Evaluation report on progress made through the OSCE’s efforts to unify the Gymnasium Mostar: Summer

51-page Word evaluation “of the unification of the Gymnasium Mostar in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), as commissioned by the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to BiH … the Gymnasium Mostar was an historic and premier secondary school prior to the war of 1992-1995. It was completely destroyed during the war and had become the centre of an effort to revitalize the historic Mostar downtown. An initiative to restore the multinational and high-quality nature of the school was viewed as an opportunity to use this divided school in this divided city as a model or beacon for potential reform efforts throughout the country.”

Teaching tolerance: Posters and stuff

Website that allows free downloads of posters, fliers, stickers and web banners to accompany the Mix It Up program sponsored by Teaching Tolerance, a Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Making friends, being friends: Cooperative conversations for grades K-6

26-page pdf handbook which “show[s] K-6 teachers how Mix It Up themes can be woven into classroom discussions, issues, events, holidays, routines and academic content. Mix It Up is about talking with and connecting with those around you. The lessons center on group conversations combined with cooperative learning — termed “cooperative conversations” in this handbook. These conversations help children reach across social boundaries, get to know each other and gain respect for different viewpoints.”

Mixitup: 2008-2009 planner

50-page pdf document, “designed for teachers, counselors, students, administrators and others looking for activities and ideas to organize Mix It Up at Lunch Day, reduce social boundaries at school and promote an inclusive learning environment for all students. It includes lesson plans for early, middle and upper grades based on content standards and can easily be adapted for use in school clubs. For additional activity ideas, online polls and essay prompts, visit www.mixitup.org.”

Global education guidelines: A handbook for educators to understand and implement global education

85-page pdf handbook “written on the premise that educational processes in formal and non-formal settings should open the path to a better understanding of an increasingly globalised world. It also raises important issues about the professional responsibilities of educators and teachers and the role of schools and different organisations and institutions in raising global awareness and knowledge on worldwide issues across the curriculum and in non-formal projects and activities … this document should be regarded as a guide for understanding and practising global education, also as a pedagogical coaching tool to help establish global education approaches where they do not yet exist and enrich existing ones. Its content was set up taking into account in-field practices and references and cultural, geographic, social and economic realities.”

Pennies for peace toolkit materials

Website presented by “Pennies for Peace is a program of Central Asia Institute (CAI), founded by Greg Mortenson – author of the #1 New York Times best seller, Three Cups of Tea. The heart of the Pennies for Peace program is the penny raising campaign. The campaigns raise money to build schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but they also serve a more important purpose. A Pennies for Peace campaign teaches young people at all levels the importance of taking action and engaging their communities. It shows them that no matter how big or small you are, you can make a difference for others – often a profound one – by choosing to commit yourself to service and to a cause that matters to you. If you’re a classroom teacher, the Pennies for Peace toolkit encourages you to think differently about your program. The Pennies for Peace toolkit offers deep classroom activities at all grade levels; but to create effective campaigns you’ll need to do more outside of the classroom to get your community involved. For this reason, the Pennies for Peace toolkit is designed with classroom resources as well as campaign tools.” Includes curriculum resource guides for grades K-4, 4-8 and 9-12 as well as videos, maps, photos, etc.

National evaluation of the restorative justice in schools programme

99-page pdf document which provides the findings of national (England and Wales), “projects [which] spanned a range of different approaches to introducing restorative practices into schools, including restorative justice conferences … the contract to evaluate these initiatives was awarded to Partners in Evaluation, a specialist agency with a multi-ethnic team of researchers and a national reputation for conducting evaluations in the fields of health, education, social exclusion and regeneration.” Includes a literature review, sample pupil and school staff surveys and post-conference interview schedule for perpetrators and aggrieved.

UNESCO: Mainstreaming the culture of peace

26-page pdf created by UNESCO which “defined the Culture of Peace as consisting of values, attitudes and behaviours that reject violence and endeavour to prevent conflicts by addressing their root causes with a view to solving problems through dialogue and negotiation among individuals, groups and nations. The 1999 United Nations Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace (resolution A/53/243) called gor everyone – governments, civil dociety, the media, parents, teachers, politicians, scientists, artists, NGOs and the entire United Nations system – to assume responsibility in this respect. It staked out eight action areas for actors at national, regional and international levels:” Those 8 action areas are: Fostering a culture of peace through education; Promoting sustainable economic and social development; Promoting respect for all human rights; Ensuring equality between women and men; Fostering democratic participation; Advancing understanding, tolerance and solidarity; Supporting participatory communication and the free flow of information and knowledge and Promoting international peace and security.

Bullying prevention

On-line learning module which teaches the user to “State definitions and types of bullying, list the short and long-term effects of bullying, describe places where bullying happens, state examples of effective and appropriate bullying interventions, describe the roles of parents, siblings and others in preventing bullying, recognize the requirements of a school bullying prevention program and locate resources for bully prevention.”

Educational discipline using the principles of restorative justice

15-page pdf article which “shows how restorative justice techniques can be used with students in correctional and alternative education settings. The simple principles of restorative justice are outlined and their suitability for offenders is illustrated through actual prison incidents that have been dealt with using these principles. A protocol is suggested for teachers and administrators who might consider adopting this approach.”

Peer mediator training: Student workbook (web version)

27-page pdf web version of student workbook for peer mediation training. Discusses topics such as communication skills, conflict resolution and mediation procedures (with role play exercises), and agreement writing. Designed as part of a 1-day peer mediation training.

Peer mediator training: Student workbook

27-page pdf student workbook for peer mediation training. This is the high-quality version designed for printing. Discusses topics such as communication skills, conflict resolution and mediation procedures (with role play exercises), and agreement writing. Intended for use as part of a 1-day peer mediation training.

Curriculum in mediation, A: Lesson plans gateway

5-page pdf document which presents a teacher’s guide for training peer mediators, provides links to workbook lesson plans for conflict management, communication skills, role playing exercises and agreement writing.

Conflict management

12-page pdf document, intended for adults working in school settings, which examines the process of mediation for conflict resolution, includes sample peer mediation journal.