Quakers expand peace education courses
The Peaceful Classroom Project has been awarded new funding
The part-Quaker programme the Peaceful Classroom Project has been awarded new funding. Westhill, a grant-giving organisation, gave £6,668 to help schools teach children to communicate effectively, build positive relationships, and resolve conflict.
The project has two strands: delivering both classroom programmes and teacher training and advocacy. This includes eight-week peace education programmes in two primary schools in Wales and one in the north of England. This spring, the team is delivering new courses in Wales and Manchester, and launching a bilingual Welsh/English version of its Open University course ‘Introduction to the Principles and Practices of Peace Education’. It is also translating its Learning for Peace resources for wider use in Welsh schools
Isabel Cartwright, Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) peace education programme manager, spoke about the project this month at an online event called ‘Peace Education: Bringing peace into the classroom’. She told the Friend, ‘We were pleased with the turnout of over seventy. We spent some time in stillness together and then Ben Harper [BYM’s national peer meditation coordinator] and I talked Friends through our work… Ben talked about offering support to grassroots Quaker projects, such as through Peer Mediation Train the Trainer, and we heard about a joint peer mediation conference in Manchester with Peace Pathways and heard from Quaker Gill Alcock and watched a new short video [‘Peer mediators gather in Manchester’, which is on the Quakers in Britain YouTube channel].’
The Peaceful Classroom Project grew from the team’s partnership with Peacemakers, known formally as The West Midlands Quaker Peace Education Project. Peace education addresses issues at multiple levels, from personal wellbeing, to interpersonal conflict, to community concerns and issues of global justice.
Isabel Cartwright added: ‘We’re keen for Friends to know about the work and support it in whatever ways they feel able. Our fundraising colleague Beth [Follini] explained the finances, and specifically that we’ve got a shortfall re the Peer Mediation work, so we’re particularly seeking donations from individuals, Quaker Meetings and grant-making trusts to meet this shortfall so we can continue to deliver the Peer Meditation work.’
