Put peace at the heart of education, say Friends
‘Against a rapid rise in school exclusions and zero-tolerance behavioural approaches, the report provides teachers and school leaders with compelling evidence of the benefits of integrating peace education.'
A new report from Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) shines a light on how peace education in schools can tackle problems ranging from mental health challenges to violence.
The report ‘Peace at the Heart: A relational approach to education in British schools’, calls on the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments to support peace education in line with their international commitments. The report was launched on 11 May.
A statement from BYM said that ‘against a rapid rise in school exclusions and zero-tolerance behavioural approaches, the report provides teachers and school leaders with compelling evidence of the benefits of integrating peace education, from particular processes like peer mediation and restorative approaches to cultivating critical citizenship’. It also cites studies such as one by the Department of Education which found that, out of twenty schools in England with improved Ofsted ratings for behaviour and safety, ‘many had focussed on fostering positive, understanding relationships with children’.
The detailed report, which also draws on practical experience in schools, found that increasingly-popular zero-tolerance approaches violate children’s rights and cause harm. By contrast, the study finds schools which incorporate peace education enable rights to flourish, increase wellbeing and reduce exclusions. ‘Research has found that young people who develop their empathic imagination become less likely in adulthood to indulge in bullying, sexism, racism, generalised prejudice against out-groups, social dominance, authoritarianism and homophobia.
‘Under-cultivated empathy, on the other hand, is socially corrosive,’ the report says. ‘It critically diminishes moral reasoning and prosocial behaviour and risks normalising violent behaviour into adulthood.’
