“Safe Schools for All” and “Minimum Standards in Education in Emergencies”

One great thing about coming back to toronto is that i get the opportunity to attend interesting conferences and seminars related to various education issues. Here are some of the interesting ideas/events i have encountered at OISE Ontario Institution for Studies in Education www.oise.utoronto.ca

On Sept 29, i attended a conference called “Safe Schools for All: Conflict Resolution and Peacemaking Education”. Under the conference, there were 40 or mini workshops that one could participate, all related to conflict resolution, nonviolence, social justice and building peace. Just to give you an idea on the kind of workshops happening that day. So there were “Understanding Anger”, “Connecting Peace to Community Building and the Environment”, “Peer Conflict Mediation”, “Thinking We, building empathy and community through social action”, “Conflict Transformation: Children’s Peace Theater” and more. I went to the workshop on how to facilitate a Peacemaking Circle. It was an interesting one and throughout the workshop, i was thinking how i could use the concept of a circle in different educational situations. A peacebuilding circle project has been piloted in Toronto for youth at risk and in conflict with the law. It’s a huge success and i’m eager to learn more about the model. more info http://www.peacebuilders.ca/

The most important lesson i’ve learned from this conference is that peace education applies to all forms of teaching and learning. There are different layers within peace education, ranging from knowing “who i am”, how to control our anger to community building and resolving ethnic conflicts. Peace, according to the keynote speaker Dr. Ursual Franklin, can be reached when there is an absence of fear that’s justified by the presence of justice. Her words made me think of how important it is to cultivate that feeling of fearlessness, confidence and non-violence among children and youth in rural China, if not the whole country. I think it’s timely that OISE organized such conference focusing on conflict resolution when the world is changing and ideas are moving so rapidly.

Interestingly enough, just two days ago, i went to another workshop session on “minimum standards for education in emergencies, chronic crises, and early reconstruction” www.ineesite.org. What i learnt there, again, highlighted the concepts like non-violent, conflict resolution, psychosocial wellbeing of children and young people. Also, the INEE has created a handbook that explains those qualitative minimum levels to be attained in the provision of educational programs. Though they are focusing on education in emergencies, when i glanced through the standards, they are actually those good things that all quality education programs should be practicing. INEE divides the standards into four main categories, each with indicators that can be used in monitoring and evaluation - 1) Access and learning environment, 2) Teaching and Learning, 3) Teachers and other education personnel, 4) Education policy and coordination. Although they are called minimum standards, they are pretty rigorous as they make sure quality education is provided during time of emergencies.

If you are interested in peacebuilding, conflict resolution, or simply quality programming, log onto INEE. there is a WEALTH of resources there

cheers,