Search Select Language Issue #103 March/April 2013 Powered by Translate Like Share 17 people like this. Be the first of your friends. News & Highlights Peace Education in the Peace Education in the Spotlight of a Nobel Nomination Field The International Peace Bureau, 1910 Action Alerts Nobel Peace Laureate, nominated Betty Reardon for this year’s Nobel Events & Conferences Peace Prize, citing her many years in Educational Programs the development and dissemination of peace education throughout the world. Publications & Research The letter of nomination from co­ President Tomas Magnusson Jobs & Funding acknowledges the significance of Opportunities education to the achievement of peace and the need for its introduction into Quick Links schools and all learning settings GCPE Website around the world (click here to read the Subscribe nomination letter). The nomination Archives sheds light on the essential fact that Contribute to the the people of the world must learn how Newsletter to dismantle the war system and intentionally design and construct a Make a tax­deductible disarmed and demilitarized world. contribution to the Global Campaign (coming soon) When peace educators first sought to make common cause with researchers and activists in the production and application of what Reardon has referred to as peace knowledge – all that is learned through the work of all sectors of the world­wide peace movement – their practice was viewed by research scholars and peace activist as a positive complement to, but not an essential and integral part of the larger movement. In those years there was, as well, little effort at active collaboration between research and activism. The growing international network of peace educators that drew on all aspects of the peace movement, distilling knowledge essential to educating for and about peace, was drawn into the larger peace community through the practical work of interacting with researchers, practitioners and activists. The goal was to extend understanding of the needs for, obstacles to, and the possibilities for achieving peace. Some see peace education as contributing to transcending the former distances among the various sectors of the peace knowledge field. The contribution of peace education to the over­all field has been more than the integration of the learnings of the various branches of the movement. It has illuminated learning itself as the essential peace process, seeking ways to design and deliver peacelearning experiences most appropriate to particular learning audiences and the substance to be learned. It has ­ as articulated in the Final Document of UNESCO’s World Congress on Disarmament Education (1980) ­ worked to teach “how” to think about rather “what” to think about peace issues. It emphasizes learning how to learn so as to demilitarize our minds and disarm our society. Peace Education has recognized that more than any other transformative change needed to achieve a disarmed, just global order is change in the way we view the world, the way we think about and address problems and the ways in which we relate to each other. The conceptual core of this latter change, integrated into the field from feminism and the human rights movement and derived from thinking about the means to gender equality, is extended by peace education to the whole human family ­ both men and women. With the core values of nonviolence and human equality informing its further development, peace education continues to deepen its inquiry into more and more effective peacelearning. The Global Campaign for Peace Education and the International Institute on Peace Education (1) welcomes this Nobel nomination as significant recognition of the essential role of critical thinking and creativity, capacities cultivated through peacelearning, in the ongoing struggle for disarmament and peace with justice and equality. Peace educators everywhere appreciate that this essential role has been recognized by the International Peace Bureau, the oldest of all active peace organizations, who for over a century has educated the public about these possibilities that make evident that peace is possible and that we can learn to achieve it – assumptions that have infused all of Betty Reardon’s teaching and work in peace education. Notes: 1) Betty Reardon is the Founding Director Emeritus of the International Institute on Peace Education News Betty Reardon nominated for Nobel Peace Prize (Switzerland) The International Peace Bureau (IPB) has nominated Dr. Betty A. Reardon for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. Betty Reardon’s contribution to peace education and to the wider peace movement is unique. She helped lay the intellectual foundations for a whole new cross­disciplinary field at a time when the political atmosphere was intensely hostile. She initiated inter alia during the Cold War a network of Soviet, American and Norwegian teachers together with Professor Eva Nordland. She has influenced thousands of educators who have read her work and attended her courses. In particular she has contributed powerfully to the development of a feminist analysis of peace questions and has been able to place it in a fully global perspective – a fact that is testified by the number of visiting professorships and advisory positions she has been invited to take up in locations all over the world. At 80+ she continues to produce new ideas and new publications, and she continues to tour the world inspiring educators at different levels and in different countries. She has in her work given particular emphasis to disarmament education and human security from a gender perspective. First session of the Open­ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the Draft United Nations Declaration on the Right to Peace concluded (Switzerland) At its 20th session, on 5 July 2012, the Human Rights Council adopted resolution 20/15 by which it decided to establish an open­ended intergovernmental working group to meet for 4 working days prior to the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council (25 February­22 March 2013) to progressively negotiate a draft United Nations declaration on the right to peace. The first session of the Open­ended Working Group took place from 18 to 21 February 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland. The draft declaration on the right to peace contains several articles relevant to peace education, including Art. 4 specifically on Peace Education and Training. Relevant documents and statements by Member States as well as non­governmental organizations may be found at the link above. You may also provide comments on the advance unedited version of the report on the first session of the Open­ended Working Group at the link in the section below (under “Action Alerts”). Israeli, Palestinian Textbooks Reflect Narratives of Conflict Israeli and Palestinian textbooks reflect different versions of the conflict between the two peoples, said a report that recommended the sides address education as part of “the road to peace.” Textbooks generally reflect the dueling narratives, said Danny Bar­Tal, a professor at Tel Aviv University who helped produce the research. “Early knowledge imparted to children imprints attitudes so the books are important.” For example, characterization of “the other” as negative or very negative occurred 49 percent of the time in Israeli textbooks and 84 percent of the time in their Palestinian equivalents, the report said. Characterization of the other as the enemy occurred 75 percent in Israeli books and 81 percent in those of Palestinians. South Sudan To Include Peace In Education Curriculum The Ministry of General Education and Instruction and the Ministry of Youth Culture and Sports with the support of UNICEF are holding a workshop to strengthen the ministry’s approaches on mainstreaming peace in education curriculum. The workshop is set under the theme “Using a better understanding context to meet current challenges and build a more responsive approach to education in South Sudan within the frame work of the Naivasha conference action plan.” According to Kuol Atem Bol, the acting Director General for Alternative Education, the workshop is set to ensure that peace education is included as a component in all the subjects. Sierra Leone Teachers' Union (SLTU) Unveils New Model for Teacher Training In a bid to enhance government strategies in the area of access and retention of pupils to and completion of Basic Education cycle in the country, the Sierra Leone Teachers' Union (SLTU) in collaboration with the Canadian Teachers Federation (CTF), the Uganda National Teachers' Union (UNATU) conducted a four­day workshop on the topic: Best Practices Exchange Programme.” The workshop examined the successes of the Peace Education Curriculum for schools Project in SLTU and how to transfer the successes to new settings in Africa. The workshop focused on linking the peace education project with an in­service training for Professional Development Facilitators. RISE program guides young leaders to promote peace and mutual respect (USA) (Brattleboro Reformer) People have never stopped finding ways to kill one another, and the devastation of war and violence continues to plague much of the world. With this in mind, the Deerfield Valley (VT) Rotary Club member took the initiative to create a pilot program intended to facilitate and guide high school students as young leaders in the promotion of peace, mutual respect and understanding worldwide. Known as the Rotary International Syllabus for Envoys of Peace, or RISE, the program was conceived a year ago and launched last month as an educational course to teach young people in proximity to a Rotary Club the “basic tenets of peace and conflict resolution.” Peace Village Brings Peace Education to Youth in 10 States and Haiti Eighteen years ago, Rev. Charles Busch instituted a week­long summer day camp for ages 6 to 12 on the Oregon Coast. Its immediate impetus was a local act of bullying. Peace Village’s genuinely grassroots movement has thus far fallen under the radar of the major media. But it has continued to grow steadily, mainly by word of mouth.