Peace Education’s Effects on Aggression: A Mixed Method Study

Abstract

Problem Statement: Literature reviews clearly document that students still show a tendency to use violence in resolving interpersonal conflicts in school. Results from various research conducted in Turkey suggest that violence, aggression, and bullying behaviors are still rampant in the primary and high schools. Studies conducted in primary and middle schools toward decreasing aggression and preventing violence focus on programs such as violence prevention, conflict resolution, and peer mediation. While these programs are mainly based on peacemaking strategy, prevention programs based on positive peace and peacebuilding strategy with tested effectiveness are rather limited. Thus, a peace education program based on positive peace and peacebuilding strategy was developed and its effects on aggression levels of sixth grade students were investigated. Purpose of the Study:The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of peace education program on sixth grade students' aggression. Furthermore, students' perspectives and experiences related to peace education program were examined.

Achieving and Monitoring Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship: A Systematic Review of the Literature

“…Setting: A large body of literature on peace education focuses on formal education. As seen in Figure 12, most of the programs were conducted in a traditional classroom setting, some at primary school [57][58][59], and others at secondary school level [60,61]. As shown in Figure 13, fewer programs were implemented at university level [62] or as an after-school activity in middle school and high school [63].…”

“…Geographically, more than half of the publications on peace education programs have origins in Europe [58,59,61,62] or in the US [57,63], while one assessment was implemented in Africa [60]. Geographically, more than half of the publications on peace education programs have origins in Europe [58,59,61,62] or in the US [57,63], while one assessment was implemented in Africa [60]. Objective: The objectives of peace education programs ranged from immediate to far-reaching impacts on participants' understanding of, awareness of and attitudes towards peace-building.…”

“…Peacebuilding strategy: to build a culture of peace through transforming the culture of violence into a culture of peace [61]. Objective: The objectives of peace education programs ranged from immediate to far-reaching impacts on participants' understanding of, awareness of and attitudes towards peace-building.…”

“…However, peace education is defined in different terms depending on the national or regional contexts. The programs may pertain to either individual (e.g., [58,63]) or societal level (e.g., [60][61][62]). While some programs aimed to promote greater awareness, empathy and compassion among students [57,59] or among pre-service teachers [58,62], others were based on a peacekeeping strategy, which includes violence prevention and conflict resolution among youth for peaceful coexistence [60,61,63].…”

“…Peacebuilding strategy: to build a culture of peace through transforming the culture of violence into a culture of peace [61].…”