Conflict Resolution Education - National Criminal Justice Reference ...

Introduction
This Guide was developed through a collaboration
of the Departments of Justice and Education to
advance the development of conflict resolution education
programs in schools, youth-serving organizations,
and community and juvenile justice settings.
It is designed to be a reference tool that offers both
basic information and the experience of experts in
the field of conflict resolution to assist educators
and other youth-serving professionals in building
effective conflict resolution education programs. The
Guide is based on a shared vision that youth of all
ages can learn to deal constructively with conflict
and live in civil association with one another. Its goal
is to build the capacity of educators in a variety of
youth-serving settings to understand and act on the
knowledge that conflict resolution skills are essential
to successful relationships in all facets of our lives.
Purposes of Conflict Resolution
Education
To fulfill their mission of educating youth and preparing
them to function effectively in adult society,
American schools* must first be safe places. Our
schools are challenged to provide an environment
in which:
♦ Each learner can feel physically and psychologically
free from threats and danger and can find
opportunities to work and learn with others for
the mutual achievement of all.
♦ The diversity of the school’s population is
respected and celebrated.
*Throughout this Guide, the term “school” is intended to encompass
youth-serving organizations and programs in community
and juvenile justice settings in addition to traditional schools.
1
We have a juvenile justice system that in
many states is bankrupt and is starting too
late. You cannot start with a 16- or 17-yearold
who has dropped out of school and
who was the drug dealer’s gofer when he
was 13. You’ve got to start earlier. . . . We
can do tremendous amounts of good
through conflict resolution programs in
our public schools.
Attorney General Janet Reno1 Conflict resolution programs can help schools promote
both the individual behavioral change necessary
for responsible citizenship and the systemic
change necessary for a safe learning environment.
Responsible Citizenship
The ability to resolve disputes effectively and nonviolently
is central to the peaceful expression of
human rights. Conflict resolution can be viewed as a
responsibility of law-abiding members of our society.
Responsible citizens in a democracy express their concerns
peacefully and seek resolutions to problems that
take into account common interests and recognize the
human dignity of all involved.
Schools can be places where children learn to live
in civil association with one another and prepare
to assume their future roles as parents, as community
members and leaders, and as productive members
of the workforce. Conflict resolution skills are
essential to public life in schools, communities, and
workplaces. These skills encompass more than a set
of complex problem-solving processes. The ability
to resolve larger issues depends, at least to some