ANGELES UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION

Angeles City

Term Paper:

Peace

Education
Submitted By: Aquino, Nir Noel A.

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 PEACE EDUCATION

Pray for Peace

In the moments of the morn when the day is being born
Pray for Peace
When youre standing at the sink with some moments free to think
Pray for Peace
When youre putting on your shoes and you hear the daily news
Pray for Peace
When you dance and sing and play, let the song within you say
Pray for Peace
When youre watching children run laughing freely in the sun
Pray for Peace
When youre starting up your car, take a moment where you are to
Pray for Peace
When youre entering the door of an office or a store
Pray for Peace
When the checkout line is long, keep your peaceful vision strong
Pray for Peace
When your call is put on HOLD, let your peaceful vision strong
Pray for Peace
When the traffic line is slow, breathe in peace and feel it flow
Pray for Peace
When youre sitting by the fire and flames are leaping higher
Pray for Peace
At the ending of the day when you meditate and pray
Pray for Peace
Name of the Poet not available

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Introduction:
In our world, today, we tend to face so many challenges such as war, killings,
theft, abuse and many more criminal acts that manifest humanitys lack of education in
peace, however, the question here is that should peace be really taught before we could
learn it? As far as we concern, peace is a foundation of humanity, it is felt and a call of
morality that everybody deserves to have in all aspects of life. Thus, it shouldnt be
learned in school but from the experiences of the past, according to L. Castro and J.
Galace (2008), Humankind needs to take lessons from its past in order to build a new
and better tomorrow. One lesson learned is that, to prevent our violence-ridden history
repeating itself, the values of peace, non-violence, tolerance, human rights and
democracy will have to be inculcated in every woman and man young and old,
children and adults alike.
Apparently, with all the things happening in our society, the call for peace
education is an endeavor of every teacher, in order to enlighten children of their early
years. Every country is suffering from the struggle of chaos and disorganization may be
because again human kind abused what they have and because of the unending desire
and wants and as time pass by lesson has been garnered in order to teach peace,
according to an anonymous author peace education is currently considered to be both a
philosophy and a process of involving skills, including listening, reflection, problem
solving, cooperation and conflict resolution. This is the greatest challenge on the world,
how we will be able to set aside our personal interests just to give way for others
welfare. That the only resort that we have is bringing peace education in schools in
order to make our youth open and educated as Mahatma Gandhi said that if we want to
reach real peace in this world, we should start by educating children. In todays world,
more so, a culture of peace should be seen as the essence of a new humanity, a new
global civilization based on inner oneness and outer diversity. The flourishing of a
culture of peace will generate the mindset in us that is a prerequisite for the transition
from force to reason, from conflict and violence to dialogue and peace. Culture of peace
will provide the bedrock of support to a stable, progressing and prospering world for all.
(L. Castro and J. Galace, 2008). This culture of peace could yield to teaching children
how to be more patient, how to extending their tolerance towards handling conflict,

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letting mercy rule their heart in times of aggressiveness and hatred, that
understandability prevail in each shortcoming and the domination of the heart in dealing
with any challenge of life.
This term paper aims to deliver the indispensable role of peace education on our
society, that every lesson will be all about peace, and the necessity of showing good
example to children is emphasize in this study in order to mark in their minds that we
are giving importance in maintaining peace in our society, that the basic concept of
being internationally oriented, context-related and process-oriented peace education
with clearly defined target groups will be developed and achieved.
In view of what appear to be constantly self-reproducing cultures of violence in
many societies, there are increasingly urgent calls for a reliable peace education tool
box. Organizations engaged in non-violent conflict management and development
cooperation now generally regard education programmers as extremely important, and
peace education is being integrated into many of them. As a result, the question which
increasingly arises is what contribution it can make, focusing, on the one hand, on the
theoretical foundations of peace education and, on the other, on developing context-
appropriate practical approaches and documenting and analyzing the impacts.

Definition:
Peace, according to the Merriam Websters dictionary 1: a state of tranquility or
quiet: such as a: freedom from civil disturbance <Peace and order were finally
restored in the town.>b: a state of security or order within a community provided for
by law or custom <a breach of the peace> 2: freedom from disquieting or oppressive
thoughts or emotions <I have been in perfect peace and contentment J. H.
Newman>
Peace education in UNICEF refers to the process of promoting the knowledge,
skills, attitudes and values needed to bring about behavior changes that will enable
children, youth and adults to prevent conflict and violence, both overt and structural; to
resolve conflict peacefully; and to create the conditions conducive to peace, whether at
an intrapersonal, interpersonal, intergroup, national or international level. (Fountain,
1999 p.1).

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 Violence, as stated by N. Mandela & Gro Harlem Brundtland (2002) Defining it is
not an exact science but a matter of judgement. Notions of what is acceptable and
unacceptable in terms of behaviour, and what constitutes harm, are culturally influenced
and constantly under review as values and social norms evolve. We can see here that
violence is evaluated through the variation of culture that people in one society
undergone, it is but very sensitive to say that what a person does can be considered as
violence, however, because of our inner goodness social norms are collaborated and
put into relative point in order to meet halfway and to say when it is socially accepted
and which of those are based on social norms.

Sample:
Some applications of Peace Education, which was made by UNICEF are as follows:

A RATIONALE FOR PEACE EDUCATION IN UNICEF

Article 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) states:

...the education of the child shall be directed to...the preparation of the child for
responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality
of sexes, and friendship among all peoples...

The 1990 World Declaration on Education for All says that:

Every person child, youth and adult shall be able to benefit from educational
opportunities designed to meet their basic learning needs. These needs comprise both
essential learning tools (such as literacy, oral expression, numeracy, and problem
solving) and the basic learning content (such as knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes)
required by human beings to be able to survive, to develop their full capacities, to live
and work in dignity, to participate fully in development, to improve the quality of their
lives, to make informed decisions, and to continue learning The satisfaction of these
needs empowers individuals in any society and confers upon them a responsibility to
further the cause of social justice, to be tolerant towards social political and religious
systems which differ from their own, ensuring that commonly accepted humanistic

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values and human rights are upheld, and to work for international peace and solidarity
in an interdependent world.

The 1996 study by Graa Machel on The Impact of Armed Conflict on

Children reaffirmed the importance of education in shaping a peaceful
future:
...Both the content and the process of education should promote peace, social justice,
respect for human rights and the acceptance of responsibility. Children need to learn
skills of negotiation, problem solving, critical thinking and communication that will enable
them to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence.

The UNICEF Anti-War Agenda, set out in The State of the Worlds Children
1996, declares:
...Disputes may be inevitable, but violence is not. To prevent continued cycles of
conflict, education must seek to promote peace and tolerance, not fuel hatred and
suspicion.

Schooling and other educational experiences that reflect UNICEFs approach

to peace education should:
Function as zones of peace, where children are safe from conflict in the
community;
Uphold childrens basic rights as enumerated in the CRC;
Develop a climate, within the school or other learning environment, that
models peaceful and rights-respectful behaviour in the relationships
between all members of the school community: teachers, administrators,
other staff, parents, and children;
Demonstrate the principles of equality and non-discrimination in administrative policies
and practices;
Draw on the knowledge of peace-building that already exists in the community,
including means of dealing with conflict that are effective, non-violent, and rooted in the
local culture.

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 Handle conflictswhether between children, or between children and adults in a
non-violent manner that respects the rights and dignity of all involved;
Integrate an understanding of peace, human rights, social justice and global issues
throughout the curriculum whenever possible;
Provide a forum for the explicit discussion of values of peace and social justice;
Use teaching and learning methods that promote participation, cooperation, problem
solving and respect for differences;
Allow opportunities for children to put peace-making into practice, both in the
educationa lsetting and in the wider community;
Provide opportunities for continuous reflection and professional development of all
educators in relation to issues of peace, justice and rights.

This vision of peace education is consistent with the UNICEF concept of

rightsbased, child-friendly learning environments (UNICEF 1999, E/ICEF/1999/14). This
concept includes (among others) elements such as the realisation of the rights of every
child, gender sensitivity, responsiveness to diversity, the promotion of quality learning
outcomes such as life skills and successful problem solving, and the enhancement of
teacher capacity.
In Philippine settings many module were made
depicting that our society is one of the advocates of pushing
this advocacy among children both in public and private
schools: some of these modules are :
Whats really amazing with our support for Peace
Education is that we have a very comprehensive areas of
knowledge that we used to form such modules. The following
are some principles that we used in delivering peace
education in schools and how committed we are towards:
Cultivating Inner Peace;
Living with compassion and justice;
Dismantling the culture of war;
Promoting human rights and responsibilities;
Living in harmony with the earth; and
Intercultural respect, reconciliation and solidarity

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Some attributes were also mentioned in one of the modules that made teachers of
peace education very effective in relying information :

What attributes, capacities and skills must a teacher of

peace develop to enable her/him to be an effective
medium of the peace message? The following
attributes are culled from the work of Betty Reardon
(2001), a globally renowned peace educator:

The teacher of peace is a responsible global

citizen, an intentional agent of a culture of
peace, a person of vision, capable of hope and
the imaging of positive change. S/he
understands that education should be a means
toward constructive change.

S/he is motivated by service and is actively

involved in the community. A teacher of peace sees himself/herself as a person
responsible to society.

S/he is a life long learner, one who continues to improve ones own learning
abilities and to keep abreast of the field.

S/he is both a transmitter and transformer of cultures. While transmitting ones

traditional culture, the teacher also has to be critical and reflective so s/he can
also be an effective agent of social and cultural transformation.

S/he is a seeker of mutually enhancing relationships that nurture peace and a

sense of community. For example, respect for human dignity and human rights
should guide teacher-student relationships and the learning processes.

S/he is gender sensitive and alert to any possibility of gender bias in self or
students. S/he helps both male and female learners to form positive identification
for themselves and to develop gender sensitivity and gender responsibility
toward others.

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A teacher of peace is constructively critical. S/he offers criticism not to wound or
harm, but to elicit constructive change.

A teacher of peace intentionally develops the capacity to care by knowing the

learners in their charge as individuals. This enables the teacher to respond to the
differences in students learning styles as positively as s/he is expected to
respond to other human differences. The skill of caring is integral to the peace
education process. Caring and supportive behavior from teachers lets the
students know they are valued.

S/he is an inquirer. S/he poses instructive questions into the conditions that impede
and those that enhance possibilities for achieving a culture of peace. To be able
to conduct an inquiry into the many issues and goals of peace education, a
teacher of peace needs the skills of elicitation to draw from the students their
own visions and ideas, to make them delve deeper into their own knowledge and
imagination, and to seek new knowledge. The teacher then is more a raiser of
questions than a giver of answers.

S/he has the skills of reflective learning through which s/he applies what is learned
from teaching to deepen his/her own understanding of the students and the
learning processes. This includes reflection on or assessment of ones own
abilities by posing some fundamental questions such as: How effective are our
teaching-learning interactions in achieving our goals? What indicators do

I have that students are finding satisfaction and meaning in their learning?

A teacher of peace has the skills of communication and conflict resolution. These
are essential skills for building community and peace-making. (These skills are
explained in an earlier chapter.)

S/he practices cooperative learning by encouraging cooperative learning tasks and

discouraging negative competition or in-group - out-group behavior (exclusion)
among students.

A teacher of peace inspires understanding of alternative possibilities for the future

and for a culture of peace. S/he helps students to plan and act to achieve such a

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 culture. The core questions s/he asks are: What kind of world do we want? What
changes need to be made to achieve it? What are our special responsibilities to
carry out the transformational process?

Discussion
Nowadays, it is very important that people should be known to peace education
at very young age, thats a way for us to be aware of how should we apply our role in
the society and for us to be a stewards of establishing order and safety. In many
studies, violence is acquired by children who suffered from abuse, harassment, broken
family, bullied and many more traumatic experiences in life. Thus we can say that
violence is a reflection of persons hatred and nightmares in life. We can actually fight
that kind of psychological effects, by equipping our children with proper education and
morall values.
As one of the challenges that we are facing, is that even childen could be
equipped with such tools in peace education, their changing behavior which is affected
by external environment especially people whom are they with and who will be guiding
them as they grow old.
The focus on behavioural change in the UNICEF definition of peace education
reflects the fact that behaviour does not occur in a vacuum; it is nested within the
context of the family, peer group, the community and the larger society. Behaviour
development is intrinsically linked to and interdependent with the values and norms of
those groups. Existing values and norms can either contribute to or hinder behaviour
that promotes peace.

The process of changing behaviour proceeds through a sequence of stages

(adapted from Fishbein, 1992; and HealthCom, 1995) in which an individual:
1. becomes aware of the issue (peace and conflict);
2. becomes concerned about the issue;
3. acquires knowledge and skills pertaining to the issue;
4. becomes motivated, based on new attitudes and values;
5. intends to act;
6. tries out a new behaviour (for example, peaceful conflict resolution);
7. evaluates the trial; and

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8. practices the recommended behaviour.
These stages may vary in order, or take place simultaneously, depending on
the social and cultural context in which the behavioural change is taking place. A
comprehensive approach to peace education should address all of these stages.
In pursuant of this advocacy, with respect to the United Nations (UNICEF), many
schools and institution had produced and made their own modules, instructional
materials that can be used in delivering and calling for the needs of peace education in
different schools. As manifestation, it is being required by school that this lesson should
be taught in order to influence the students who are still in very young age

Reference :

L.Castro &J.Galace, (2008). Peace Education: A Pathway to a Culture of

Peace Center for Peace Education, Miriam College Quezon City,
Philippines

Jger, Uli 2014. Peace Education and Conflict Transformation. Berlin: Berghof
Foundation /Online Berghof Handbook for Conflict

S. Fountain (1999). Peace Education in UNICEF : Working Paper Education

Section Programme Division. UNICEF: New York

F.Marsh, I.Perez et al., (1998). Peace Education Handbook for Educators/

International Falcon Movement-Socialist Educational International

M.Mukhopadhyay (2005). Peace Education Framework for Teacher Education.

NIEPA : New Delhi

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 L, Betita, M.Biton, & et. al. (2013) INTEGRATING PEACE EDUCATION IN
TEACHER EDUCATION: A Teaching Guide. Davao city ; FC Zamora and
Manuel Domes

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