Comprehensive CRE Program Creation – Conflict Resolution Education Connection

Restorative Approaches in Schools A Guide for School Managers and Governors

28 January 2014

Restorative approaches provide schools with a range of practices which promote mutually respectful relationships and manage behaviour and conflict, address bullying and absences and build community cohesion. Restorative approaches are not new, but offer a framework upon which to build on existing good practice. There is a wealth of evidence that shows how the use of restorative approaches alongside Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL), helps to develop more resilient and self regulating learners, thus creating positive learning environments.

This 25-page guide describes the underpinning philosophy of restorative approaches and their links to current developments in education, gives advice on implementation and through case studies, shows the impact on individuals, classes and whole school policy and practice. It sets out how restorative approaches can create a positive ethos, change perspectives of pupils, staff and parents and offer viable and successful alternatives to traditional conflict resolution approaches. The purpose is to connect and re-engage everyone on the learning journey.

Media Toolkit for Restorative Justice Organisations

28 January 2014

This 100+ page media toolkit presents 10 chapters of practical advice on doing a promotional campaign supporting restorative justice. It was prepared within the framework of the project Building social support for restorative justice, implemented by the European Forum for Restorative Justice (EFRJ) and the partner organisations, between April 2008 and April 2010, and co-financed by the European Commission. The Building social support for restorative justice project has tried to answer three main questions:
1) How can interaction and cooperation with the media be set up in order to inform and educate the public about restorative justice (RJ)?
2) How can cooperation be developed with civil society organi- sations in order to create broad support for RJ?
3) How can we increase the involvement of individual citizens in the functioning of local RJ programmes?

The resulting media toolkit covers the following topics:
Tool one – Strategic communication planning
Tool two – Understanding the media
Tool three – Building media relationships
Tool four: Developing ethical guideline
Tool five – Press release and media events
Tool sixâ€“ Giving interviews
Tool seven- Media public campaigns
Tool eight- Exploring new media
Tool nine- Communication for social change
Tool ten- Taking design seriously

Changing Children’s Trajectories of Development

10 September 2010

This research brief describes one of the largest and longest running school-based violence prevention programs in the country–the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (RCCP)–and discusses the results of a rigorous evaluation of its effectiveness conducted by the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. The brief is designed to inform federal, state, and local policymakers and opinion leaders, as well as program developers and managers at the local level, of an effective strategy for directly addressing the problem of violence among children and youth. The evaluation assessed the impact of the RCCP program on children’s developmental trajectories toward violence, providing concrete evidence that early school-based violence prevention initiatives such as the RCCP can work and should be included in communities’ efforts to prevent violence among children and youth.

GIRC Annotated Bibliography of Conflict Resolution Resources

25 April 2010

An annotated bibliography from the Global Issues Resource Center on conflict resolution resources covering the topics of bullying prevention, classroom management, and trauma & violence prevention. Includes books, curricula, videotapes, simulations and games.

Beginning with the Children – A guide to creating a Peace Helpers program, grades K-2

9 March 2010

This 73-page guide presents a field-tested, step-by-step process schools can use to train and support young students (K-2) in serving as â€œpeace helpersâ€ in their classrooms. After training sessions to develop their skills in listening, handling feelings, and mediating conflicts, they help their teacher establish a peace corner. Upon request they are available to work in the peace corner, listening to a student who is upset or helping two classmates talk out a conflict.

Chapter 1 of the guide describes the Peace Helpers Program at P.S. 24 in Brooklyn, NY, to provide a vision of what’s possible. Chapter 2 describes the ingredients for a successful program and a process a school planning team can use to decide whether now is the time for a Peace Helpers Program at their school. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 describe the steps for establishing and sustaining the program, including detailed agendas for workshop sessions to train the peace helpers. The Appendix has handouts for the peace helpers’ training and other aids for implementing the program.

Peer Mediation Student Handbook – Mediator Mentors

28 February 2010

58 page mediation training manual in .doc format used to train peer mediators working at the elementary school level. Used as part of the Mediator Mentor program at California State University Fresno. The program is a university-public school partnership in which future teachers, counselors, social workers and school psychologists support the development of conflict resolution skills in school children. Teachers and students in the public schools receive eight to 10 hours of communication and conflict resolution training and university students coach and mentor at lunch periods. More than 5,000 children and teachers have participated in the program as of Spring 2010.

Introducing cooperation and conflict resolution into schools: A systems approach

1 February 2010

29-page PDF chapter in the 2001 publication: Peace, conflict and violence: Peace psychology for the 21st Century by D.J. Christie, R.V. Wagner and D.A. Winter. The chapter argues the fundamental importance of a systemic approace to peace and conflict resolution education. The authors discuss five levels of “school systems through which one can introduce cooperation and conflict resolution concepts, skills, and processes: Level 1, the student disciplinary system; Level 2, the curriculum; Level 3, pedagogy; and Level 4, the school culture and Level 5, the communityâ€”will enhance the view of the school system as an â€œopen systemâ€ embedded in a larger communal system which can aid in the sustainability of school system change.”

Human rights education in the school systems of Europe, Central Asia and North America: A compendium

22 December 2009

239-page PDF, “compendium of good practice [it] is a compilation of 101 examples of good practice in human rights education in primary schools,ssecondary schools and teacher training institutions … the term “human rights education” is often used in this resource in a broader sense, to also include education for democratic citizenship and education for mutual respect and understanding, which are all based on internationally agreed human rights standards. These three areas are seen as interconnected and essential within educational systems in order to prepare youth to be active, responsible and caring participants in their communities, as well as at the national and global levels … this book aims to support quality teaching in these areas and to inspire educational policymakers (those working in education ministries and local school boards) and administrators, teachers, teacher trainers, non-formal educators and all other interested actors, as well as to facilitate networking and the exchange of experience among education professionals.”

A companion website with additional examples and documents is available at http://bit.ly/2uUsv65

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 â€˜learning to live togetherâ€™ 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 â€˜knowledgeâ€™ objectives. The aim of the study is to discover â€˜what worksâ€™ 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 communitiesâ€”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.”

PeaceKidz manual

17 November 2009

101-page Word document created by PeacekidZ, “a program that aims to develop children’s ability to understand, analyze and resolve conflicts in their everyday lives. PeacekidZ teaches children the three R’s of conflict resolution: recognize, respect, resolve.” “Through each year of PeaceKidZ, each group of SAIS student teachers builds a curriculum detailing the lessons and activities they taught during the course of the nine-week program. They then compile these into a final document. The Conflict Management Toolkit will assemble and offer these curricula as a resource for other universities and outreach programs that are interested in developing similar programs. We will also provide a bibliography with more detailed books and resources on teaching. Currently, the manual from the first year of PeaceKidZ and a bibliography of the materials SAIS students consult to design the program are available for download.”

Manual for community colleges developing programs in peace and conflict studies: 1st ed.

17 November 2009

96-page PDF, “Manual [which] is a product of a collaboration in which lessons learned are shared on developing programs, certificates, and degrees in the field for community colleges. It is a resource for faculty and administrators authored by faculty and administrators. The chapters submitted reflect a range of approaches and writing styles â€“ some informal, others more rigorous. The authors generally approached topics in a generic way providing recommendations that could be used in a range of institutions. Some pieces reflect looking at one institution and its efforts in a case study approach and then focusing on lessons learned. Overall, the chapters demonstrate the range of strategies that community colleges â€“ arguably the most diverse and varied academic institutions in the U.S. today – are taking to teaching about peace and conflict issues. As such, the writing is reflective of the topics and settings they arise from. It is the intent of the editors that chapters will continue to be edited, updated, revised, and new articles added as the field develops and community college involvement increases.”

Conflict negotiation skills for youth

22 July 2009

186-page PDF training manual on Conflict Negotiation Skills for Youth. The manual is directed at government and nongovernmental organization personnel working with young people. It presents a variety of participatory training methods and exercises. Users are encouraged to refine and adapt the materials. The contents are organized as follows: Conflict Negotiation Skills for Youth: Facilitator’s Guide
Section I: Youth and the conflicts they face in daily life, Session 1: Understanding youth, Session 2: Understanding conflict, Section II: Techniques for resolving intra-personal conflicts, Session 3: Self-awareness, Session 4: Communication, Session 5: Negotiation, Session 6: Mediation, Section III: Techniques for resolving group conflict, Session 7: Group building, Session 8: Team building and cooperation, and Session 9: Advocacy for youth development References.

Peace education in UNICEF: Working paper

30 June 2009

52-page PDF paper “produced to describe Peace Education programmes in UNICEF. Peace education programmes have been developed in a number of UNICEF country offices and National Committees for UNICEF over the past decade. Ideas are continually evolving about how to use the full range of children’s educational experiences to promote commitment to principles of peace and social justice. The purpose of this working paper is to stimulate further discussion and networking among UNICEF colleagues, to move towards a clearer articulation of good practice in Peace Education, and to pave the way for further exploration of how best to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of this area of UNICEF activity.”

5 June 2009

199-page pdf manual in French which “provides practical research- and expert-based information on school-based programs to prevent interpersonal violence. We review 79 prevention programs (18 in the French version). Each has research evidence, addresses unique “at-risk” populations, such as children with disabilities, or uses innovative approaches to engaging youth.”

School-based violence prevention programs: A resource manual