Peace promoting schools : educating literate and numerate peacemakers

Everyone is a stakeholder when it comes to education. We all went to school, have children going to school, or have a school in our neighbourhood. Popular media can even make direct links between the ills of society and the school curriculum, the behaviour management policies employed, and the dedication of individual teachers. But what if education was equally the responsibility of governments, parents, school and community? What if we were to implement an approach to educating students that was holistic in nature, promoted peaceful pedagogy and modelled peaceful practices? Whilst we might predict that our graduates would be less violent, could our peace-loving students read and write? The development of a Peace Promoting School model would aim to incorporate strategies that explicitly teach the skills of conflict resolution while modelling peaceful practices. Such an approach lays the responsibility for the education of contemporary youth, and the future we wish to create, firmly in the hands of the governments, carers, school and community. Could such an approach create a less violent society in addition to students with desirable twenty-first century academic skills? This paper explores the possibilities offered by a holistic approach to peace education that values both the academic and humane development of students.