{"id":394,"date":"2024-01-29T18:02:07","date_gmt":"2024-01-29T18:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibrations.com.sg\/?p=394"},"modified":"2024-01-30T07:37:36","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T07:37:36","slug":"educating-for-peace-or-peace-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibrations.com.sg\/?p=394","title":{"rendered":"Educating for peace or peace education?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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My thoughts in this reflection is about learning in the formal space. How do we educate for peace? And how is that different from peace education?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few weeks ago, I facilitated a professional development workshop for teachers of a country currently experiencing violent armed conflict. Because the violent conflict there has been going on for generations, a school of higher learning for individuals to learn the why, how and what of a teacher does not exist. This reflection is particularly for visitors to this website who may be in similar circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When discussing the feasibility of the “how” and “what” of educating for peace and\/or peace education in a school, keeping in mind the different levels of learning-design is helpful: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When I use the term “peace education”, I am thinking about a subject or a course designed specifically for students to grapple with knowledge, acquire skills, explore values and attitudes that strengthen their capacities for constructive conflict engagement. “Educating for peace” refers to our intentionally designing learning experiences that do the same; in subjects and courses that do not immediately appear to be about peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, I am a physics geek. My International Baccalaureate students are expected to be able to apply Einstein’s energy-mass relationship equation in an examination. If this was all that they were taught, then the learning is instrumental; and for many students, the knowledge gained is quickly lost. The learning can become life-relevant when we connect nuclear fusion\/fission to enhanced global warming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want my E = mc2<\/sup> lesson to contain elements of peace education; and be both emancipatory and transformative for my students. Thus, my lesson design has students engaging with Einstein’s 1939 letter to President Roosevelt encouraging the development of nuclear weaponry; as well as the 1955 manifesto that he co-signed with ten other thinkers asking for the abolition of the very same weapon. Doing so, my students engage in conversations about values and attitudes, and critique realpolitik as one of the fundamental worldviews for the running of international affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Educators need to be given the opportunity to make time to uncover and critique our personal hidden assumptions about learning, teaching, human nature and what it means to be a human being. These assumptions directly impact our design and guidance of learning that occurs in the classroom and school. I will go so far as to say that resistance to the idea of schools educating for peace is partly due to an unwavering belief in human nature that makes us (paraphrasing Hobbes) enemy to every other person. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short” human life is to be expected. We therefore need order to be imposed, as Hobbes opined almost four centuries ago. This idea has taken root in our deep narrative; and schooling has conventionally been planned and implemented with order in mind. If we believe that our species has capacity for empathy too, we can better design schools as learning platforms for values and norms that support peace to emerge. In a future reflection, I shall share my thoughts about the differences between order and peace; and the school culture and educator-being that are more encouraging of educating for peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I end this reflection with the observation that for many schools, doing peace education is an option as an extra-curricular activity. For some, peace education can be part of the core academic curriculum as a subject. For all schools, educating for peace is a very real possibility. This can be done by individual subject teachers in the lessons we deliver. It can also be done by the leadership team at the curriculum and syllabus level of learning-design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suggested readings:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Gatto, J. T. (2010). Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling<\/em> (7. printing). New Society Publ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marsh, C. J. (2009). Key concepts for understanding curriculum<\/em> (4th ed). Routledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palmer, P. J. (1998). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher\u2019s life<\/em> (1st ed). Jossey-Bass.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My thoughts in this reflection is about learning in the formal space. How do we educate for peace? And how is that different from peace education? A few weeks ago, I facilitated a professional development workshop for teachers of a country currently experiencing violent armed conflict. Because the violent conflict there has been going on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibrations.com.sg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibrations.com.sg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibrations.com.sg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibrations.com.sg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibrations.com.sg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=394"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibrations.com.sg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":493,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibrations.com.sg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394\/revisions\/493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibrations.com.sg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibrations.com.sg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibrations.com.sg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}