16-page PDF article in which author, Stan Steiner discusses teaching about peace and conflict resolution using children’s literature. He believes that the instructor should: have more books than readers, have a wide variety of books in terms of level of difficulty, length and points of view and make sure that readers consume a number of books. Steiner mentions small group discussions vs large group discussions, providing readers with open ended questions prior to reading assignments and being open to differing points of view. The article concludes with a 10-page bibliography.
Archive
Conflict resolution protocol for elementary classrooms, A
4-page PDF excerpt from the book, “The First Six Weeks of School” which discusses teaching conflict resolution, “a basic belief underlying The Responsive Classroom® approach to teaching is that how children learn to treat one another is as important as what they learn in reading, writing, and arithmetic. We believe that social skills such as cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, and selfcontrol are essential to children’s academic and social success and we emphasize the teaching of these skills, along with academics, throughout the school day. There are many strategies we use to teach these social skills at the elementary level (K-6), one of which is teaching a protocol for conflict resolution.”
Flirting or hurting?: Teacher guide, grade 6-9
9-page PDF teacher’s guide which accompanies 3 filmed programs on sexual harrassment, “two of the modules target students, and one targets teachers. Throughout the student programs, the host, an older sister character, provides definitions, explanations and insights based on her own experiences … the two 15-minute classroom programs include breaks for discussions or activities. These programs are appropriate for coeducational Health, Guidance, Family & Consumer Science, English, Social Studies, Physical Education, and New Student Orientation classes, or Vocational shops in grades 6 through 9.”
Building bridges in conflict areas: Educational report
23-page PDF report in which, “the reader is invited for an overview of the methods, theories and tools that were offered to the participants. It shows how the process of theoretical presentation becomes “alive” when participants interact with trainers and share their opinions through brainstorming or reflecting on the concepts that were discussed for a better understanding of conflict resolution … Theoretical inputs, practical exercises, thematic energizers and interactive activities created suitable atmosphere to raise awareness among participants, deepen their knowledge and raise their skills and abilities in pro-active interventions in youth field of conflict zones. Mainly during the two last days of the training course, participants were involved in partnership building activities.”
Impact of violence on learning for youth: What can we do?
35-page PDF report that focuses “on the words of the interviewees, particularly the youth—both in school and out of school—and what they tell educators and others working in educational programs about what we can do to support learning.” In writing the report the author wanted to understand “how violence affects learning, and to examine how school responses played a part in creating this picture. Most importantly I wanted to look for ways to strengthen the possibilities of supporting learning for youth in high schools and in youth literacy and training programs.”
Restorative Practices in Catholic School Communities: Audit Tools
33-page pdf providing 9 different assessment instruments for schools developing restorative practice initiatives. Prepared in Australia, “The…Audit Tools for Restorative Practices have been developed by the Student Wellbeing Team of the Catholic Education Office (Melbourne) for use by the Core Leadership Team and staff in the school. The purpose of the tools is to provide…both quantitative and qualitative data regarding the implementation of Restorative Practices strategies at the school level.”
Evaluation report: Life skills project implementation in the Armenian education system
45-page PDF report which
“represents an evaluation of implementation of the Life Skills Project being conducted in the Armenian education system as [a] component of an overall effort in education reform … the project was piloted in the first and fifth grades in 16 schools in 1999-2000. In 2000-2001 the project was expanded to 100 schools and to the second and sixth grades. UNICEF provided funding and some logistical support and the MOES provided administrative and logistical project support and workspace for the curriculum development team.”
Evaluation report: Life skills project implementation in the Armenian education system
45-page Word report which
“represents an evaluation of implementation of the Life Skills Project being conducted in the Armenian education system as [a] component of an overall effort in education reform … the project was piloted in the first and fifth grades in 16 schools in 1999-2000. In 2000-2001 the project was expanded to 100 schools and to the second and sixth grades. UNICEF provided funding and some logistical support and the MOES provided administrative and logistical project support and workspace for the curriculum development team.”
Peace education curriculum: Programa pendidiken damai (pdf)
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
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.”
Conflict Resolution Education in Indonesia: Mapping Adaptations and Meanings
This study, available as a pdf, examined the ways professors in teacher education departments in two universities in East Java translated and adapted Conflict Resolution Education (CRE) methods. To map the ways they adapted and understood cooperative learning (CL) and non-coercive classroom management (NCCM), a critical ethnography (a blend of ethnography and action research) was done based on Carspecken’s (1996) design. It was conducted from October 2004 to February 2008 in two universities in East Java. The results were based upon field work that included passive and participatory observations, semi-structured interviews, document analysis, surveys, and critical dialogues with primary informants. Analysis was framed using Roger’s (1995) diffusion stages. Findings indicated that although there were some very serious challenges to the adoption of these two innovations, there were points where bridges could be built in both practice and understanding. Barriers included informants’ struggles to shift from teacher-centered to student-centered instruction while still maintaining culturally prescribed expressions of authority. Related themes were challenges instructors encountered in engaging students through facilitation practices and reciprocal communication.
Strategies to prevent youth violence
92-page pdf chapter from “Best Practices of Youth Violence Prevention: A Sourcebook for Community Action,” which investigates “Social-cognitive interventions strive to equip children with the skills they need to deal effectively with difficult social situations, such as being teased or being the last one picked to join a team. They build on Bandura’s social-cognitive theory, which posits that children learn social skills by observing and interacting with parents, adult relatives and friends, teachers, peers, and others in the environment, including media role models (Bandura 1986). Social-cognitive interventions incorporate didactic teaching, modeling, and role-playing to enhance positive social interactions, teach nonviolent methods for resolving conflict, and establish or strengthen nonviolent beliefs in young people … Mentoring—the pairing of a young person with a volunteer who acts as a supportive, nonjudgmental role model—has been touted by many as an excellent means of providing a child or adolescent with a positive adult influence when such an influence does not otherwise exist. Evidence has shown that mentoring can significantly improve school attendance and performance, reduce violent behavior, decrease the likelihood of drug use, and improve relationships with friends and parents.”
Peace education: A pathway to a culture of peace
178-page pdf document which “helps the educator, whether in formal or non formal settings, to understand that peace is a holistic concept and state of being and that it can not be learned in the traditional lecture-note taking-testing framework. Indeed, peace education can be integrated into many disciplines. The culture of peace must replace the culture of violence if we and our home, planet Earth, are to survive … teaching the value of tolerance, understanding and respect for diversity among the school children could be introduced through exposing them to various countries of the world, their geography, history, and culture. At the appropriate levels, curricula must include human rights, the rules governing international law, the United Nations Charter, the goals of our global organization, disarmament, sustainable development and other peace issues. The participation of young people in this process is very essential. Their inputs in terms of their own ideas on how to cooperate with each other in order to eliminate violence in our societies must be fully taken into account. In addition to expanding the capacity of the students to understand the issues, peace education aims particularly at empowering the students, suited to their individual levels, to become agents of peace and nonviolence in their own lives as well as in their interaction with others in every sphere of their existence … We have organized the book into three sections. Part I presents chapters that are meant to help us develop a holistic understanding of peace and peace education. Part II discusses the key themes in peace education. Each chapter starts with a conceptual essay on a theme and is followed by some practical teaching-learning ideas that can either be used in a class or adapted to a community setting. Part III focuses on the peaceable learning climate and the educator, the agent who facilitates the planting and nurturing of the seeds of peace in the learning environment. Finally, the whole school approach is introduced to suggest the need for institutional transformation and the need to move beyond the school towards engagement with other stakeholders in the larger society.”
Induction pack for tutors of citizenship education: Global conflict
29-page pdf packet to help trainees “understand the nature of global conflict, understand how issues of global conflict relate to citizenship and use issues of global conflict in their teaching in secondary schools.” Includes bibliography.
Briefing paper for trainee teachers of citizenship education: Resolving conflict between countries
6-page pdf briefing paper which “aims to introduce pupils to the values of open-mindedness and respect for others’ views, teachers should concentrate their approach on analysing with students how such destructive and confrontational situations arise, and how they can be avoided … a commitment by states to this process is articulated in Article 2(3) of the United Nations (UN) Charter, in which they agree to settle their disputes by peaceful means, these means are outlined explicitly in Article 33(1), which proclaims that states “shall seek early settlement of their international disputes by negotiation, inquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement, resort to regional agencies or other peaceful means of their choice.â€