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Exploring Humanitarian Law Curriculum Package

11 November 2011

Exploring Humanitarian Law (EHL) is an adaptable toolkit that gives educators easy-to-use materials to expose students to issues of international humanitarian law, the rules that ensure respect for life and human dignity in war. The toolkit offers educators primary source materials and strategies that reinforce and enrich existing curricula and educational programs. The full curriculum is available for download as a 360+ page pdf.

Humanitarian law is a body of international law that aims to protect human dignity during armed conflict and to prevent or reduce the suffering and destruction that results from war. All nations are party to the Geneva Conventions, and therefore have a legal obligation to encourage the study of humanitarian law as widely as possible. These laws, together with the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, should be viewed as an integral part of today’s basic education.

Aligned with social studies requirements around the country, Exploring Humanitarian Law offers educators activities that can be used as a whole or mixed and matched into current lessons. High-quality materials, including news accounts, photos, letters, videos, case studies and interactive projects bring real events and people to life, helping teachers connect lessons of the past with events of today.

Something is Wrong – Exploring the Roots of Youth Violence

24 November 2010

A 382-page pdf curriculum guide addressing violence in the lives of youth. From the introduction:” The Chicago Freedom School, Project NIA and Teachers for Social Justice have partnered along with other volunteers to develop a curriculum guide in order to contribute to the ongoing efforts by young people and their adult allies to analyze the root causes of youth violence and to create local solutions”

The authors “wanted to create a curriculum that would provide a holistic view of violence in the lives of young people across a number of arenas. Through this curriculum, we want to challenge youth to think about a) the roots of violence in their lives; b) the enforcers and victims of violence; c) the effects of violence on both victims and perpetrators; and d) how violence can ultimately be minimized through systemic changes.”

Summary of Core Skills For Conflict Work

27 October 2010

Peaceworkers UK developed this detailed description of the Core Skills they consider essential for Conflict Work and the vocational standards associated with them.
Core Skill 1: Research Skills
Core Skill 2: Written Communication
Core Skill 3: Verbal Communication
Core Skill 4: Self-Management
Core Skill 5: Conflict Management
Core Skill 6: Observation Skills
Core Skill 7: Teamwork
Core Skill 8: Cultural Sensitivity
Core Skill 9: Gender Awareness

Democratic Dialogue – A Handbook for Practitioners

16 July 2010

This 262-page pdf provides a collection of information and advice from experienced dialogue practitioners and includes numerous international examples to illustrate key ideas. “The Handbook on Democratic Dialogue has been a joint effort of The Canadian International Development Association (CIDA), International IDEA, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), receiving valuable input from a wider network of organizations. This Handbook has been designed to reflect current practice in the field of dialogue and to draw on concrete experiences of practitioners in various regions and of various actors involved in these processes. It seeks to consolidate emerging learning – both in terms of the conceptual framework supporting dialogue, and practical experiences in the design, facilitation and assessment of such processes on the ground. It also offers a comprehensive mapping of the process tools that can be used to support dialogue initiatives, thereby expanding the toolbox currently available to practitioners.”

Ideas for human rights education

30 May 2010

24-page PDF report of a project whose primary aim, “was to document good practices in human rights education across the school sectors in Victoria, and to disseminate interesting and innovative ideas from which schools and teachers can draw, according to their local needs and issues. This resource has three sections entitled Lesson Sparks, Whole School Organisation and Activities and School and Community Partnerships. The activities in each section are not prescriptive, and this resource does not attempt to provide a full curriculum for human rights education. Rather, it is intended that the suggested activities will confirm many current practices in schools as contributing to a human rights agenda, and act as springboards for further ideas for human rights education for schools and their communities.”

National policies on education for democratic citizenship in the Americas: Analytic report

30 May 2010

48-page PDF report with the goal of “address[ing] the gap in the literature on national policies in citizenship education in the Americas, providing an initial “mapping” of these policies, at the formal and non-formal levels. To that end, the analysis focuses on national policies and standards, the school curriculum within which citizenship education is embedded, places and age levels where citizenship education occurs, and the extent to which citizenship programs are evaluated. Twenty-five countries participated in this study. Selected demographic characteristics of the countries are reported in Appendix 1.”

Classrooms in peace: Preliminary results of a multi-component program

30 May 2010

24-page PDF article from the “Ineramerican Journal of Education for Democracy,” vol. 1, no. 1, September, 2007. Abstract: “Classrooms in Peace is aimed at preventing aggressive behaviors and promoting peaceful coexistence through 1) a curriculum for the development of citizenship competencies in the classroom; 2) extracurricular reinforcement in groups of two initially aggressive and four prosocial children; 3) workshops for, visits and phone calls to family mothers/fathers. A first implementation of the complete program showed a drastic decrease in aggressive behaviors and indiscipline and a considerable increase in prosocial behaviors, adherence to rules, and friendship networks among classmates. The combination of universal components and targeted components for those most in need seems to be highly valuable, especially in violent contexts.”

Classrooms in peace: Teaching strategies

30 May 2010

22-page PDF article from the “Interamerican Journal of Education for Democracy, vol. 1, no. 2, June, 2008. Abstract: “In recent times citizenship competencies have arisen as a very valuable alternative for education for democracy and peace. The formative evaluation of the Aulas en Paz program has provided for analyzing various teaching strategies for the development of eight citizenship competencies which are essential for constructive conflict handling and the prevention of aggression – i.e. handling anger, empathy, distance-taking, creative generation of alternatives, considering consequences, active listening, assertiveness, and questioning beliefs. Preliminary results of the Aulas en Paz program were published in the previous issue of this Journal. This paper supplements the previous one by highlighting the teaching strategies that have been most successful in getting these citizenship competencies put into practice in an environment which is motivating and significant for the students.”

Education for global citizenship: A guide for schools

3 May 2010

12-page PDF guide which “gives children and young people the opportunity to develop critical thinking about complex global issues in the safe space of the classroom. This is something that children of all ages need, for even very young children come face to face with the controversial issues of our time through the media and modern communications technology. Far from promoting one set of answers, Education for Global Citizenship encourages children and young people to explore, develop and express their own values and opinions, whilst listening to and respecting other people’s points of view. This is an important step towards children and young people making informed choices as to how they exercise their own rights and their responsibilities to others.

Education for Global Citizenship uses a multitude of participatory teaching and learning methodologies, including discussion and debate, role-play, ranking exercises, and communities of enquiry. These methods are now established as best practice in education, and are not unique to Education for Global Citizenship. However, used in conjunction with a global perspective, they will help young people to learn how decisions made by people in other parts of the world affect our lives, just as our decisions affect the lives of others.”

Learning to live together: Building skills, values and attitudes for the 21st Century

22 December 2009

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.”

Conflict resolution: Citizenship education for young people with special needs

8 September 2009

27-page PDF document which aims to, “develop positive models for dealing with conflict and to practise appropriate responses to deal with conflict.” Includes examples of use of universal access symbols to increase retention and understanding when working with low literacy participants and students in special education classrooms.

Collaboration across fields: Implementation and sustainability of SEL, CRE, PE and CE

7 August 2009

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.”

Peace education curriculum: Programa pendidiken damai (pdf)

15 April 2009

84-page pdf translation of the Indonesian “Kurikulum Pendidikan Damai” which “was the first of its kind to be developed in Indonesia, representing peace education from an Islamic and Acehnese perspective. It promotes a positive, comprehensive peace encompassing peaceful relations with God the Creator, with oneself, with one’s fellow humans, and with the environment. The curriculum teaches communal peace in accordance with the positive Islamic approach, namely the absence of war and discrimination and the necessity of justice in society. This manual emphasizes that peace is neither a subjugation to situations nor a passive acceptance of injustice, discrimination, and war, but rather a recognition of these problems and addressing them in a peaceful manner. The curriculum also stresses the importance of process and ends, since peace is both process and results, as reflected in active involvement of students in a system of learning by doing … The materials and learning activities were authored in such a manner to allow the students dominant roles in the learning process. The students are guided to observe, analyze, and seek for solutions to existing conflicts. We feel that this strategy can better improve the students’ knowledge on conflict and peace, build their skills in managing conflicts without violence, and actualize them all in their real life.”

Peace education curriculum: Programa pendidiken damai

15 April 2009

92-page word document translation of the Indonesian “Kurikulum Pendidikan Damai” which “was the first of its kind to be developed in Indonesia, representing peace education from an Islamic and Acehnese perspective. It promotes a positive, comprehensive peace encompassing peaceful relations with God the Creator, with oneself, with one’s fellow humans, and with the environment. The curriculum teaches communal peace in accordance with the positive Islamic approach, namely the absence of war and discrimination and the necessity of justice in society. This manual emphasizes that peace is neither a subjugation to situations nor a passive acceptance of injustice, discrimination, and war, but rather a recognition of these problems and addressing them in a peaceful manner. The curriculum also stresses the importance of process and ends, since peace is both process and results, as reflected in active involvement of students in a system of learning by doing … The materials and learning activities were authored in such a manner to allow the students dominant roles in the learning process. The students are guided to observe, analyze, and seek for solutions to existing conflicts. We feel that this strategy can better improve the students’ knowledge on conflict and peace, build their skills in managing conflicts without violence, and actualize them all in their real life.”

Practicing peace: A peace education module for standards 4 through 6 in Solomon Islands

15 April 2009

87-page pdf document which presents peace education for the Solomon Islands context. “The primary method used in peace education is generally referred to as a “facilitated” or “interactive” model of teaching. In this method, the teacher becomes a facilitator of learning and a co-learner with the students. Students and teachers use experiential strategies to practice skills for peace. There is a shift in the value placed on being a teacher. Using the facilitated processes of conflict resolution and peace education, teachers and students learn together and teach each other.” Covered areas include: Interpersonal skills; Understanding and accepting differences; Children’s rights; Building community and Mediation.