Quakers launch peace education course
BYM's peace education team launch free ‘Principles and Practices of Peace Education’ course
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM)’s peace education team is starting the new year by launching a new course.
The free ‘Principles and Practices of Peace Education’ course is available from The Open University (OU) and explores how children and young people might be empowered to build peace with themselves, their communities, and the wider world.
Isabel Cartwright, BYM’s peace education programme manager, told the Friend that the course is relevant for educational practitioners and school communities, as well as anyone working with children and young people in informal and community settings. ‘We’re really excited about it,’ she said. ‘We feel it’s getting peace education on the map and taken seriously. The OU haven’t done anything on peace before, but they’re investing quite a bit into this free Open Learn course. We’ve developed this with a Quaker and OU academic Lucy Henning. We’ll be promoting the course from January, with launch events in February.’
The course includes guidance on how the activities can be adapted for use with a larger group, with interactive activities, audio-visual resources, suggested reading, and follow-up activities. It also introduces theories and practice of peace education, and covers ‘layers of peace’, including inner peace and wellbeing; interpersonal peace through positive relationships and constructive approaches to conflict; and critical thinking about the world beyond the classroom.
The course will be promoted on 5 February as part of the OU Distinguished Lecture lunchtime talks series, with Hilary Cremin, from the University of Cambridge, who used to run the Quaker Peacemakers programme. BYM’s peace education team will host a more interactive webinar for practitioners on 12 February (4.30-6pm).
The team has also called for more peace education in a submission to the Department of Education’s curriculum review, which is examining key challenges to young people’s attainment.
‘In a violent and unstable world, peace education is the cornerstone on which a more just and harmonious society can be built,’ the submission said. ‘[Peace education] empowers children and young people with the peacebuilding knowledge, skills and attributes needed to thrive and supports schools to build a culture of peace and nonviolence.’
The submission calls for the curriculum to empower teachers to address issues including international armed conflicts and disarmament education. It highlights schools using peace education’s restorative methods to promote inclusion, and also calls for an end to under-eighteen military recruitment in schools and the hundreds of annual visits to schools by arms companies.
With Scotland’s curriculum also under review, Quakers are working with Education Scotland.
