Peaceful Education for Peaceful Communities
University of Otago
October 2010
Download a copy of the report (pdf 4MB Warning Large File) – Formatted for double-sided printing
Summary
A colloquium to initiate conversations around peace education in New Zealand was held at Otago University in Dunedin on 29-30 October, 2010. The colloquium was hosted by the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies/Te Ao o Rongomaraeroa and the Aotearoa New Zealand Peace and Conflict Studies Centre Trust /Te Whare o Rongo (ANZPCSCTrust) with some funding from the Peace and Disarmament Education Trust (PADET).
Peace education has been defined by the Hague Appeal for Peace as “a participatory holistic process that includes teaching for and about democracy and human rights, non-violence, social and economic justice, gender equality, environmental sustainability, disarmament, traditional peace practices, international law, and human security” (http://www.peace-ed-campaign.org/index.html).
The Honourable Russell Marshall, a former Minister of Education for the Labour Government in the 1980s, opened the conversations and discussions with a keynote address. He outlined the development of draft guidelines for peace studies in schools, the abolition of corporal punishment in schools and his attempts to introduce peace studies into the secondary school curriculum that came to an end with the introduction of Tomorrow’s Schools.
Ali Gale on behalf of the ANZPCSC Trust reported on a survey conducted in 2010 as a follow-up to Cathy Mulholland’s 1990 report that was commissioned by the Public Advisory Committee on Disarmament and Control (PACDAC). The 2010 survey found that peace studies in New Zealand schools is largely focused on the interpersonal dimension, rather than wider structural and societal issues.
Dorothy Brown, the Chair of ANZPCSC Trust, reported on work conducted by Christine Jones on how peace education might be integrated into the existing New Zealand school curriculum, which included pedagogy as co-operative learning; links made between peace studies and components in the learning areas of Social Sciences, English, Maths, Science, Art and Music, and Health and Physical Education; and focusing on values such as diversity, equality, community, sustainability and integrity that are inherent to the teaching of peace studies. She also outlined her own vision for incorporating peace education into different parts of the existing early childhood, primary and secondary curricula.
Presentations were made by participants currently involved in programmes and initiatives related to peace education and representing organisations such as Alternatives to Violence Project, Christchurch Community Mediation Services, Human Rights in Education, the Peace Foundation, Peace Movement Aotearoa, Restorative Justice Services Otautahi, Restorative Schools, and the Virtues Project, as well as from those working in the early childhood, primary, secondary and tertiary sectors.
There were over 40 participants at the Peace Education for Peaceful Communities 2010 Colloquium, including people with current and/or past involvement in the delivery of New Zealand educational programmes aimed at enhancing civic responsibility, cooperative relationships, emotional intelligence, collaborative problem-solving and non-violent solutions to problems.
Recommendations from the colloquium include:
- focus peace education on wider structural and societal issues as well as the interpersonal dimensions of peace education
- focus on integrating peace education material into the various learning areas or subject topics in the curriculum
- promote the use of peace education to build positive, non-violent cultures in school communities
- target peace education at all levels of education
- map the range of initiatives related to peace education across all levels of education and identify key organisations and experts in the New Zealand context
- support access, dissemination and implementation of peace education programmes and resources – website with clearinghouse function, moderated online discussion/communication process
- facilitate training and adoption of peace education practices by trainees, educators and education organisations
- promote a participatory model that values and uses the perspectives of youth and educators
- prioritise Maori perspectives and participation, and incorporate principles of the Treaty of Waitangi into the broader context as a Treaty of Peace
- strengthen the evidence base – profiles of promising practices, evaluation
- advocate for social justice and human rights.
The National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Otago, together with the ANZPCSC Trust, will work to develop and coordinate a New Zealand network for peace education to continue and extend the dialogue initiated at the symposium.
