Today, we
are told that lawyers need to shift and expand their roles from warriors to conflict resolvers. In fact, conflict resolution
skills are not only necessary for lawyers, but they are needed as part of our
basic tool box as social human beings. Conflicts are part of our daily life,
whether it be at work, in our families, our institutions, our social circles,
or at school. So why not learn those skills from an early age? One interesting
way to do this is through peer mediation programs in schools.
Start your own peer mediation program with Mediate2go.com. It only takes minutes to get your customized directory page listed, and case management system in place. With a bit of training, you can help improve community and school relations with peer mediation.
Programs
for peer mediation in schools started appearing in the United States in the
1970s and are now quite widespread. In Canada, several programs exist as well
by now. One notable example is the project by Institut Pacifique in Quebec. This community-based organization offers schools with a
turnkey program, which includes materials, guides and initial training for
teachers and follow-up support in order to implement their program, called Vers le Pacifique. The program is aimed
at preschool and primary school levels, and it consists of two steps. Before
implementing the peer-mediation program per say, the first step requires the
school to offer conflict resolution workshops to the whole student body, in
order to educate and develop the awareness of all students to peaceful methods
of conflict resolution. Those workshops are given over a full school year.
During the second year of the program, the peer-mediation program is
implemented. Students from grades four to six are chosen according to a
well-crafted process to be trained as mediators, and they rotate to act as
mediators in the school yard for minor conflicts between their peers.
This
program by Institut Pacifique was the object of longitudinal studies by professors at the University of
Montreal. Those studies found that after two years of implementation, the
students exposed to the program developed improved sociocognitive abilities
such as managing emotions, identifying the causes of a conflict and proposing
solutions. After three years of implementation, a significant decrease in
aggressive behaviour on the part of students was observed. Constant efforts to
promote and support the program are needed, however, for the impacts to last
through time.
It is
important to note that these programs do not just aim to teach skills and
techniques; they help build a positive vision of conflicts. Children learn to
use dialogue as an alternative to aggressive behaviour or passivity in the face
of disputes, and they also experience the positive impacts that can come from
this dialogue and collaboration. Accepting conflicts as part of the human
experience and harnessing them in a constructive way is a challenge that we
must all step up to.
Did you
experience peer mediation in your school growing up? Does your children’s
school offer such program? If not, why not look into which local organisation
could offer it in your area?
Start your own peer mediation program with Mediate2go.com. It only takes minutes to get your customized directory page listed, and case management system in place. With a bit of training, you can help improve community and school relations with peer mediation.
Note: A
review of school mediation programs in Québec was published as part of a
collection of articles on the intersection of mediation and youth published in
Europe. Full reference: « La médiation en milieu
scolaire au Québec : un portrait », dans Médiation et Jeunesse, Mineurs et
médiations familiales, scolaires et pénales en pays francophones, sous la
direction de Jean Mirimanoff, Belgique, Larcier, 2013.
Léa Préfontaine holds a bachelor in civil law and common law from McGill University. Prior to her legal studies, she also completed a bachelor in business and a masters in economics. She will be an articling student at the Protecteur du citoyen (Québec Ombudsman) starting in June 2014. Léa is passionnate about dispute resolution and access to justice.
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