Alternativ konflikthantering

Abstract

Peer mediation is a process for resolving conflicts and disputes in which neutral parties (peers) act as moderators in the process. My aim in this article is to discuss how the mediation influences children’s relations during a school-break? The article also discusses conflicts, emotions and the peers’ experiences of mediation. I am inspired by conflict and mediation theories and my methods are observations and interviews. My focus for this article is an observation during a school-break. The three pairs of mediators and the teacher act in different ways when trying to resolve the conflict related to four girls who were bickering about a skipping-rope, giving rise to different results. Ignoring the conflict resulted in an escalation and in a traditional and disciplinary way of handling the conflict. Focusing on the wrongdoers led to continued conflict. The restorative way of handling the conflict during a mediation process also affected the children who were not involved in the conflict. The girls stopped bickering and the children involved, as well as other children, started to play together in a more interactive way. Peer mediation is a method of conflict resolution and it is oriented towards sustainable change. It is also an alternative to traditional disciplinary practices and does not criminalize children’s behaviour, which happens when the schools report the children´s conflicts to the police.