During 1994, the New South Wales Department of School Education, in collaboration with the Community Justice Centres, developed a dispute resolution project for students in secondary schools. The project was piloted in 15 schools selected on the basis that a teacher was willing to be trained as a community mediator. The establishment phase of the project was evaluated in 1995 by David Walsh whose findings were positive although the five-month time frame did not allow adequate time for definitive impact outcomes. A qualitative evaluation of the implementation stage was carried out in September 1996 followed by quantitative analysis at the beginning of 1997. This article discusses the results of the entire evaluation and the issues arising which have relevance for those setting up such programmes.
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