Conflict Resolution Education - National Criminal Justice Reference ...

cooperation is promoted throughout the school,
the problem-solving processes of conflict resolution
seem natural, logical, and desirable. Cooperative
systems create a context in which conflicts can be
resolved constructively and reduce the factors that
place individuals at risk for using violence.
Many methods of school behavior management are
based on punishment rather than discipline. Such
programs gain student compliance through externally
imposed behavior expectations that are enforced
through coercion. In schools that function in
this way, the most significant observable behavior—
the adult model—is contrary to conflict resolution
principles—respect, tolerance, and appreciation for
differences. Gisela Konopka has commented that:
Obedience is demanded to achieve a person
with discipline, but this is a discipline that comes
from the outside and works only when one is
afraid of someone who is stronger than oneself.
We do need discipline, an inner discipline to
order our life. What is inner discipline? To my
thinking it is the opposite of blind obedience.
It is the development of a sense of values. 5
Table 2 contrasts punishment practices with
discipline practices.
The goal of the peaceable school is to create a schoolwide
discipline program focused on empowering students
to regulate and control their own behavior. The
program allows educators to model an orderly, productive
system accomplished through cooperation and
persistent pursuit of constructive behavior. Students
are provided alternative ways to behave, not just told
to refrain from behaving in a particular manner. The
behavior management program thus becomes an
educational program. The problem-solving processes
of conflict resolution enable students to achieve principled
responses. The following sections present two
examples of peaceable school approaches.
Resolving Conflict Creatively
Program
The Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (RCCP)
is one of the initiatives of Educators for Social
Responsibility (ESR—see chapter 4, page 37).
In RCCP, adults reach young people by relating
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to them daily in their homes, schools, and communities.
RCCP requires the support of the highest levels
of the school’s administration before the program
is implemented. A participating school district must
make RCCP part of its vision for change and commit
to multiyear involvement to ensure proper institutionalization
of the program. The RCCP approach
involves five components: professional development
for teachers and other staff, regular classroom instruction
based on a kindergarten through 12th
grade (K–12) curriculum, peer mediation, administrator
training, and parent training. 6
It was a whole different philosophy for
me—the way I looked at the world. Children
taking responsibility for themselves; that was
very different for me. For the first time in
my life, I was hearing people say in a school
setting: “It’s okay to be different.” All of a
sudden here was a program saying: “You
are all good people. You all have something
to contribute.” I was exposed to a rainbow
coalition of children who were learning how
to get along. It was just wonderful.
Teacher, Anchorage, Alaska
Professional Development for Teachers
and Other Staff
A 25-hour introductory course is provided for
teachers interested in implementing RCCP in their
classrooms. This training presents the theory and
methods of conflict resolution, intercultural understanding,
and emotional and social literacy; prepares
participants to model and teach these skills in their
classrooms; illustrates ways to incorporate conflict
resolution strategies and skills into academic subjects;
and demonstrates creative teaching techniques
such as role-playing, interviewing, brainstorming,
small-group sharing, and cooperative learning teams.
The staff development component gives teachers
the opportunity to receive feedback on lessons
that they teach and see skilled practitioners give
demonstration lessons in the classroom. They can
also plan classroom activities and find resources