What happened and why? Considering the role of truth and memory in peace education curricula

Abstract

This paper is an exploration of challenges arising in the interplay between a standardised peace education curriculum and a localised post-conflict setting. Drawing on interview data from two Kenyan schools, the paper explores the reception of peace education initiatives implemented in Kenya following the post-election violence of 2007/08 through the voices of teachers and pupils. The analysis identifies two patterns emerging from the pupils' point of view; firstly an engagement with narratives of conflict addressing what happened during the outbreak of violence, and secondly an awareness of collective narratives of the past, centred on the question of why the conflict broke out. The data identifies a gap between the knowledge and perspectives of the pupils, and the level of engagement by the curricula and teachers in the same issues. Finally, the paper explores some implications of these diverging needs and perspectives in relation to the design and implementation of peace education curricula, particularly in relation to providing sufficient support for the teachers.

The Nebraska Educator, Volume 5

“…Affective connections to historical violence may be framed as a worthy pedagogical goal, moral obligation, or dire risk-the appropriate strength or weakness of those connections to be weighed differently in each case (Simon et al, 2000). With those connections in mind, researchers have pointed toward the emotional sensitivities of students and teachers as guides for pedagogical decision-making in ways that privilege recency, proximity, and past personal experiences/encounters (Pitt & Britzman, 2003;Collins, 2013;Moyo & Gonye, 2015;Lauritzen & Nodeland, 2017). However, the risk of pinning constructions of resonant historical violence too closely to temporal recency-the aestheticization and banalization of more distant historical violence (Raudsepp & Zadora, 2019) raises questions about how, or whether, researchers and teachers account for historical violence as it appears to become less salient or resonant.…”

“…Concerns about temporal distance and spatial proximity of violence to students are also central to teachers' pedagogical decisions and their subsequent understandings of student reactions to historical violence. In studies of student encounters with recent historical violence teacher conceptions of temporal and spatial proximity to historical violence increased sensitivity to students' affective distance and influenced pedagogical decisions (Moyo & Gonye, 2015;Lauritzen & Nodeland, 2017). However, as…”

Difficulty and Distance in Educational Encounters with Historical Violence

“…Concerns about temporal distance and spatial proximity of violence to students are also central to teachers' pedagogical decisions and their subsequent understandings of student reactions to historical violence. In studies of student encounters with recent historical violence teacher conceptions of temporal and spatial proximity to historical violence increased sensitivity to students' affective distance and influenced pedagogical decisions (Moyo & Gonye, 2015;Lauritzen & Nodeland, 2017). However, as Lauritzen and Nodeland (2017) note, students in one study appear to have internalized a different message than teachers had in mind; students described material support given by the school in the wake of relatively recent community violence, rather than reporting the emotional support teachers had attempted to embed in their own pedagogies.…”

Safe Space, Dangerous Territory: Young People’s Views on Preventing Radicalization through Education—Perspectives for Pre-Service Teacher Education

“…Unconscious or conscious, these moral and ethical underpinnings underlie all education, from planning to pedagogical practices to assessment. Especially central they become when addressing sensitive, topical themes in the classroom, which lie at the basis of education for the prevention of radicalisation and extremism [37,38].…”