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Principles and practices of peace education
Principles and practices of peace education

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1 Children and young people in their communities

Session 1 of this course discussed how peace can mean different things to different people. In any context ‘peace’ initiatives can become unequal and unjust if one group of people impose their vision for peace on another. This means that developing peace among us in a school should begin with a conversation about peace with a range of groups within the school community.

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Figure 1 A word cloud for ‘Peace’

In How to be a Peaceful School, a collection of writing from educators developing peace education, school leader Pali Nahal describes her primary school’s peace journey. Nahal’s description shows how peace among us can be achieved through focused and strategic development that involves different members of the school community and reaches into every aspect of the life of a school.

The journey began by asking the children: ‘When you close your eyes and think of peace, what do you see?’ She writes:

We were surprised by some of the responses:

‘Peace is when we trust, not hate.’

‘Peace is sitting under my bed because it’s where I feel safe.’

‘Peace is having calm, happy feelings and not thinking bad about anything or anyone.’

(Nahal, 2018, p. 34)

Nahal goes on to describe how her school’s peace initiatives took these responses into account as it involved children, staff and parents developing a peaceful school ethos. For example, school staff developed a set of seven values for the school that could be easily remembered and communicated, and parents and children redesigned the school’s logo to reflect those values.

Nahal also describes developing pupil leadership teams where children can apply to be members of committees that work collaboratively to develop particular areas of school life. She explains that these leadership teams mean that:

The children have a significant role to play in whole school strategies decisions. And I can honestly say that sometimes we have felt quite uncomfortable with their requests. However, we have always been proven wrong, as their decisions and requests have always turned out to be successful, despite taking the risk.

(Nahal, 2018, p. 38)

Nahal’s experience is just one way of developing a peaceful school. Sharing such experiences and working collaboratively can help educational communities develop their own approaches to peace education, grounded in their own aspirations for peace and the needs of all members.