About Human Rights | In 2008, the United Nations initiated a year of human rights learning to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the UK, UNA-UK teamed up with UNESCO Associated Schools to produce materials to help secondary school teachers and students explore human rights together. The resource, now posted to the web as a series of pdfs, contains a teacher's handbook with slide presentations and corresponding factsheets for students. The five topics covered are: - the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights - the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - child rights and armed conflict - child rights and climate change - human rights and international development | |
| Peace Education for Youth: A Toolkit for Advocacy and Planning | In 2022, the Global Campaign for Peace Education identified a concerning gap between youth’s desire for peace education and its implementation in their schools and communities. To mitigate this, the Global Campaign Youth Research Team developed ‘Peace Education for Youth: A Toolkit for Advocacy and Planning’ to support students across the world in advocating for the integration of peace education opportunities in their schools, universities, and communities. This 35-page "living" toolkit was designed to provide information on what peace education is, how it might be practically implemented, and how to advocate for it in various contexts. | |
| Workshop on peace education for educators in Southeast Asia: January 19 to 23, 2009 | 2-page Word report on a workshop for peace educators which "sought to train a core of formal and community educators on the knowledge base, attitudes, and skills that comprise peace education; encourage them to generate doable action plans that they can implement in their schools, organizations and/or communities; encourage them to serve as a beginning core team for the promotion of peace education in their country." | |
| Learning to live together: Building skills, values and attitudes for the 21st Century | 167-page pdf study which, "represents an attempt to interpret the aim of ‘learning to live together’ as a synthesis of many related goals, such as education for peace, human rights, citizenship and health-preserving behaviours. It focuses specifically on the skills, values, attitudes and concepts needed for learning to live together, rather than on ‘knowledge’ objectives. The aim of the study is to discover ‘what works’ in terms of helping students learn to become politely assertive rather than violent, to understand conflict and its prevention, to become mediators, to respect human rights, to become active and responsible members of their communities—as local, national and global citizens, to have balanced relationships with others and neither to coerce others nor be coerced, especially into risky health behaviours ... The recommendation emerging from the study for national policy-makers and curriculum specialists is that a core national team of educators committed to the goals of peace-building, human rights, active citizenship and preventive health should be created, in order to put together and pilot test materials and methodologies related to these goals." | |
| Peace bridges: Newsletter of Peace Education Centers, issue #10, 2007 | Pdf newsletter of a conflict resolution education program in Armenia, with most stories written by school children. | |
| Art for Peace Art Start Cards | A set of art start cards that provide 5 conflict resolution concepts for students to choose as a theme, 10-15 different art project ideas, and 6 different art tips. These cards also include a glossary for what might be unfamiliar art terms and the art supplies helpful in creating art projects. | |
| Peacebuilding Toolkit for Educators - High School Edition | The Peacebuilding Toolkit for Educators is designed to support the work of educators as peacebuilders. It is a resource developed by and for educators, to help introduce peacebuilding themes and skills into the classroom. The Toolkit can help develop students’ understanding of, and interest in, global peacebuilding, and develop their skills and capacities to act as peacebuilders. It can help teachers develop their own understanding of key concepts and skills, and enhance their capacity to teach about global peacebuilding themes and issues. There are two volumes of the toolkit––one for middle school and one for high school. The High School Edition of the toolkit is designed for a general audience of students in grades 9–12 (ages 14–18). The content can be modified for older students and some of the content can be modified for younger students. High school students are at an ideal stage to talk about peace and conflict, to view the world as an evolving system of relationships, and to prepare themselves to make a positive impact through their choices and actions today and in the future. The lessons have been developed with great detail to be useful for educators who are new to the methods employed that engage students in experiential learning and critical thinking. The toolkit is organized around basic themes within the field of international conflict management. Theme 1: Conflict is an inherent part of the human condition. Theme 2: Violent conflict can be prevented. Theme 3: There are many ways to be a peacebuilder. The 15 lessons in the toolkit are interactive and encourage students to work collaboratively to understand concepts and solve problems. The lessons are designed to be detailed enough for a new teacher or a teacher unfamiliar with interactive or experiential methods to pick them up and use them as intended. | |
| Quaker Peacemakers Poster Collection | This set of 10 letter-size posters describes the work of 9 Quakers (members of the Religious Society of Friends) active in various domains of peacemaking. Featured peacemakers include Lewis Fry Richardson, Adam Curle, Bayard Rustin, Elise Boulding, Kenneth Boulding, Priscilla Prutzman, Jennifer Beer, Bill Kreidler and George Lakey. Also featured is the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP), a Quaker-founded program working in prisons and community settings. Each poster includes a quote, a stylized picture and biographical background information on the featured person or project. | |
| Education that makes a difference: Success stories for conflict resolution educators | Online version of an introductory chapter to conflict resolution education and peace studies, with challenges to successful programs, information about Peace Boat (a program for students), best practices, a bibliography and resource list. Original Source: Chapter 11 from People Building Peace II: Successful Stories Of Civil Society (Project of the European Centre for Conflict Prevention) by Paul Van Tongeren, Malin Brenk, Marte Hellema, and Juliette Verhoeven (Eds), Lynne Rienner Publishers (2005) | |
| Participatory Theatre for Conflict Transformation Training Manual | Participatory Theatre for Conflict Transformation is a way for artists to apply their creative energy to the cause of lasting peace. This 50-page manual, developed by Search for Common Ground while working in the Democratic Republic of Congo, provides background information on the use of participatory theatre as well as workshop and presentation strategies honed in more than 600 performances in front of more than 500,000 spectators. | |
| Collaboration across fields: Implementation and sustainability of SEL, CRE, PE and CE | 73-page PDF conference reader from the two-day summit, "Collaboration across Fields: Implementation and Sustainability of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), Conflict Resolution Education (CRE), Peace Education (PE), and Citizenship Education (CE), held in Cleveland, Ohio on June 19th and 20th, 2009. The conference "brought together government representatives from among the 50 states and invited countries (Ghana, Kenya, Montenegro, Philippines) and their non-governmental organization partners. Organizations were invited because of their interest in developing legislation and policy in peace education, social and emotional learning, conflict resolution education, and/or civics education and their interest in securing ways to strengthen implementation and achieve sustainability of these efforts ... this capacity building summit offered a dynamic opportunity to develop a global infrastructure to advance the work in the fields of conflict resolution education, peace education, social and emotional learning, and citizenship education. The summit brought together policymakers, researchers and educators representing regions across the United States and select member countries of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict GPPAC). These national and international guests exchanged successful macro level policy design and implementation models at the state-wide or national level, and macro level evaluation methodology and tools for states and countries. Specific areas of focus included: Teacher education, research and evaluation, and policy implementation options for primary, elementary and secondary education at the national or state levels." | |
| Inter-agency P.E.P.: Skills for constructive living: Facilitators manual for community workshops | 118-page pdf manual which "is one of the components of the Inter-Agency Peace Education Programme, the programme is designed for education managers of ministries dealing with both formal and non-formal education and for agencies which implement education activities on behalf of the government ... this manual is a guide to the way the course should be constructed, it gives activities and handouts as well as an idea of some information on the philosophy of peace education." | |
| Education for Peace: a resource guide for educators and the community | This 16-page booklet, written by Arthur Romano with assistance from Laura Simms, offers and introduction to the field of peace education. Presented in conjunction with the Newark Peace Education Summit held in May of 2011. | |
| Pioneer Peace Pack | This resource collection includes information and activities for groups of 10 - 12 year olds who are participating in the U.K.-based outdoor education group known as the Woodcraft Folk. The resource includes instructor overviews and associated handouts and reading materials for activities focused on the following themes: Bullying, Conflict Resolution, War Toys, War Detectives, Child Soldiers and Positive About Peace. The Conflict Resolution module alone includes 6 separate activities. The Woodcraft Folk group describes their goals as follows: "Our aim is to have great fun, but also to try and develop children’s self-confidence and build their awareness of society around them. Through our activities, outings and camps we help our members understand important issues like the environment, world debt and global conflict and, in recent years, we have focused on sustainable development. By encouraging children to think, we hope they will help build a peaceful, fairer world." | |
| Peace and Non-Violence Curriculum - Grade 12 Social Studies | This 218-page curriculum guide is designed for use with grade 12 Social Studies classes, but can be adapted for grades 7-11. It provides a 12-week structured curriculum exploring topics related to Peace and Nonviolence. Weekly themes include Poverty as a Form of Violence; Violence and Conditioning; Non-violent Change; Working Together; Oriental Philosophies; Western Philosophies; The United Nations; The Ethics of War and Peace; The Science of Matter and Energy; The Problems of Disarmament; Economic Conversion; and One World Beyond War. | |
| Eight Ways to Celebrate the International Day of Peace with Your Family | A 3-page pdf prepared by PeaceFirst providing creative and fun ways for families to celebrate the International Day of Peace. Provides links to materials in the PeaceFirst Digital Activity Center. |