Conflict Resolution Education - National Criminal Justice Reference ...

I’ve seen changes in some of the kids at
school since we started this program. They
look at things differently now. They don’t act
the same; they try to be more peaceful now.
I think we are really changing the gangs on
this campus. There used to be a lot of gangs
before, writing in the bathrooms and all
that, but it’s sort of stopped. It’s more
peaceful now.
Ninth grade student, Vista, California
RCCP developed the curriculum in collaboration
with participating teachers. It provides effective
teaching strategies on the elementary, middle, and
high school levels. Curriculum themes include peace
and conflict, communication, affirmation, fostering
cooperation, working with feelings, negotiation and
mediation, appreciating diversity, bias awareness,
countering bias, peacemakers, and envisioning a
positive future. Some individual skills integrated into
these themes include active listening, perspective
taking, dealing with anger, assertiveness, win-win
negotiation, understanding cultures, and avoiding
expressions of bias.
RCCP encourages teachers to set aside 30 to 45
minutes at least once a week throughout the school
year for a specific workshop in conflict resolution
prepared from the curriculum guide. Teachers also
integrate conflict resolution lessons, strategies, and
skills into the regular academic program.
Peer Mediation
The school must implement the RCCP curriculum
for at least a year before beginning peer mediation.
Peer mediation reinforces the emerging problemsolving
skills students learn through the curriculum.
The students and teachers select a cadre of students
representative of the school’s diverse cultures and
backgrounds to be peer mediators. Once trained,
elementary students take turns being “on duty”
on the playground during recess. Wearing special
mediator T-shirts and working in teams with their
adult advisors nearby, they help students talk out
their disputes. Middle school and high school peer
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mediators do not work on the playground but listen
to disputes in a room designated for mediation.
Administrator Training
Training is provided for administrators to introduce
the concepts of conflict resolution and bias awareness
and encourage them to embrace and model
the humane and creative approaches to dealing with
conflict that teachers are implementing through the
classroom curriculum.
Parent Training
Parents participate in a 12-hour training in the skills
and concepts of conflict resolution and intergroup
relations so they can make their homes more peaceful
and help their children become adept at using
the conflict resolution skills learned at school. As
they learn ways of dealing with conflict and prejudice
at home, they become more effective leaders
in their schools and communities. Parents may
become trainers of other parents by participating
in a district-level 60-hour training program.
The primary impetus for starting the program
in my school was to reduce violence, but
it goes beyond that because there is a
strong preventive measure. By teaching
conflict resolution skills, we’re creating an
environment that says it’s OK to have anger
and conflict, which are a natural part of
life. We’re saying that you can have these
emotions and these conflicts and not have
violence, which our culture glamorizes.
Principal, Brooklyn, New York
Illinois Institute for Dispute
Resolution
The Creating the Peaceable School (CPS) program
of the Illinois Institute for Dispute Resolution
(IIDR—see also chapter 3, page 27) focuses on
applying conflict resolution principles to school
and classroom management in order to encourage