Peace-Based Education

Abstract

This article proposes that the universally acknowledged need for education reform requires both new conceptual and methodological approaches. At the core of this reform is transformation from conflict-based to peace-based educational concepts and practices aimed at creating school environments that promote academic and relational excellence, are safe and nurturing, and are free from bullying and violence. The article draws from the research done and lessons learned from more than sixteen ongoing years of implementation of Education for Peace (EFP)—a comprehensive peace-based education program—in more than one thousand schools, involving thousands of educators, and several hundred thousand students (K-12) in the highly conflicted and traumatized war-torn country of Bosnia and Herzegovina and more recently in schools in the United States, Mexico, Bermuda, and elsewhere.

Keywords

education reform peace-based education worldview transformation bullying and violence prevention conflict resolution

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Arnold

(2010). Gangs, marginalized youth, and social capital. Staffordshire, UK: Trentham Books.

Bertram

(2004). Rousseau and the social contract. London: Routledge.

Bowen

N. K.

, & Bowen

L. G.

(1999). Effects of crime and violence in neighborhoods and schools on the school behavior and performance of adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Research, 14(3) (July), 319–342.

Brewer

C. B.

(1995). Music and learning: Integrating music in the classroom. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins School of Education. http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/strategies/topics/Arts%20in%20Education/brewer.htm. Accessed October 19, 2013.

Burns

(1995). The adult learner at work. Sydney: Business and Professional Publishing.

Calvert

W. J.

(1999). Integrated literature review on effects of exposure to violence upon adolescents. Association of Black Nursing Faculty Journal, 10(4) (Jul/Aug), 84–96.

Campabello

(2002). Music Enhances Learning. Master of Arts Action Research Project, Saint Xavier University and SkyLight Professional Development Field-Based Master's Program. Chicago, Illinois.

Clarke-Habibi

(2005). Transforming worldviews: The case of education for peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Journal of Transformative Education, 3(1) (January), 33–56.

(2011). Education for peace: An evaluation of four schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Danesh

H. B.

, (Ed.), Education for peace reader. Vancouver: EFP Press. 269–281. Also available electronically at http://efpinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/efp_reader.pdf.

10.

Danesh

H. B.

BiH languages 2005. English edition 2010. Peace Moves: An Exploration for Young People. Sarajevo and Victoria, Canada: EFP Press.

11.

Danesh

H. B.

(2007a). Education for peace: The pedagogy of civilization. In Bekerman

, & McGlynn

(Eds.), Addressing ethnic conflict through peace education: International perspectives. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

12.

Danesh

H. B.

(2008a). Unity-based peace education. In Bajaj

, & Charlotte (Eds.), Encyclopedia of peace education (pp. 147–156). North Carolina: Information Age Publishing.

13.

Danesh

H. B.

(2008b). The education for peace integrative curriculum: Concepts, contents, and efficacy. Journal of Peace Education, 5(2) (September), 157–173.

14.

Danesh

H. B.

(2008c). Creating a culture of healing in multiethnic communities: An integrative approach to prevention and amelioration of violence-induced conditions. Journal of Community Psychology, 36(6) (August), 814–832.

15.

Danesh

H. B.

(2007). Education for peace: The pedagogy of civilization. In Beckerman

, & McGlynn

(Eds.), Addressing ethnic conflict through peace education: International perspectives. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.

16.

Danesh

H. B.

(2008). The education for peace integrative curriculum: Concepts, contents, and efficacy. Journal of Peace Education, 5(2) (September), 157–173.

17.

Danesh

H. B.

(2009). Unity-Based peace education: Education for peace program in Bosnia and Herzegovina: A chronological case study. In Salomon

, & Cairns

(Eds.), Chapter 18 in Handbook of peace education (pp. 253–269). New York, NY: Psychology Press.

18.

Danesh

H. B.

(2011a). Human needs theory, conflict, and peace. In Christie

D. J.

(Ed.), Encyclopedia of peace psychology. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.

19.

Danesh

H. B.

, (Ed.). (2011b). Education for peace reader. Victoria, Canada: EFP Press. Also available in electronic format at www.efpinternational.org.

20.

Danesh

H. B.

(2013). Fever in the world of the mind: On the causes and prevention of violence. Victoria, Canada: EFP Press.

21.

Danesh

H. B.

, & Clarke-Habibi

(2007b). Education for peace curriculum manual: A conceptual and practical guide (29–60). Vancouver: EFP Press. The three official BiH languages version was published in Sarajevo, 2005.

22.

Danesh

H. B.

(2006). Towards an integrative theory of peace education. Journal of Peace Education, 3(1) (March), 55–78.

23.

Danesh

H. B.

, & Danesh

R. P.

(2002a). Has conflict resolution grown up? Toward a developmental model of decision making and conflict resolution. International Journal of Peace Studies, 7(1) (Spring/Summer), 59–76.

24.

Danesh

H. B.

(2002b). A consultative conflict-resolution model: Beyond alternative dispute-resolution. International Journal of Peace Studies, 7(2) (Autumn/Winter), 17–33.

25.

Danesh

H. B.

(2004). Conflict-free conflict resolution (CFCR) process and method. Peace and Conflict Studies, 11(2) (Fall), 55–84.

26.

Davis

M. M.

(2010). Help! My class is out of control: A real teacher's guide to classroom management and getting your sanity back. Seattle, WA: CreateSpace.

27.

Delaney-Black

(2002). Violence exposure, trauma and IQ and/or reading deficits among urban children. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 156(March), 280–285.

28.

Firer

Ruth

. (2002). The gordian knot between peace education and war education. In Salomon

, & Nevo

(Eds.), Peace education: The concept, principles, and practices around the world. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

29.

Garrison

(1995). The new scholarship on Dewey. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

30.

Gazzaniga

(2008). Learning, arts, and the brain: The dana consortium report on arts and cognition. New York, NY: Dana Press.

31.

Hanushek

E. A.

(2012). Achievement growth: International and U.S. state trends in student performance. Harvard's Program on Education Policy and Governance, Report No.: 12–03.

32.

Henrich

C. C.

(2004). The association of community violence exposure with middle school achievement: A prospective study. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 25(3) (May/June), 327–348.

33.

Independent Task Force on U.S. Education Reform and National Security, Council on Foreign Relations. (2012). U.S. Education Reform and National Security, Report No. 68. March.

34.

Klein

J. I.

, & Condoleeza

, chairs. (2012). U.S. Education Reform and National Security Independent Task Force Report No. 68, Council on Foreign Relations.

35.

Langman

(2011). Why kids kill: Inside the minds of school shooters. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

36.

Laird

(1985). Approaches to training and development. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

37.

Lowe

J. K.

(2011). Fostering positive psychological outcomes in post-conflict settings: Universal-diverse orientation and intergroup contact in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Danesh

H. B.

, (Ed.) Education for peace reader. Vancouver: EFP Press. 269–281. Also available electronically at http://efpinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/efp_reader.pdf.

38.

Lunenburg

F. C.

(2010). School violence in America's schools. Focus on Colleges, Universities, and Schools, 4(1), 1–6.

39.

McGill

, & Beaty

(1995). Action learning: A guide for professional, management and educational development (2nd editon). London: Kogan Page.

40.

Maitland Club, The. (1840). Acts of the parliament and of the privy council of Scotland, relative to the establishing and maintaining of Schools. Miscellany of the Maitland Club II (p. 24). Edinburgh: Maitland, – in Scots.

41.

Margolin

, & Gordis

E. B.

(2000). The effects of family and community violence on children. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, (February), 445–479.

42.

Moreau

(2003). School book nation: Conflicts over American history textbooks from the civil war to the present. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

43.

National Crime Survey. (2004). Crimes committed on school grounds. Washington, DC.

44.

Paulson

Julia

(Ed.) (2011). Education, conflict and development. Oxford Studies in comparative education. Oxford: Symposium Books.

45.

Pasalic

K. A.

, (2008). The war and post-war impact on the educational system of Bosnia and Herzegovina. International Review of Education, 54(Spring), 353–374.

46.

Ravitch

(2010). Dictating to the schools: A look at the effects of the Bush and Obama administrations on schools. Virginia Journal of Education (November). Virginia Education Association. Accessible at http://www.veanea.org/home/907.htm. Accessed October 8, 2013.

47.

Rogers

, & Freiberg

H. J.

(1993). Freedom to Learn (3rd edition). New York, NY: American Psychological Association.

48.

Schwartz

, & Gorman

A. H.

(2003). Community violence exposure and children's academic functioning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95(1) (March 2003), 163–173.

49.

Shakoor

B. H.

, & Chalmers

(1991). Co-victimization of African-American children who witness violence: Effects on cognitive, emotional, and behavioral development. Journal of the National Medical Association, 83(3) (March), 233–238.

50.

Soliz

(2010). Gangs. Belmont, CA: Cengage Gale.

51.

Soustelle

(2002). Daily life of the Aztecs: On the Eve of the Spanish conquest. Courier Dover Publications. (11 November), 173.

52.

Spady

W. G.

(1994). Outcome-based education. Arlington, VA: American Association of School Administrators.

53.

Thoreau

H. D.

(2008). Collected works of Henry David Thoreau. Charleston, SC: BiblioBazaar.

54.

UNICEF. (2011). http://www.unicef.org/protection/index_27374.html. Accessed October 17, 2013.

55.

United States Department of Education. (2009). Race to the top program executive summary. http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/executive-summary.pdf. Retrieved October 8, 2013.