Conflict Resolution in Public Schools

PBS Correspondent Judy Valente reports on Conflict Resolution Circles – practices rooted in Quaker, Mennonite and North American Indian spirituality, and how two Kansas schools use the ’circle’ method to end the revolving door of suspension and expulsion of students. Teachers say they hope the students will take the peace making skills they learn at school out into their communities.

Promoting SEAL through circle time

7-page PDF document promoting Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning through circle time for secondary students. “Circle time sessions provide a potential vehicle for the classroom delivery of the SEAL curriculum. Circle time is a time set aside each week when a whole class of young people and their teacher sit in a circle and explicitly engage in a structured programme of games, experiential activities, discussion and relaxation strategies … It aims to provide an emotionally safe forum for participants to engage with a range of key issues, including peer relationships, conflict resolution, shared goal setting, justice, friendship, democratic principles, respect for individual differences and freedom of choice.”

Teaching and learning in circle

Pdf article from Conflict Management in Higher Education Report, Volume 3, Number 2, (February 2003), which “explores the impact of teaching using a circle format, both at the high school and college level.”