Implementing a School-Wide Conflict Management Program: Staff Development is the Key

Abstract

This paper presents a staff-development model to implement a school-wide conflict management plan. Results of an ongoing conflict management plan following its third year from an urban middle school are included to illustrate a conflict prevention and management strategy that was motivated and shaped by the school's culture and climate realities. The strategy is based on the premise that the effectiveness of the conflict management program improves when the philosophical orientation for conflict management is articulated, understood, and implemented by the administration, faculty, students, and parents.