Building Peace Education Through

Teacher Education
Beverly D. Shaklee
Supriya Baily
George Mason University
Teacher Education
• Non-formal education opportunities
▫ Informal learning
• Teacher as….researcher, reader, leader
• Professional Learning Communities (PLC)
• Formal workshops, institutes, conferences
▫ AAIE, ECIS, EARCOS, NESA…
• Post graduate programs
▫ George Mason University
 FAST TRAIN, PhD. ‘international education’
Peace Education
• United Nations Cyber-school website, “Peace
education brings together multiple traditions of
pedagogy, theories of education, and international
initiatives for the advancement of human
development through learning. It is fundamentally
dynamic, interdisciplinary, and multicultural.
• Peace education aims to cultivate the
knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to
achieve and sustain a global culture of
peace.”
Critical views…
• Reis and Romo (2004), argue that while schools and
Colleges of Education have addressed issues of
peacemaking, conflict resolution and mediation as
management tools in the classroom we have yet to
systemically address the knowledge, skills and
attitudes needed to sustain a culture of peace. We
have fallen short of our goals of full access, social
justice and peace. Part of the failure can be
attributed to teacher education programs
which espouse peace but fail at the
implementation level.
Implementation of Peace Education
• Highly Teacher Dependent
• Teachers have to possess the skills and
knowledge
• Teachers have to be motivated to carry it out
• Teachers have to be personally aligned with the
objectives of peace education
• Most teachers do not go into teaching
aligned with the values of peace education
International Schools
Environment, exposure, front lines often of
potential for greater conflict
Varying levels of preparation and background
Typically ‘peace education’ is embedded:
Classroom Management
Conflict Resolution strategies
Cross-cultural competency program
Collaboration with colleagues, families….
Content
Personal motivation
Our point of view….
• Not sufficiently explicit
• Not universally valued
• Competes with current strategies
• Competes with limited resources
• Global education has been substituted for peace
education
• Gap between philosophy and practice
• Historical connotations can be negative
▫ Peaceniks….
In action
• Engagement - if we espouse peace education
what does it mean in our school?
• In what ways would we see peace education in
action?
• How would it change the environment of our
classrooms, school and community interactions?
• What do we need to make it happen?
• What is in place and how do we make it all work
together?
Peace Education involves:
Some examples…
• Aotearoa-New Zealand Curriculum Framework
for Peace Education
• Canadian Centers for Peace Education
• Teacher’s College – Peace education (TCPEC)
▫ Further the explicit development of peace
education through outreach, resource and in-
service education.
• World Colleges – PACE Initiative
Rebuilding post conflict societies through teacher
training and workshops.
In action…
In Recruitment
Part of the interview process
Hire for background knowledge/experience in peace
education
Teacher dependent
In School…
Consistent across stakeholders
Clear and compelling part of the life of the school
Explicit and articulated throughout the curriculum
Valued and evaluated across stakeholders
In educating your teachers
• Congruent professional opportunities with peace
education
• Encouraging teacher research on the
effectiveness of peace education initiatives with
students and colleagues
• Provision of resources for peace education
• Differentiation of opportunities based on levels
of expertise in peace education
Peace Education