Conflict Resolution Education (CRE)
Around the World
While there is CRE related legislation in most states in the United States, there are also similar mandates, standards, or legislation in every world region. Example of the range of topics include curriculum integration of CRE into various subject areas, integration of mediation and conflict management skills training into teacher preparation, the use of restorative justice practices for youth in the community through the courts, and a national mandate to have bullying prevention mission statements and policies in place in all schools.
By clicking on the country flags, you can access samples of some of the countries legislation or standards that are being implemented at a national or regional level and power point presentations presented by some of those countries on their work during the Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution's Conference on Conflict Resolution Education, What Works! Innovations in Conflict Resolution Education, September 28th - October 1st, 2005 in Columbus, Ohio.
Hunter College International Network on CRE working group meeting July 2005
A Global Perspective of Challenges and Strategies to Address those Challenges
In July of 2005, as part of a United Nation's Conference, a Peace Education (PE) and Conflict Resolution Education (CRE) working group was convened of 47 participants representing 25 nations from around the world. The stated objectives of the working group were: 1) to become informed about the current state of practice in PE and CRE and the level of collaboration between governments and non-governmental organizations (NGO) among the attending nations; 2) to identify best practices for advancing the use of PE and CRE in the prevention of violent conflict and the challenges to implementing those best practices; and 3) to develop recommendations to overcome these challenges and encourage NGO/government collaboration with specific action plans and assignment of responsibility where possible.
A summary statement of challenges from across all areas of interest included:
- Acknowledgement of the role of PE and CRE in the prevention of conflict by stakeholders at all levels including international organizations, governments, education administrators, teachers, and faculty, parents, students and members of the local community;
- Need for policies or mandates to encourage support of PE and CRE;
- Difficulty in obtaining necessary financial and resource support;
- Recognition of the challenges of dealing with interethnic conflict and how it impacts regional or global approaches to PE and CRE; and
- Determining how best to provide PE and CRE training to stakeholders, both adults and children.
Strategies to address these challenges included:
- Finding groups of committed champions;
- Employing creative approaches to education and training;
- Conducting research to illustrate the effectiveness of PE and CRE;
- Networking across stakeholder groups including government, non-governmental, and civil society organizations and educational institutions;
- Leveraging legislation or policy mandates where possible; and
- Conducting conferences.
In discussion of nearly every challenge, the value of an international network and clearinghouse on CRE and PE was raised. Functions of the network included creating an inventory of resources such as curriculum and training materials, providing opportunities to share knowledge and expertise, offering a clearinghouse of existing legislation and policies related to PE and CRE, conducting/supporting forums and conferences, providing samples of best practices, and supplying access to existing research and evaluation. The groups also recommended encouraging regional conferences to bring together stakeholders with similar needs and concerns to learn from and share with one another.
A full report on the challenges, recommendations and action plans developed on CRE at the Conference is available from the conference secretariat's Web site, the European Centre for Conflict Prevention at: www.conflict-prevention.net. A copy of the pre-conference reader (PDF) edited and compiled by the Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management and Temple University 's College of Education is accessible in PDF. This includes a summary of the countries doing this work around the world and a summary of the work leading up to the July 2005 conference at the United Nation's offices in New York. The UN-CRE working group summary (PDF) and the announcement regarding the International Network on CRE (PDF) that was distributed at the United Nation's during the July 2005 Conference is accessible on this web site.
Following the July conference, a group of countries working on integrating CRE related work into their national education strategies met at Hunter College in New York to continue the discussions of the development of an International Network on Conflict Resolution Education and Peace Education. Additional time was deemed necessary for planning, bringing together teams of government and non-governmental organizations to further develop this network through intensive planning and dialogue in Ohio, USA in September and October of 2005.
Ohio Conference on Conflict Resolution Education, What Works! Innovations in Conflict Resolution Education: Early Childhood to Higher Education, September 28th - October 1st, 2005 .
Teams from seventeen countries reconvened in Columbus, Ohio for two days of intensive dialogue and planning (September 28th and 29th, 2005) for next steps for the International Network. This was followed by presentations from all of the countries on the work they are doing in their countries to advance CRE. The summaries of the presentations are included in the Final Ohio CRE Conference Program (PDF). A post-conference reader is currently under development by the Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management, Temple University's College of Education, and Georgia State University's Consortium on Negotiation and Conflict Resolution. When it is completed in November of 2005 it will be accessible from this web site. This planning meeting was sponsored in part through a grant from theWilliam and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Additional information regarding the International Network on CRE and PE will be available in the coming months. Please check the Web site for updates.
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