'We quickly filled up and have a waiting list for another training in the summer – clearly showing schools feel there’s a need.’ Photo: Peer mediation trainees (Jane Harries)
Friends pilot peer mediation scheme
'The attenders also learnt how to use techniques from the Alternatives to Violence Project.'
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM)’s peace education team piloted a three-day sustainable model for peer mediation training last month.
The event at Cardiff’s Temple of Peace was oversubscribed, with teachers from eleven Welsh schools, including one secondary school and its feeder primary schools.
Isabel Cartright, peace education manager for BYM, said: ‘We weren’t sure if schools would release teachers for three days, but we quickly filled up and have a waiting list for another training in the summer – clearly showing schools feel there’s a need.’
One teacher described the lesson plans as ‘clear, interesting and full of great ideas’. The attenders also learnt how to use techniques from the Alternatives to Violence Project.
The pilot was funded by a legacy from South Wales Quakers in partnership with the Welsh Centre for International Affairs. Plans are in progress to expand the scheme, and Quakers in Bristol were also recently taught how to deliver the peer mediation training in local schools. ‘Train the trainer’ events are to be held this spring in Stockport, Grimsby and London.
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