PEACE EDUCATION: A TRANSFORMATIVE RESPONSE TO MAJOR SOCIETAL CHALLENGES

Learning Objectives:

 Define peace education and explain its key themes.

 Determine the contribution or importance of peace education.
 Describe the attributes of a peaceable classroom and teacher.
 Apply effective learning approaches in peace education.

Introduction:

“The greatest resource for building a culture of peace are the people themselves.” For it
is through them that peaceful relationships and structures are created.

“It is not possible to provide for human survival if nature’s capacity is impaired.”

Educating for peace is an ethical imperative considering the negation life and well-being
caused by all forms of violence.

Education for tolerance aims to counter influences that lead to fear, discrimination and
exclusion of others.

The highly uneven distribution of wealth and resources is situation of violence known as
structural violence.

A Holistic Understanding of Peace

PEACE

NEGATIVE PEACE POSITIVE PEACE

Absence of direct physical - presence of condition of violence (both

macro and micro) well-being and just relationship:
social, economic, political, ecological

DIRECT VIOLENCE STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE

e.g. : war, torture, child and woman e.g.: poverty, hunger,

Socio-Cultural Violence

e.g.: racism, sexism, religious intoler

Ecological Violence

e.g.: pollution, overconsumption

VIOLENCE

Levels of Peace

Harmony with the sacred source

Peace Between Human and the Earth and Beyond

Harmony with nature Global Peace

Intergroup/Social Peace harmony with others

 Interpersonal Peace

Personal Peace

Harmony with the self Self-respect

Inner resources:

Love, hope

Respect for other persons

Justice, tolerance, cooperation

Respect for others within nation

Justice, tolerance, cooperation

Respect for nations

Justice, tolerance, cooperation

Respect for environment

Sustainable living, simple lifestyles

Types of Violence:

Level Interpersonal
Form of personal community National Global
Violence
Direct/Physical Suicide Domestic violence Civil war Conventional war
Drug abuse Violent crimes Violent crimes Nuclear war
Human rights Human rights
abuses abuses
Structural/ Powerlessness, Local inequalities National Global inequalities
Economic, political Poverty, hunger, inequalities Poverty hunger
Socio-cultural/ Alienation prejudice/enemy, Poverty hunger Prejudice/enemy
Psychological Low self-esteem images Prejudice/enemy Images
anxiety Cultural Images Cultural
domination Cultural domination
Racism domination Racism
Sexism Racism Sexism
Religious Sexism Religious
intolerance Religious intolerance
intolerance

Ecological Over-consumption Over-consumption Over-consumption Over-consumption

pollution Pollution Pollution
Chemical and Chemical and
biological warfare biological warfare
Nuclear power
radiation

Peace Education as Transformative Education

 Cultivates the knowledge base, skills, attitudes, and values that seeks to transform
people’s mindsets, attitudes, and behaviours that, in the first place, have either created
or exacerbated violent conflicts.
 This means that the learning process that utilized in peace education is holistic and tries
to address the cognitive, affective, and active dimensions of the learner.
 Cognitive Phase

(Being Aware, Understanding)

Active Phase

(Taking Practical Affective Phase

Action)
(Being
concerned,
Responding,
Valuing)

“Educating for peace is an ethical imperative considering the negation of life and well-being
caused by all forms of violence.

Peace Education’s Schema of Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes/Values

ATTITUDES/VALUES

1. Self-Respect
2. Respect for others
3. Gender equality
4. Respect for life/Non-violence
5. Compassion
6. Global concern
7. Ecological concern
8. Cooperation
9. Openness and Tolerance
10. Justice
11. Social responsibility
12. Positive vision

KNOWLEDGE SKILLS

1. Holistic concept of Peace 1. Reflection

2. Conflict and Violence-causes 2. Critical thinking & analysis
3. Some practical alternatives 3. Decision-making
 Disarmament 4. Imagination
 Non-violence-philos. 5. Communication
and practice conflict 6. Conflict resolution
resolution 7. Empathy
 Human rights 8. Group building
 Human solidarity
 Democratization
 Development based on
Justice
 Sustainable development
Peace Theme 1: Upholding Human Dignity

Upholding human dignity is at the center of the values system that we associate with
social justice.

Human dignity – is the fundamental innate worth of the human being, a principle that is now
universally accepted but has not taken root in the actual practice of many governments,
communities, and other non-state actors.

Human rights education is the education that seeks to uphold human dignity.

Peace Theme 2: Challenging Prejudice and Building Tolerance

Gordon Allport (1958) asserts that humans have propensity towards prejudice. This
propensity lies in their normal tendency to form generalizations and categories whose contents
represents an oversimplification of their world experience.

Prejudice – is the negative feeling or attitude towards a person or a group even it lacks basis.

Stereotype – refers to the negative opinion about a person or group based on incomplete
knowledge.

Discrimination – refers to negative actions towards members of a specific social group that may
be manifested in avoidance, aversion, or even violence (Franzoi, 1986).

Types of Prejudice:

 Racism – the belief that one’s own cultural or racial heritage is innately superior to that
of others, hence, the lack of respect or appreciation for those who belong to a :different
race”.
 Sexism – a system of attitudes, actions, and structures that subordinates others on the
basis of their sex where the usual victims are women,
 Heterosexism – negative attitudes towards lesbian and gay men.
 Classism – distancing from and perceiving the poor as “the other” (Lott, 1995).
 Linguicism – negative attitudes which members of dominant language groups hold
against non-dominant language groups (Chen-Hayes, Chen & Athar, n. d.).
 Ageism – negative attitudes held against the young or the elderly.
 “Looksism” – prejudice against those who do not measure up to the standards of
beauty. The usual victims are the overweight, undersized, and the dark-skinned (Nario-
Galace,2003).
 Religious intolerance – prejudice against those who are followers of religions other than
one’s own.

Education for Tolerance and Respect

Education for tolerance aims to counter influences that leads to fear, discrimination,
and exclusion of others.

Peace Theme 3: Promoting Non-violence

Non-violence is the refusal to do harm to other humans as life is sacred and is an absolute
value.

Why Non-Violence?

 It is both an ethical and moral choice.

  Destruction is not the law of humans (Gandhi, 1935).
 Non-violence is a practical choice. Tools and effects of violence are costly.
 Non-violence works. The classic examples of success stories of nonviolent direct action
are those initiated by Mohandas Ghandi in India, by Martin Luther King in the United A
States, and the “People Power” that overthrow the regime of Ferdinand marcos in the
Philippines.

Peace Theme 4: Challenging the War System

Possible causes of war:

 Territorial disputes – the disagreement between states or groups within a state over
where their homeland or borders should be fixed (Huth, 1998).
 Lack of tolerance
 Ideological or power struggles
 History of Colonialism and the process of Decolonization
 War

The Effects of War

 Massive deaths
 Commitment of atrocities
 Flee from home
 Cause weapons to proliferate
 Hold back development
 People lose their livelihoods and their access to food supply.
 Loss of investments, destroy property and the environment, and raze opportunities for
tourism.
 Disrupts children’s education, and create fear and trauma among the population.

Peace Theme 5: Sharing the Earth’s Resources

The highly uneven distribution of wealth and resources is situation of violence known as
structural violence. This violence refers to the systems, institutions and policies that meet some
people’s human needs, rights, or wants, at the expense of others.

Peace Theme 6: Resolving and Transforming Conflicts

Conflicts is from the Latin word conflictus which means striking together with force.

In dealing with conflicts, two variables are generally considered by disputants. One is the
relationship with the adversary. The other is the importance of the issue at hand.

What is a Peaceable Classroom?

 Declare your classroom as a zone of peace and establish rules to achive it.
 As the teacher, let this peace begin with you.
 Affirm your students.
 Express feelings appropriately and encourage students to do so.
 Encourage respect for and acceptance of differences.
 Employ more cooperative than competitive activities.
 Teach students how to resolve conflicts peacefully and constructively.
 Practice students’ skills od communication.

Attributes of a Peace Educator

 Teachers have the power to affect the lives of children and youth.

Teaching-Learning Approaches and Strategies in Peace Education

Approaches:

 Holistics education
 Participatory education
 Cooperative learning
 Experiental education
 Humanist education

Strategies:

 Discussion
 Pair Share
 Visualization/Imagination Exercise
 Perspective taking
 Role-playing
 Simulation games
 Problem-solving
 Encouraging action
 Web-Charting
 Show and Tell

Summary:

Peace education is an important educational response in the light of major social

problems that we currently face. In seeks changes n society’s ethos, values, and structures
which, in turn, should eventually lead us to a world that is more nonviolent, just, and
sustainable.

Peace education is considered transformative education not only because of its

purpose and content but also because of the teaching-learning process it upholds. The
knowledge, skills, and value-orientations that are cultivated are meant to inspire personal
and social action towards a peaceable society.