Standards for Peace Education and a Case for Support to Teachers in Facilitation

Abstract

The need for policy support and guidelines for teachers to provide contextually responsive instruction with competencies of conflict management and peace building has increased with escalating instances of regional and global conflicts. Across the United States, the lack of supports for such teaching has led to increased harm in response to conflicts that students must learn to manage and transform. There is an evident desire for peace education, which has found expression in several states in the U.S. where teachers do provide such instruction. Teachers, however, need training and a responsive administration to do that. Yet, there has been scanty support for peace education in teacher education programmes. Such programmes adhere to policies, research recommendations, and guidelines that contain instructional standards but do not include plans for a responsive pedagogy. This paper addresses that issue and provides a response to it. Educational researchers from different parts of the world who have identified the lack of standards for peace education in various regions collaborated in the production of this needed resource. Their research and development of interdependent components of student learning, teacher preparation, and school administration that influence peace-oriented education have helped formulate standards for students, teachers, teacher-educators, and school administrators. This discussion includes the standards that those researchers prescribed for teachers of peace education. Policy makers and school administrators can use those standards to facilitate instruction in the competencies of peace development.