a teacher's guide to peace education

Learning the Way of Peace A Teachers’ Guide to Peace Education

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,

New Delhi 2001

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This report also includes inputs provided by research persons at the UNESCO Regional Seminar held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 3-5 January 2001 and has been published with financial support from UNESCO and written by A. S. Balasooriya.

The author is responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in this book and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the organization

First published : 2001

CONTENTS

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Introduction xi

1. What is Peace Education? 1

2. The Way of Peace 9

3. Designing Programmes 13

4. Ways of Integrating Peace into the Curriculum 19 5. Practices that Make School a Place of Peace 33 6. Peace Teacher - Peace Methods 39 7. Developing Staff 51 8. Reducing Violence in School 55 9. A Model for Peace Education 59

10. Think Positively 63 o Learning Activities 71

11. Be Compassionate and Do No Harm 87 o Learning Activities 92

12. Discover Inner Peace 103 o Learning Activities 110

13. Learn to Live Together 119

o Learning Activities 124

14. Respect for Human Dignity 133 o Learning Activities 138

15. Be Your True Self 147 o Learning Activities 157

16. Think Critically 167 o Learning Activities 174

17. Resolve Conflict Non-Violently 187


18. Build Peace in the Community 209


19. Care for the Planet 219 o Learning Activities 224

20. Evaluating Peace Learning 233

Bibliography 239

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APPENDIX

1 Conclusions Reached at the UNESCO Regional Seminar on Curriculum Development in Peace Education, Colombo, 3-5 January 2001

- 2. Subject Index

3 Bibliography

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Conclusions Reached at the UNESCO Regional Seminar on Curriculum Development for Peace Education, Colombo, Sri Lanka

3-5 January 2001

Draft Resolutions:

The participants at the Seminar

I. Recognizing the role that education has to play in building defences of peace in the minds of people, and the interrelationship between peace and sustainable development as critical to achieving the objective of social cohesion and living together, and to move away from a culture of war and violence in a world beset with strife to a culture of peace and non-violence;

II. Acknowledging the responsibility to the future of humanity and the critical role of peace education in discharging such responsibility;

III. Underscoring that the respect for human dignity and human rights and the protection of the environment are the core values, that need to be practised to achieve peace and harmony and sustainable development through lifelong peace education.

IV. Reinforcing the need to harness the full potential in body, mind and spirit of every human being and the need to preserve one’s identity (learning to be);

V. Emphasizing the need to establish a prioritized programme of peace education in all aspects of school curricula;

VI. Realizing the importance of the noble ideals such as loving kindness, mercy, friendship, generosity, equanimity, and righteousness, as enshrined in all our religions,

resolve that the following steps are conducive to the inculcation of the values and development of attitudes and behaviours to be practised in the school and out of school environment to achieve a culture of peace and non-violence, a cherished ideal of all human beings:

1. Re-orient teacher education programmes to ensure the professionalization of every teacher and teacher educator as a peace educator.

2. Design school programmes, co-curricular activities, functions, ceremonies and celebrations to internalize concepts and practices of peace education.

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Create awareness that the school practises the culture of peace by way of developing literature for children, and by displaying peace mottos in prominent places, on bill boards and wall magazines.

Take measures to eliminate and denounce violence, of any form, explicit or implicit, within the school and campus premises.

Incorporate peace education in all curricula and in the development of teaching/ learning materials, including in multi-media facilities.

Set up teacher and student exchange programmes nationally and internationally for the promotion of peace education.

Establish a Peace Education Centre for South Asia, which would co-ordinate, promote and support researches, surveys, studies and innovations in peace education.

Promote the learning of concepts and practice of responsible and duty-conscious citizenship among students.

Initiate functionaries of school management systems into peace education and provide them with the enabling environment to do so.

10. Develop skills in conflict resolution as an integral part of education.

Il. Promote respect for diversities and pluralities in multicultural societies comprising different linguistic, cultural and religious backgrounds.

12. Influence the relevant authorities to ensure that mass media fall in line with the mission of peace education by recognizing their own social responsibility.

13. Involve schools in building out-of-school informal and non-formal support structures for promotion of peace, involving the home, civil society, organizations and communities.

14. Lobby with decision-makers and policy-makers in public and private sectors that environments conducive to peace must be ensured to supplement what is done in the schools.

15. Prepare a handbook comprising guidelines to be followed by every teacher and teacher educator by way of an integrated approach in all subjects taught in schools and teacher education institutions on the basis of proposals made during the seminar. (This handbook to be made available to the member states by 28 February 2001 in order to enable the testing of the models to commence in the South Asian members states, as soon as possible).

16. Develop and execute monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for peace education programmes and build these into the new programmes.

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17. Encourage member states to formulate government policy to institutionalize and implement peace education programmes.

18. Globalize the peace movement by proposing these concepts and programmes to be adopted by UNESCO’s member states in General Conference and to be practised in the respective member states thereafter, since it is only a world order imbibing similar values, attitudes and behaviours that could bring about respect for human dignity and right and respect for the environment which are the essential ingredients for contributing to a culture of peace worldwide.

19. Sustain peace education programmes by the adoption of appropriate strategies in the short, medium and long term.

Colombo, Sri Lanka

5 January 2001

INTRODUCTION

‘Since wars begin in the minds of men it is in the minds of men that the defence of peace must be constructed. ’

From the Constitution of UNESCO

May there be Peace!

Dear teachers, principals and curriculum designers,

You are most welcome to this Teachers’ Guide to Peace Education. This comes to you as a gift from UNESCO. The educationists gathered from India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka at the Conference on Curriculum Development in Peace Education organized by UNESCO in January 2001 in Colombo, accepted that peace education should be an integral part of general education in their own countries and South Asia at large. They decided to produce a Teachers’ Guide to introduce Peace Education to schools in South Asia. So this is it! Taking the teachers’ needs to learn what peace education is all about this guide:

clarifies the scope, goals, core values and concepts of peace education;

suggests a thematic model on which school peace education programmes could be designed, implemented and evaluated;

identifies characteristics, attitudes and skills necessary to be a peace teacher;

provides learning activities useful for educating peace;

points out ways of infusing peace values, attitudes and skills in the formal teaching and learning in the classroom;

discusses ways of eliminating violence in school in all forms;

introduces co-curricular activities for peace programmes in schools;

presents a procedure for staff development in peace education within the schools;

gives practical steps to build peace culture in schools; and

specifies intended outcomes, as objectives to strive for and as indicators to use for evaluation.

Uses of the Guide

This guide aims at empowering you as a teacher in your attempt to foster peaceful attitudes, values and skills in children. It provides a basic theoretical

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foundation and a variety of learning activities, classroom practices and suggestions for building peace culture in schools.

The approach suggested here does not intend to make another subject out of peace education; rather it advocates integration of peace values into the school curriculum. It suggests ways of making every lesson a peace and every teacher a peace teacher. Inclusion of peace values and activities will make the subjects more meaningful and interesting to learners in many ways. It increases the quality of teaching as well as learning. The approach attempts to make Peace the central theme, in the total school curriculum, which unifies the learning experiences in various subjects. In absence of such a unifying central theme, children may experience the curriculum as a package of fragmented pieces of knowledge, with little or no relation to each other.

The guide mainly addresses teachers in primary and secondary schools. School principals may, too find it useful for introducing peace education into their schools. Teachers need the school principal’s support, guidance and facilitation in their attempts.

Curriculum designers can also find clues and insights here as to how peace concepts, values, and approach could be included into curriculum. Having peace values in the curriculum is so necessary, In them teachers find a legitimate foundation on which they can build. However mere inclusion of a few peace values as they happened to be there in a curriculum in a disorganized way, may not be taken seriously by teachers. It should be stated in this context, that it is disheartening to see how little space is given in many school syllabi to discuss most important matters related to the human development of children. If you do not agree with the statement, find yourself space in syllabi where you can discuss happiness, empathy, friendship, responsible decision-making, conflict resolution and peaceful living with children. This is because of the lack of interest in aspects like human development, peaceful living, and morality by the curriculum designers. But the present crisis in the world, both locally and globally, demands that curriculum designers should be more interested in peaceful living aspect of children by including such values in subject syllabi, teachers’ handbooks, school texts and teacher education courses. It has to be done with clear vision and goals.

Introducing the concepts and methods of peace education for teacher trainees in Colleges of Education needs to be a priority in introducing the innovation into a school system. This Guide may also be used for teachers’ training in peace education. Along with it an education authority who wants to make peace education an integral part of education has to work from all levels with an unshaken interest and enthusiasm.

Introduction . . . XIII

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Design of the Guide

Part one [Chapters 1 and 21 of the guide discusses the nature of peace education and the concept of peace. Part two [Chapters 3 to 51 explores ways of integrating peace values into the school curriculum and various practices that make school a place of peace. It also introduces a large number of teaching and learning methods of peace education. Thirdly, Chapter 6 considers ways of developing staff in peace education. Chapter 7 suggests ways of reducing violence in school.

Part four [Chapters 8 to 181 introduces a thematic model for peace education with 10 themes based on core peace values most relevant to education in our present global context. Each theme presents a conceptual analysis, intended outcome, classroom practices, hints for peace culture building and model learning activities.

The last two chapters are on designing school programmes and evaluating peace learning.

All the activities and the models introduced herein have been largely tried out by the writer in schools with students, in Teachers’ Colleges with teacher-students and educators. Such activities will surely enrich the quality of education through the raising spirit of liveliness, joy and creativity in schools. They provide socializing experiences and the insights necessary for peaceful living.

How to Integrate Peace into the Curriculum

If you are a peace-loving teacher naturally you want to integrate it into all the aspects of schooling. There are six major media of integration into the total curriculum of the school. They are:

1. Subject context

Here we take Language, Social Studies, Religion, Physical Education, Arts, and Science as the core curricular subjects, which can be used to infuse peace.

2. Subject perspectives

These are how teachers make a subject meaningful. A subject is not learned merely for the subject’s sake. It has to be interpreted in such a manner so as to contribute to learners’ social, emotional, intellectual and moral self-development. Peace education attempts to humanize subjects through bringing in human perspectives and effective dominion into learning.

3. Teaching methods

In education both what is taught and how it is taught are equally important .A good teacher adopts the child-centred education approach, especially in the primary and secondary levels. Instead of routine lecturing, she uses interesting learning activities. She is not only concerned with imparting knowledge but also concerned

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with developing socializing skills, moral attitudes and learning skills of children in parallel.

4. Co-curricular activities

These are activities done outside the classroom to achieve the goals of the formal subject learning. Here we include extra curricular activities as well. Extra curricular activities are complementary in the sense that they do not directly relate to subjects or formal curriculum, but are helpful in achieving the goals of education.

5. Staff development

To successfully implement any innovation, first of all the teachers need to develop by raising awareness and training. This can be done through in-service seminars and school-based sessions.

6. Classroom management

Classroom management includes maintenance of discipline, organizing learning, character building, conflict resolution, counselling, etc.

7. Sckool management

This is the administrative, structural, policy-making and policy implementation level at the school level principal as the Head. Teachers who implement peace education at the classroom level need the support of the whole school. Peace education provides important insights into management development of the school.

Ways of integrating peace into lessons is discussed in’detail in Chapter 3.

Learning Activities

This Guide presents you with over 100 learning activities in the third part. With each the subject context or curriculum concern is suggested. However, the teacher is the best judge where to use them. While using them as the minimum request of this course, you can create and design similar or even improve your own activities to meet the needs of peace education in varying situations. The experience gained from using these activities will be helpful in creating your own activities. Perhaps at the beginning children may hesitate to participate in activities, because of the previously acquired habits of passivity. However, as they continue to participate, they will begin to enjoy the activities and shed the former habits of hesitancy.

It is difficult to make this guide exhaustive. However in preparing this Guide attempts have been made to make it a module in the sense that it will be self- sufficient for the teachers who use it. However, teachers can build much more from their experience gained through applying this approach in their classrooms.

1

WHAT IS PEACE EDUCATION?

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‘Peace is possible for life at all stages and it is up to man to choose his destiny or to suffer from the horrors of war. Today mankind is at the cross- road where he has to choose with courage, determination and imagination.’

Federico Mayor

On seeing this guide a teacher might wonder ‘Is it really necessary to teach peace as such? Whole education is for peace. Isn’t it already in the curriculum?’ She may be right in a sense. But the questions remain: Are we giving adequate attention today to teach peace? Are our schools really interested in producing a peaceful young generation ? Is it enough having mere peace concepts in the curriculum?

Violence is emerging in an unprecedented manner in human society. Looking at the world today any sensible person feels disheartened and even horrified to see the kind of violent acts being committed by man against man and nature. It is sad to realize that we live in an era of unprecedented violence in the forms of terrorism, war, crimes, injustice and oppression and exploitation amidst a seemingly outward development enjoyed by a few. The majority of mankind lives in stark poverty, struggling for bare survival. There is so much disorder and confusion in the society man has built for himself.

The saddest part of the story is that this state of disorder and confusion in the society is affecting the children’s innocent minds. Children naturally absorb the spirit of violence in the atmosphere and will soon grow to be the next generation of perpetuators of violence. Therefore the need to nurture peace in the hearts of children has arisen as urgent issues to be addressed.

Fortunately, a few countries may still remain unaffected by such forces extending over the surface of the earth. But the questions remain: How long can they remain so? No country can remain aloof under the pressures of globalization. Under the present secular forces education is narrowing down into the teaching of certain subject matters necessary only for passing examinations. Due to such subject- centred and examination-oriented learning at school the purpose and the beauty of

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whole education seems to have much lost. The joy of learning is taken away from children. They are trained to cope with the rat race of the corrupt society. Today school is no more a place of leisure or of peace as the very word ‘school’ means. (The word school drives from Greek ‘&hole meaning leisure)

Today teachers complain about increasing disciplinary problems in schools. One teacher says, “I am appalled to see the mindless behaviour of the adolescents in school. Their mentality seems so different from us!” The public criticizes the youth whom we produce at schools as insensitive to the problems of society, selfish, narrow minded, lacking in intellectual depth and susceptible to the violent and corrupt social pressures. The excellence of a few students cannot make up for the rest. R.D. Laing (1978) puts it this way:

‘A child born today in the U.K. stands a ten times greater chance of being admitted to a mental hospital than a university.... We are driving mad our children more effectively than we are genuinely educating them. ’

Under the present predicament there is a growing realization in the world of education today that children should be educated in the art of peaceful living. As a result, more and more peace concepts, attitudes, values and behavioural skills are being integrated into school curricula in many countries. There is also renewed interest to develop peace-related disciplines such as values education, moral education, global education, etc. In the past we seemed to have assumed that the more knowledge people have, the better they are. Accordingly, we stressed cognitive learning in schools at the cost of developing children’s emotional, social, moral and humanistic aspects. The consequence of such imbalanced learning is evident today in the forms of youth unrest with their antisocial attitudes and behavioural problems.

This teachers’ guide introduces an educational approach, by the name of Peace Education, which can undo certain basic negative effects discussed above. It attempts to do so by way of bringing in core human values essential for peaceful and healthy living. It provides a wide range of interesting active methods of teaching and learning to deliver the curriculum effectively alongside with a focus on core human values. This approach has been tried out by educationists and teachers in different countries and found effective. For instance, a student in such a school in Sri Lanka, writes;

‘This programme strongly influenced my mind. I was enlightened on how to lead a contented life, to live a conflict-free ltfe in school, to build up mutual co-operation and make our future happy and successful and most of all, to live as a peaceful citizen ’ (National Institute of Education (2000) Bulletin on Education for Conflict Resolution Programme)

Wht is Peace Education? 3

A teacher who had received a short course training on peace education said at the end, ‘I have never received such a wonderful experience and knowledge in my teaching career I have become a changed person with good attitudes. This is indeed a useful Programme which could bring about peace and harmony to our country. ’ (Ibid)

Robin Montz, another teacher, who tried out such an approach in America writes:

‘School started, and I began to weave into our curriculum some of the effective exercises I had experienced or read about. And I saw some “mi- raculous ” things begin to take place. I saw students form meaningful relationships in the classroom. Isaw students who had been bored and in trouble much of the time begin to learn. I saw myself and my own role as teacher begin to change and to take on new meanings. And I saw genuine relationships begin to develop between myself and my students, not so much as teacher and pupil, but as people, human beings meeting each other and leamingLfiom each other ‘. (George Isaac Brown (1972) Human Teaching and Human Learning, The Gestalt Journal, Highland NY, page1 68)

Development of Peace Education

In tracing the recent development of peace education, we begin to see that in the past it had been an integral part of education at all times and in all cultures, Every culture regards peace as a noble ideal to attain. However with the advent of Western secularism at the beginning of the 20th century through the guise of a positivist scientific outlook to education, moral and human values including peace were slowly discouraged away from school curricula. Under the ideal of value-free positivist and reductionist knowledge the whole education was viewed narrowly as teaching facts of various subjects.

However, in spite of such materialistic views, the thinking of such humanists like Rousseau, Henry Thoreau, Tolstoy and Maria Montessori kept the sense of education alive. With the witness of the horrors of the First and Second World Wars there was-a reawakening to the need of developing the humanistic side of education at least among a few educationists. In.this context Maria Montessori’s loud and tireless reiteration on the need for educating for peace should be mentioned here with respect and appreciation. At the beginning of the 21 st century today we are only rediscovering her vision of peace education which she tried to tell the world in the 1930s. For instance, she said in one of her public talks:

Those who want war prepare young people for war; but those, who want peace have neglected young.children and adolescents so that they are unable to organize them for peace.

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Her vision of education provides a meaningful sound basis for peace education. She looked at education as a tool for building World Peace. To her peace is the guiding principle of man and nature. Any attempt to deviate from the principle will only bring about destruction. However it has never been investigated seriously so far. Peace should be studied as a science identifying its direct and indirect complex factors. She also observed that man had neglected to realize his inner sources of energies. Mastery over the external world alone is inadequate in bringing about a peaceful world. Peace is not only cessation of war. There are many positive qualities in peace. She said that violence destroys the moral perception inherited in man. She described her time as an era of insidious madness, which demanded man to return to reason immediately. Like Rousseau, she believed that man is intrinsically pure by nature. The child’s natural innocence has to be preserved from being sidetracked or spoilt by society. To her the child is the promise of mankind. The child has real vision, a bright little flame of enlightenment that brings us a gift. Constructive education for peace must aim to reform humanity so as to permit the inner development of human personality and develop a more conscious vision of the mission of mankind and the present conditions of social life. What we need today is an education that is capable of saving mankind from the present predicament. Such an education involves the spiritual development of man and the enhancement of his value as an individual and prepares the young people to understand the time in which they live. At school we must construct an environment in which children can be actively engaged in learning.

Definition of Peace Education

Peace education is more effective and meaningful when it is adopted according to the social and cultural context and the needs of a country. It should be enriched by its cultural and spiritual values together with the universal human values. It should also be globally relevant. Peace education could be defined in many ways. There is no universally accepted definition as such. Here are some good definitions from peace literature.

a Peace education is an attempt to respond to problems of conflict and violence on scales ranging from the global and national to the local and personal. It is about exploring ways qf creating more just and sustainable futures - R. D. Laing (I 978)

l Peace education is holistic. It embraces the physical, emotional, intellectual, and social growth of children within aframework deeply rooted in traditional human values. It is based on philosophy that teaches love, compassion, trust, fairness, co-operation and reverence for the human family and all ltfe on our beautiful planet - Fran Schmidt and Alice Friedman (1988)

What is Peace Education? 5

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l Peace education is skill building. It empowers children tojnd creative and nondestructive ways to settle conflict and to live in harmony with themselves, others, and their world . . . . . . Peace building is the task of every human being and the challenge of the human family -Fran Schmidt and Alice Friedman (1988)

The basic concepts embedded in the above definitions are that peace education is a remedial measure to protect children from falling into the ways of violence in society. It aims at the total development of the child. It tries to inculcate higher human and social values in the mind of the child. In essence it attempts to develop a set of behavioural skills necessary for peaceful living and peace-building from which the whole of humanity will benefit.

In fact, two out of the four pillars of education suggested by the Dolor report, namely learning to live together and learning to be, are related to peaceful living. Naming such efforts as peace education is not always necessary. What matters is integrating peaceful attitudes, values, and skills into the teaching and learning process in school and makes it a part of the total curriculum. Certain countries and institutes have it in the form of subjects such as Values Education, (Malaysia and Philippines), Citizenship Education (U.S.A.). Education for Mutual Understanding (Ireland) and Developmental Education (UNICEF).Apart from such subject names it can be integrated into the formal curriculum and co-curriculum of schools.

Through applying peace education and creating a peace culture, it has been observed that schools can have the following benefits (as reported by teachers and principals who have used the peace approach in their schools in Sri Lanka. Source: Education for Conflict Resolution Project. National Institute of Education. Sri Lanka)

Schools can:

l Develop a more humanistic management approach.

l Improve human relations between, teacher-student, teacher-teacher, student-student, etc.

l Help develop good attitudes in students and teachers as well, e.g. co-operation, mutual respect.

l Help healthy emotional development in students.

l Facilitate socialization through participation in interactive and co- operative learning activities

l Improve students’ discipline and moral behaviour. l Develop creativity both in students and teachers. l Improve standard of quality of teaching and learning.


It is interesting to mention here an evaluation done on affective learning techniques by Robin Motz the teacher mentioned above as reported in the same book (p. 168)

l Better learning of cognitive material.

l Heightened motivation and response to learning situations.

l Greater appreciation of self, nature, others, feelings, etc.

l Greater pupil responsibility

l A greatly reduced or diminished desire for drug use by some students and for “mind blowing” by others:( to quote his words: A signzficant number of students in the class had been experimenting with drugs or other methods of escaping from their problems. Many used drugs in the attempt to find a more meaningful reality to which they could relate. The use of affective techniques in connection with conventional curriculum showed them another and a better way to achieve normalcy with the same result. Many of them discontinued the use of drugs. Other students, ready to drop out of society, were able to find knowledge and experience that was relevant to them. In general the use of affective techniques has resulted in behavioural change on the part of students that has made them better students, better able to relate to other human beings and has shown other teachers that motivation, interest, awareness, learning and so on, can be increased tfstudents are ‘tuned in, 7

Concluding Thoughts

This chapter describes the conditions that make peace education obligatory in our schools. Though it seems to be a recent development, it has been evolving even before the 20th century. No education system is complete without some form of component similar to peace education It may take such forms as moral, value or citizenship, democratic or global education. The differentiating feature of peace education is the focus it has on the problem of human violence. In short, peace education can be defined as an educational response to the problem of human violence. It has the following basic features: It aims at protecting children’s minds from being imbued by violence in the society. It prepares them for building a peaceful world by empowering them with necessary knowledge, attitudes, and skills. It humanizes the child, teaching and learning, and school.

Schools can directly benefit by adopting peace education. There is ample evidence to show that it improves the quality of teaching and learning, discipline, and helps emotional development in children.

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What is Peace Education? 7

Things To Do

1. Identify and discuss the positive and negative impacts that globalization has on your society. What measures need to be taken to curtail them? What changes should be brought into education to face the present challenges?

2 What positive and negative comments do you hear from teachers and parents about the present adolescents? Discuss.

3 ‘The child is the promise of mankind.’ How do you understand Maria Montessori’s statement?

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2

THE WAY OF PEACE

May the clouds give rain in proper time And crops yield harvest

May the whole world be happy and hale And rulers be righteous!

A Buddhist hymn

The word peace has a broad meaning. In fact, it is an umbrella term that covers a wide range and shades of meanings. Therefore in order to make it a clear and unambiguous base for any educational purpose, it has to be interpreted as something that students can learn and change their ways of behaviour both as individuals and groups for a better future. The outcome of such learning should be observed and evaluated objectively.

To live in the true sense we need peace in every way. It provides the atmosphere, space and nourishment essential to grow towards human perfection. However, we have to frankly accept the fact that we still lack a great deal of understanding of what peace really is. Hence there is considerable negligence and confusion in the field. Practically people tend to define peace according to their dwn preferred perspectives. Consider the following interpretations:

Economics: Peace is the eradication of poverty. It is the economic wellbeingness of people.

Politics: Peace is the outcome of democracy. Peace results from good governance.

Anti-military: Stop war and there is peace. Law: Peace is law and order. Social harmony: Resolve conflicts between diverse groups. Integrate such groups

together through fair distribution of justice.

Such definitions are useful in their own fields of work. But when they are taken as the only peace then there is the tendency to ignore the other perspectives. All the perspectives of peace contain the seed of peace. However, they are obviously fragmentary in the sense they do not present the whole view. They are limited only

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to a few concerned. Peace-building with such fragmentary perspectives is doomed to fail. Take, for example, an economic development community project that ignores human values and morals. The deterioration in the neglected aspect will not allow the fulfilment of the economic wellbeingness. Peace-building is effective when it is approached from all social and human perspectives. In other words, peace-building should be approached holistically. It is a harmonious blend of external factors as well as internal factors, individual factors as well as social factors.

The word peace is mostly used in a narrow sense to mean absence of war. Surely it is more than that. It should mean not only absence of war, but violence in all forms such as conflict, threat to life, social degradation, discrimination, oppression, exploitation, poverty, injustice and so on. Peace cannot be built as long as violent social structures exist in society. Naturally such structures will lead people to act violently. For instance, an unfair system of resource distribution in a society leads to frustration of those who get less. Frustration leads people to violence. Absence of all such obstructive and inconducive factors to a good life can be called negative peace.

All the above perspectives imply that peace is an external phenomenon. There is a perspective quite different to it, which holds that peace is an inner factor. It says ‘Peace is within you’.

Peace could also be explained in positive terms as well. Presence of happiness, health, content and good economy, social justice, and freedom for expression, creativity and support for personal growth at all levels are elements of peace. It could be named as positive peace. As mentioned above, peace may arise from political, economic, legal and other social structures that lead people to live righteously.

All ranges of shades of meanings of peace come easily under three basic sources. They are inner peace, social peace and peace with nature. They could be analysed further this way:

1. Inner Peace:

2. Social Peace:

For example, harmony and peace with oneself, good health, and absence of inner conflicts, joy, sense of freedom, insight, spiritual peace, feelings of kindness, compassion, and content, appreciation of art.

For example, peace between man and man, (men and women. as well!) harmony arising from human relationships at all levels, conflict reconciliation and resolution, love, friendship, unity, mutual understanding, acceptance, co-operation, brotherhood, tolerance of differences, democracy, community-building, human rights, morality.

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The Way ofPeace 11

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3. Peace with Nature: For example, harmony with natural environment and mother earth.

Recognizing these sources of peace are important for they provide bases on which peace can be built. Each source could be further analysed in detail so that many more subcomponents can be identified. Whatever peace-building effort comes under one or more of the above sources. Often some projects confine themselves into a single source and neglect the others or even work against others. For instance a community income-generating project may neglect the aspects of inner peace such as moral or spiritual values of a particular community. Peace has to be viewed holistically not fragmentarily as we said earlier. Total peace arises from working through all the sources. The above model could be diagrammed in the following way:

Inner peace

Social peace C

Fig. 1 Sources of Peace Peace with nature

Generally we are used to view peace as an end, i.e. an end product. This view tends to devaluate the process of building it. As we know the means contain the end. Therefore it is more helpful to consider peace as both the process and the end. To emphasize the process, and to be practical it is useful to define peace more in action-oriented terms rather than in abstractions. An example for such a definition is:

Peace is the behaviour that encourages harmony in the way people talk, listen, and interact with each othec and discourages actions to hurt, harm, or destroy each other -Theresa M. Bey and Gwendolyn I: Turner (1995)

Concluding Thoughts

This chapter attempts at broadening your vision of peace through various perspectives as well as looking at it as a whole. Approach to understand and build is best when it is holistic. In developing educational programmes it is useful to define peace in practical behavioural terms. Peace is both the process and the end.

Things To Do

1. Make a collection of inspiring quotations on peace from various sources and identify the basic concepts and values underlying them.


2. How is peace viewed in your religion ? Search for references to peace in your scriptures.

3. What kind of peace do you want to have in school?

4. Make a list of synonyms and phrases expressing the meaning of peace, e.g. contentment, living in harmony.

5. Think of some peace-loving people you know and identify peaceful characteristics you observe in them.

6. Give five outstanding characteristics of a peaceful society.

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HOW TO DESIGN A PEACE EDUCATION PROGRAMME FOR SCHOOLS

Where are we now? And where do we want to go from here?

As we said earlier, the peace education programme in a school is basically a character building intervention based on a human, civic, moral, and spiritual value system with stress on developing peaceful living competencies in children. In fact every good school has moral and values educational programmes in some or other form. A peace education programme can incorporate all such good efforts. The innovation should be evolutionary, i.e. building on the existing efforts rather than to be revolutionary in trying to be different or go against them.

A single interested teacher can design a peace education programme for her class. However, if it is to go beyond the classroom level interest, the support of the principal is necessary. A principal who wants to introduce it to his school can design a programme with the support of the staff. Here we discuss designing a programme at the management level.

1. Identify Needs

Designing a programme begins with identifying the existing needs. Suppose in your school you observe constant restlessness in students. This state of mind is expressed through the forms of quarrelling, fighting, complaining, shouting and other various disturbing forms of behaviour.

Suppose to aggravate the problem you begin to see that students are increasingly getting into smoking. They seem to take a proud act of masculinity, a fashion they have learnt from the mass media.

You are also not satisfied with the present attitudes and the mindset of the adolescent students in the school. For example, they have little respect for others, including teachers. The relationship with the teachers is getting distanced gradually. Mutual respect is deteriorating even among themselves. You get complaints increasingly about bullying. Students’ attitudes towards the country, culture and the social problems are mostly negative. You wonder how they could ever be good citizens and you want to change the way things go.


2. Decide Objectives

Given this as the state of arts, what needs do you identify here for a peace education programme ? Such needs have to be stated in form of objectives. For instance, from the above situation you can decide the following objectives:

l Reduce restlessness of students in the classroom and school.

l Implement strategies to prevent and reduce student conflicts.

l Develop an awareness project for students and parents on the harms of smoking.

l Organize a counselling service to prevent students from smoking.

l IdentiQ preventive strategies that could be taken to stop smoking.

l Initiate a Values Education Programme with emphasis on developing respect and concern for others, healthy patriotism, concern for the society and citizenship

In deciding the objectives it is necessary to analyse the existing apparent conditions. The problems you see on the surface may often be symptoms of deep causes. For instance, in the above case one has to question what the causes for student unrest are. If the actual root causes of the problem are not identified then the superficial measures taken externally will not resolve them. In the above case the deep causes might be that students’ true intellectual, social, and spiritual needs are not addressed by the school. They may be discontented with the present teaching process and lack of relationship with the teachers. A peace education programme basically addresses the deep psychological causes of the seeming problems.

Such analyses of the causes are important in breaking the broad objectives into specific objectives. For example, the first objective ‘Reduce restlessness of students in classroom and school” might be broken into such specific objectives given below:

p Improve the quality of teaching and learning process in the classrooms by introducing new methods such as participatory learning, through staff development and supervision programme.

3 Set a period at least once a week in the class to voice and express students’ problems related to learning and other needs with the class teacher. Take prompt action to address their problems and needs.

> Practise relaxation exercises, meditation or short energizing physical games and activities when the teacher feels students are beginning to show restless behaviour.

How to Design a Peace Education Programme for Scltools 15

Perhaps a teacher from a good school may not see such deficiencies and tends to think that peace education is only for problem- schools but not for his school. In fact starting from problems may not appeal to some. Instead one can start from a positive approach and identify the necessary developments in children from the existing situation. Strengthening the present positive attitudes and behaviour is always necessary. Perhaps when the positive qualities develop the negative ones may easily disappear. Even a best school needs to keep going all the good traditions established there in. Introducing new traditions and attitudes are necessary all the time. A school has to continuously work to strengthen and nourish the existing school culture.

Levels of Needs

In identifying needs, your scope should be broader rather than being limited to one level. There are four levels of needs, to be identified in designing a peace education programme. They are

(1) Individual or self-development level

(2) School level

(3) National level and

(4) Global level.

There are many important self-development needs in children that are not sufficiently addressed in the process of schooling. The mostly felt need is building an effective, integrated personality in the child with positive self-esteem. To live peacefully an individual has to have many skills. For instance, skills related to afftrmation, positive thinking, empathetic listening and communication, assertive behaviour, decision-making and critical thinking are very important (We have discussed them at length in the earlier chapters). School should help children to develop such skills so that they are empowered as individuals in the society..

At the school level, the predominant need is to have a peaceful climate, i.e. a peace culture. When there is such culture, children will naturally absorb the spirit of peace from it. There is a popular saying that peace has to be caught rather than be taught. Initiating a peaceful culture in school should start from withiil the staff, by developing attitudes and behaviour of appreciation, co-operation, belonging, trust and spirit of learning. By way of developing a friendly and mutually respectful teacher-pupil relationship a peace culture will bloom naturally in the school. To ensure it, the school has to introduce a living system of peace values, norms and practices into the daily life of the school. In this context it is necessary to change the teacher-centred classroom approach to child-centred learning. When there is active and participative learning in the classroom, using interesting teaching and learning methods a friendly and lively atmosphere marked by creative expressions


of potentials and self-discipline will emerge naturally. Teachers have to identify many effective strategies and practices that could transform the school into a place of peace and harmony.

Taking the national level into consideration, a school has to focus on the current citizenship education needs of the nation or the country. This aspect of citizenship education is an integral part of peace education. Education is entrusted to produce good and productive citizens to the nation. In this regard learning and understanding the current socio-political and economic problems and issues is also important. Students as future citizens need to develop healthy and realistic perspectives to view their problems in the society.

Coming to the global level needs, it is important to recall the fact that the ultimate purpose of education is to produce a world citizen. No country can live in isolation in the present. Children have to develop a sensible worldview. The need here in is to broaden the vision. With this objective in mind the school can select current world issues to raise the global awareness in the students. Such issues may be selected from the themes.

o Commonality and diversity of human cultures

0 Population

o Destruction of the ecosystem/pollution

o Gender issue

o Racism

o World poverty

o Problem of war/terrorism

o Trading relationship

o World cultures

o Animal rights/animals threatened by extinction

In designing a peace programme for the whole school, it is always necessary to discuss with the members of staff to order and assure the validity and relevance. Parents also can provide good insight. The existing values programmes need to be studied analytically in order to find their strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore a survey of the present curriculum has to be done to identify the given peace values in it. What are the relevant values, concepts or issues that could be further included to enrich it? Perhaps you can learn from the experiences of the existing good moral or values education programmes in the neighbourhood schools as well. The intended programme also needs to be checked by the students’ opinion. You can present the basic programme to a sample of senior students in an easy to understand way and get their views. By way of giving a checklist to a sample of students it could be validated.

How to Design a Peace Education Programme for Schools 17

3. Prepare Plan of Action

A programme is a series of activities put in a time sequence frame in order to achieve certain predetermined objectives. What are the activities that will bring students towards the expected goals? They should be relevant to the achievement of the specific objectives. The activities in a comprehensive peace education programme come under six levels.

1. The staff development level. (e.g school based teacher development, model lessons, reading)

2. School management level (Preparation of peace education policies, supervision, evaluation, facilitation)

3. Formal subject teaching and learning level (i.e.. Incorporation of peace values into lesson development)

4. Classroom management level. (e.g. Classroom code of conduct)

5. Co-curricular school activity level (e.g. Peace week, organizing lectures, peace committee )

6. Community level. (e.g. Raising community awareness about the harm and negative effects of smoking)

In the proceeding chapters more suggestions for activities are given. An action plan should also be devised for responsible persons or groups who will implement each activity. Delegating the responsibilities to suitable teachers is necessary.

4. Run the Programme

The most important phase of a programme is the implementation of activities. As mentioned above, the activities are done during the delivery of the curriculum classroom interactions, and in co-curricular projects within the school and thp community.

5. Monitor the Activities

To assure oneself, it is necessary to remind, check the preparation, counsel, and facilitate and supervise the implementation. It is necessary to check what has happened and to what extent things have gone according to the plan. The monitoring is necessary both at the administrative level and professional level. In a programme of this nature mon.itoring usually takes the form of supportive and friendly supervision.

6. Evaluate

To evaluate is to judge the worth of a programme. It determines to what extent it has been able to achieve the objectives. Evaluation is done in two phases, namely


during the implementation in order to correct and improve the process then and there, and at the end of the programme to judge the effectiveness and to learn from the experience with a view to enriching and planning the next cycle of the programme.

Evaluation is done on the basis of the objectives determined at the beginning of the programme. The achievements of a peace education programme is not so easy to measure as compared to other subjects like mathematics because of its subjective nature of the learning experiences received. New insights and learning gained during the experience surely have their impact on behaviour. However, such affective learning needs to be related to new conducts expected. The emphasis and establishment of new patterns of conduct and norms are necessary. For this purpose every peace learning activity should follow a discussion on ways of applying what was into an everyday behavioural pattern. Thereafter they need to be strengthened by constant reinforcements. A proceeding chapter discusses further the methods of evaluation of peace education.

Concluding Thoughts

A peace education programme can put together all the character-building efforts of school into a single project with a view to ensure the effective implementation. Here in the role of the principal’s leadership is crucial. The process of planning the programme has identifying needs, deciding objectives, deciding activities, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Things To Do

1. Conduct a peace education need identification survey in your school and present it to the staff.

2. Study good peace practices in other schools in your education division.

3. Draw up a programme for your school.

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WAYS OF INTEGRATING PEACE INTO LESSONS

Peace remains hidden in the education literature, rather than practised.

Stomfay-Stitz

To develop children’s peaceful living competencies, a school can work in a number of ways. They come under the following seven major levels.[See the Introduction, p.31

1. Subject coritext 2. Subject perspectives 3. Teaching methods 4. Co-curricular activities 5. Stqffdevelopment 6. Classroom management 7. School management

The approaches take the following model.

Integration of peace educaiion into school total curriculum

Subject content

Subject perspectives

) Teaching methods , 4 I

1 Total Curricululn 1-b Co-curricular activities

Classrooln manageme7$

School management

Staff developtnent

Model of integration ofpeace values into school curricuhm


This chapter focuses on the ways of integrating peace values at the subject content level, teaching methods level and subject perspective level. Others levels are discussed elsewhere here.

Subject Content

Since this handbook is for primary and secondary teachers, for convenience’s sake we name here six subjects broadly.

Language Studies

Social Science Religion Physical Ed. Arts

Language includes listening, speech, reading, writing, second language and secondary literature.

Social Sciences may include geography, history and civics.

Religion may be Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam or Christianity. In certain countries they have values or moral education in place of religion. Meditations and quotations given here are generally acceptable to all religions. However, if you differ then you can use similar activities or quotations most appropriate to your religion.

Science may include environmental studies, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and botany.

Physical Education includes game and exercises.

Arts include drawing, dancing, and music.

Integration of Peace into Formal Subjects

1. Identifu peace values in the lesson

Here the word ‘peace value’ is used rather loosely to mean all the concepts, values, principles, attitudes, skills and practices related to peaceful living. The guide for doing it takes the following four steps.

To begin with it is useful to understand the difference of the words we use here. Here is a basic clarification.

An attitude is a person’s positive or negative evaluation about a particular object, behaviour, a person, a group of people, ideas, e.g.

l Smoking is bad l Reading is a good habit.

A human value is an intrinsic positive human quality that enriches living, e.g.

0 Love

Ways of Integrating Peace into Lessons 21

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l Kindness 0 Courage

A concept is a class of information (e.g. facts, images, attitudes, etc.) that we group together on the basis of commonalities.

l Motherhood 0 Compassion

(Note: Values are also concepts in this sense.)

An instruction is an informed guide to action, e.g.

l Do not stay in the same place where you explode in anger

A principle is a basic general truth that guides right action, e.g.

l Hate is not caused by hate l Frustration leads to anger.

An aspiration is a noble wish, e.g. May all beings be happy!

An ideal is a wishful standard of perfection that people have as goals to attain through a course of action.

l A world without borders.

As a teacher your ability to identify a peace value in their different forms as explained above is important. Many lessons have peace values in different forms. Sometimes they are given directly. Sometimes they lie hidden or given indirectly. In some other lessons you may not find any of such. However, on close scrutiny you may realize that a certain peace value could be brought into the context as a compliment to enrich the lessons. Of course there may be lessons completely lacking in any peace value and also no peace values incorporated. Even then you need not be disappointed, because in all the cases you can adopt peace education approaches such as bringing in imagination, positive feelings and emotions and interesting learning activities in relation to the lesson objectives. The thematic model presented in this guide can help you to identify many values in the texts.

However the stress on peace value should be in line with the lesson objectives and also within the time constraint. Therefore teachers have to find brief but effective methods of putting across values in the formal lessons.

Peace education introduces a holistic attitude to subject contents, methods of teaching and learning, including classroom management. Peace is said to be both the end and process. Here we present a brief guide to adopt peace education into the process of teaching and learning in the classroom.


2. Infuse peace concepts, attitudes, values andprinciples appropriate and relevant to the lessons.

Once you identify a value in a lesson or bring in a complimentary value it has to be done in a manner so that it gets characterized in children. For this purpose, a teacher needs to analyse and identify the basic components of a value. A value has three basic components. They are: the cognitive or knowledge component, the affective component and the behavioural component.

Cognitive (Knowledge)

Affective (Feelings, emotions

and attitudes)

Behavioural (Skills, practices)

The three components in a value

To illustrate let us analyse the value Co-operation and identify the components.

Cognitive

Affective

Definition, ways and levels of co-operation, its benefits.

Feelings of sharing, and solidarity. Our past experience

I Behavioural Skills, practices and exercises I

Analysis of the Value Co-operation

The ability to analyse values is necessary. A teacher has to provide the knowledge base and build the concept at’first. Secondly, she has to awaken the feelings related to the value by recalling p&t good experiences, telling stories, etc and develop positive attitudes towards the value. Finally, behavioural skills are built through practices.

In the pages above we discussed the way of doing it. Say, for example, that there is a lesson about a traditional village. In developing the lesson, you can bring in the value of co-operative living and discuss various social co-operation practices that exist in traditional village:.

-I ._---,- _.__.


Teaching Methods

3. Bring in positive feelings and emotions to make the lesson lively, interesting and appealing.

Example: Awaken the sense of curiosity, wonder, awe, beauty and joy into the process of teaching and learning.

4. Present the lesson from a humanistic andpeacefulperspective.

An example:

The French Revolution: Explain the socio-economic background to the revolution from a human perspective. Help children to understand that people tend to be aggressive under the deprivation of basic needs. Discuss how people experience poverty materially, socially and psychologically. How does deprivation lead to pervasive behaviour? Help students to,look at the issue with compassion. But can we justify. taking violence away to change society? What are the non-violent ways, which we can use to bring justice, equality, liberty and human rights?

In case of teaching history, as we discussed above, avoid arousing hatred in students against the oppressors, invaders and villains. Rather broaden the vision to understand the socio-economic and political conditions that lead to the emergence of such personalities. Discuss the lessons we can leai-n from this human experience. Explore the nature of human violence and its limitations.

5. Guide to self-development

Every lesson may have certain clues that inspire the self-development of the learner. Teachers can highlight and make use of them. Providing vision, insight, action guide, exercises in consciousness expansion and helping to understand one’s potentials could facilitate self-development. Discovering one’s own identity forms the ground for self-development. Especially lessons on the biographies of great personalities provide rich sources of inspiration of character-building, a part of self- development.

6. Help children to build a peaceful vision

Adolescents are naturally inclined to have a good vision or philosophy of life and society that will help to guide their action. This inclination arises from the newly attained. capacity for abstract thinking in the process of growth. In their enthusiasm to lay the foundation for a successful future life, they search for a good philosophy of life. A good school curriculum should recognize this intellectual need of the youth and provide such life guiding philosophy. In this connection a teacher has to investigate the possibility of including such vision into the formal lesson. Youth want to inquire:

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l What is the purpose of life?

l How to live a happy life?

l How to build a successful life?

l What is true love?

l What are the natures of inner drives such as sex?

What is really needed here is not an answer from an outside authority, but encouragement, and guidance to inquiry and freedom. Imposing adults’ views set limitations to their thinking and therefore such efforts are harmful. An open atmosphere to raise questions, doubts and express views is necessary for this purpose. (See Critical Thinking)

7. Awaken students’ spirit of creativity and imagination.

The traditional teacher-dominant approach in the classroom suppresses children’s spirit of creativity and freedom. It promotes single track thinking in line with the teacher’s ideas. On the other hand, child-centred learning promotes an open atmosphere for creative and divergent thinking. Open inquiry, alternative perspectives, and free generation of ideas are encouraged through various activities.

8. Awaken the spirituality, wisdom and intuition deep within.

Spirituality is the pure essence in human beings that seeks to fulfil itself through communion with the creative energy in the universe. All religions originate from the spirituality in man. This essence in its attempt to come in touch with the creative energy motivates man to reach the highest consciousness and even go beyond it. All the human values arise from spirituality. In fact, human values are different forms of expression of the spirituality within us.

Wisdom is the intelligence of spirituality. In other words, it can be explained as the perception of spirituality. Awakening of wisdom is the highest attainment in human development. It is also described as enlightenment, the highest aspiration of life and education.

Intuition is the instant eruption of an idea or solution to a problem without the involvement of any conscious reasoning process. This happens as a result of the working of the subconscious mind in searching for the idea or solution. Intuition, as a flash of a creative idea, comes from a process of preparation, incubation, and illumination. At the preparation stage you collect information, sort it out and explore possibilities through the conscious mind. During the incubation stage the search goes down to the subconscious level. The subconscious then starts the process of analysing and synthesizing. Illumination is the instant discovery of an idea or solution often in an unexpected moment. Illumination is usually followed by verification where you try to test it with reality and form a course of action accordingly.


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9. Make learning joyful

Learning in the classroom should be necessary, happy and joyful for several reasons. It helps to develop positive attitudes to learning. Secondly, such learning is easily retained in the memory. Thirdly, it helps emotional development in children. It also builds a happy classroom climate. To make learning joyful:

l Present the lesson in clear language, easy to understand and in right sequence.

l Have a thought provoking and catchy introduction.

l Keep the attention intact.

l Ensure that the attention does not flag through use of examples, humour, stories.

l Question problem-solving and use of audio-visual aids.

l Make children participate in learning through involving them in interesting an4 challenging learning activities.

l Use aesthetic activities like singing, listening to recorded songs and programmes.

l Use role-plays, simulations and instant drama.

l Give creative and interesting exercises in place of monotonous and dry traditional exercises and assignment.

10. Build a friendly nmi co-operative climate in the classroom.

A conducive social climate emerges in a classroom basically through right interaction between teacher-pupil and pupil-pupil. Mutual respect, courtesy and kindness, immensely contribute to climate-building.

A co-operative relationship also helps to create a positive social climate in that it discourages individualistic and self-centred behaviour in the classroom. Mutual appreciation helps to elicit the best in students. Organizing such events as birthday celebrations, get-together parties, singing, short excursions and other socializing activities are also effective in climate-building.

As the second part of our exercise here we are going to analyse a few core curricular subjects in the light of peace education and find out ways of presenting them in the classroom.

Subject Perspective Level

Art

Art can be used effectively to build peace vision ard attitudes in children. Its strength lies in the affective component it inherits. Art is a very powerful medium of peace, which can be explored endlessly. Here are a few examples.


Select topics in the Arts-drawing, drama, singing, ballet, creative activities- that focuses on concepts related to peace-building and self-development, e.g.

l My dream of a peaceful world

l Hatred can be ceased by love.

l Health hazard of smoking

0 Plant a tree.

l Power of positive thinking

l Fears in me

l Beauty of nature

Through the art class the school can organize art exhibitions, street drama, produce posters, radio programmes and multicultural performances with a view to propagating peace messages to the community.

Language

Language as a subject offers exciting possibilities of using a variety of creative activities in learning it. Integrating such activities makes learning language alive and interesting. Among the creative activities are:

l Role-play

l Ilistant drama

0 Stimulation

l Fantasy/imagination trips

0 Creative writing, e.g. writing letters to imaginary people,

l Co-operative story making

l Writing books, e.g. my life story, my family,

Such activities increase participation, stimulate and bring in the affective domain into learning.

Appreciation and enjoyment of literature helps the emotional development of children. Literature is also creative and stimulates imagination. Stories are every effective tools in language teaching. Many children’s stories convey deep human messages through symbolic means. Such messages could be discovered in appreciation sessions. The capabilities of the language as a subject can be extensively explored in inculcating peace values in children.

History

History when viewed as the evolution of civilization and the story of man’s progress through time is an interesting subject. It could be presented either through a narrow or broad perspective. A narrow perspective presents the events in isolation


and single track often biased ethically, religiously or nationally. It overlooks the other sides of the stories. Such learning leads to closed thinking and biased views. On the contrary, the broad perspective presents the events in relation to the social, political, ideological and economic forces and the background prevailing during the particular period concerned. It encourages understanding history from alternative views and brings into light new perspectives. History is an interpretation of the series of recorded events in the past in an attempt to enlighten our present issues. In other words, through history we try to understand where we are now and where should we go from here.

The right approach to teaching history can build peace through the opportunities it provides to understand and appreciate other cultures, religions and to realize the strengths as well as weaknesses of man. It helps us to understand the nature of the oppressions, exploitations, invasions and destructions committed by our ancestors against humanity. For instance, how destructive a war can be and how power can blind men. Reading history, which is mostly the story of man’s greed and aggression provides insights into the natural human psyche and the need to change it in order to ensure the survival and advancement of mankind. It turns our attention inward to see how the old psyche is still in operation with its roots in the primitive and medieval mentality seeking for security in ethnic centredness, religious fundamentalism, power craziness, selfishness, and aggression.

Unfortunately even in many school textbooks history is presented from a single side. Take for example, how Hitler and his Nazi campaign are presented. The writers have been unconsciously led to present Hitler as a hero. History is not only the story of war. It is also the story of peace. But very little attention has been given to portray the peace side of the history. To illustrate the point, let us again go back to Hitler’s Nazi campaigning. He massacred nearly 6 million Jews systematically in his mania to preserve the pure German race. A child may wonder during the history lesson what the civilized world did to stop it. And consequently he may learn that the civilized way to respond to oppression and violence is to be passively silent about it. This wrong learning takes place, due to the negligence of giving the peace side of the story. In fact the civilized world protested against the massacre of Jews. Some people in other countries worked dedicatedly to create pressure to stop it, in their own ways. There were even Germans who attempted at protesting. Some Jews in the concentration camps bravely stood in their moral strength and died honourably as heroes at the hands of the Nazi, soldiers. But the history writers grossly neglect that side of the story. They also do not tell us about the feelings of the oppressed people.

History, as a subject can also be used to practice peace skills related to various core values such as positive perception, empathy, alternative vision, critical thinking


and responsible decision-making. Using such methods as role-plays, group discussions, drawing and debates makes learning history lively and interesting.

Religious Education

Religion as a subject in the school curriculum can distinctively contribute to peace-building. Every religion has peace as the central value. However there is a growing criticism that the present popular form of religious education is narrow, divisive and fundamental. Realizing the inappropriateness of such an approach in today’s world many countries are increasingly adopting a broader perspective that attempts at unifying mankind through inter-religious understanding. A good religious teacher adopts the broad perspective approach in such ways as given below.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

Adopt a child-centred approach to teaching religion. Begin with children’s experience of living.

Identify the spiritual needs of children in their respective development stage and cater to them in your lesson.

Encourage religious inquiry, discussion, self-discovery, adopt actively or experience base, in place of teaching domination lecturing, advocacy and patronizing methods.

Absence from looking down on other faiths. Instead, develop friendly, tolerant and respectful attitudes towards them.

Use creative methods to promote religious living practice.

Highlight the need for right action in moral situations, under the temptation of self.

Use stories for the country religion message.

Discuss in depth human issues such as purpose of living, nature of suffering, death and ignorance. In such a discussion, bring in the perspective of the other world faiths in such a manner to help broadening of vision. Use meditation constantly in your lesion to awaken spirituality.

Mathematics

Mathematics in traditional curricula is presented as an isolated subject that has no relation with the social reality. However this subject could be related to peace education in several ways. Such relation to the real world will surely make it more meaningful to students. Mathematics can use more concrete activities, assignments and exercises related to reality in order to raise awareness on national and global issues affecting mankind. For instance, the secondary mathematics can include calculations of percentages and ratio of population growth, infant mortality, adult literacy, unemployment, life expectancy, etc. Obviously engagement in such calculations will broaden children’s social view. Teachers can design many interesting


A

and meaningful exercises based on figures in population growth, education, health, and economic development. For assignments and exercises students can engage in statistical surveys using such calculations.

Mathematics also provides an opportunity for cultural understanding through studying different mathematical systems in the world and the contributions made in different cultures. Basics in astronomical mathematics can provide insights into the ways the universe operates.

Social Studies

The purpose of social studies is to broaden the children’s view and the vision of human society in order to qualify them to be good citizens. The subject is developed through a multidisciplinary approach, consisting of geography, history, anthropology, sociology, economics and political science. However, the richness of these disciplines are rarely seen in the curricula of social studies syllabi in many developing countries. Many of them are overloaded with geography or history ignoring issues coming under the other disciplines. In the academic world today there is a tendency of ignoring the human touch in social sciences. Some critics call it dehumanization of social science. It is clear that many social scientists treat people as objects, members of groups and mere sources of information. This purposeful negligence is considered as academic discipline! Another danger arising from the present form of social science is the fragmented views they produce on complex social issues. Curriculum developers have to be aware of these dehumanizing trends in science, including social studies.

The importance of social studies lies on the ground it forms to discuss issues affecting the globe. Many important themes like democracy, citizenship, human rights, child rights, social justice and problems of underdevelopment could be discussed on that ground. Students come to know major current issues of their society and of the world, such as international conflicts, environmental problems, and advancements of science through it. Various projects can be designed under this subject related to peace building. Examples:

l Weekly presentation of global news in morning assembly.

l Publishing a handwritten or printed magazine/ wall paper on current issues related to the subject.

l Visiting historical/ archaeological/ geographical sites.

l Organizing exhibitions on world heritage and other important themes. l Conduct community surveys/studies on themes related to developmental

issues.

l Organizing school and public seminars/lectures/discussions on current social issues.


l Organizing campaigns to raise awareness on issues affecting the people and environment.

l Viewing video and film shows on related issues.

Science Education

As all other subjects in the school curriculum, science also takes the narrow view of the world in its preference to be fragmentary as the tradition insists. Leaving aside the subject content matters here, let us focus on the hidden curriculum of science education in schools. The hidden curriculum is communicated to students primarily through the manner of presentation of the subject and the teacher’s general attitudes exhibited in teaching. It has been observed that the following types of attitudes about science are suggested to learners:

> Science is pure knowledge that has nothing to do with human or social issues. It has little or no relation with other subjects.

& Science is the only true knowledge. It is fixed and therefore no one can do anything about it.

> Science does not recognize human values or inner knowledge. p Learning science is mostly accumulation of the given subject matter. g If anything is found to be immeasurable ignore it.

These kinds of impressions may be unintended. In fact they come from the outdated model of the image that science teachers happen to have, especially in developing countries. The writer remembers that once a school student in Grade 10 said that only the West could produce scientific knowledge. These are the typical attitudes that neo-imperialism wants to produce in developing countries! Teachers in developing countries still view science in the model of the Newtonian mechanistic paradigm, which has been abandoned in the West over at least three decades ago. It is replaced by the quantum mechanics paradigm. Promoting the Newtonian attitudes in science in the world of today, is really misleading. For a moment consider the following implications of the old paradigm of science:

. Environmental pollution is justified by production.(As seen in developed countries)

. Natural resources exist only to be exploited by man for the benefit of man.

n Animals are there for the use of man. They have no natural rights. (Consider: 9 million animals have been killed for scientific experiments in 1980 alone)

. Happiness of man depends on consumption.

In the light of the above analysis, it is evident that the school science curriculum has to be reconsidered on the following perspectives.

l Make science a friendly subject.

.“.^ __-_..- -... -.

%+v of Integrating Peace into Lessons 31

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C Things To Do

l Show that science is concerned with the needs and interest of mankind and human welfare.

l Convey the insight that the whole universe is interlinked and interdependent. l Science is not the only true knowledge. 0 Life in every form is precious. Science respects life. l Science is not above morality. It is responsible for the welfare of mankind.

Abusing science against such laws is wrong. l Scientific knowledge is ever evolving and everybody interested can participate

and contribute to the advancement of science.

Here it is worthy of mentioning what the physicist Victor Weisskopf said about scientific thinking. He observed:

“Human existence depends upon compassion, and curiosity leading to knowledge, but curiosity and knowledge without compassion is inhuman, and compassion without curiosity and knowledge is ineffectual. ”

Concluding Thoughts

The chapter describes ways of integrating peace values into the formal teaching and learning process in the classroom. For this a teacher should also be able to identify peace values occurring in the lessons in various forms. Some lessons have peace values. Bringing in relevant values could often complement those lessons lacking in peace values.

Peace education attempts not only to infuse peace values into lessons but also to adopt peace approaches into the teaching and learning process in the classroom. The chapter describes those approaches. Apart from character-building, the whole approach improves the quality of learning.

1. Turn to a lessen in a subject textbook and trace the peace values in it. If such values are not seen, what appropriate values could be brought in?

2. Select a peace value, e.g. respect for human dignity, justice, long vision, forgiveness. Analyse it and identify the cognitive, affective and behavioural constituents.

3. “Spirituality is the pure essence in a human being that seeks to fulfil itself through communion with the creative energy in the universe”. How do you understand the above statement? Discuss. Search for other definitions of spirituality. How do you define it?

4. Share with your colleagues one of your most self-satisfying experiences in your teaching career. Why do you value that particular experience? Listen to your colleague’s experience. as well.

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5

PRACTICES THAT MAKE SCHOOL A PLACE OF PEACE

To supplement the work in classrooms, a school can implement many useful peace education @actices, at various levels.

This character explores such practices.

1. Developing codes of conduct for classes

Classroom codes of conduct can improve students’ discipline and promote school culture conducive to children’s moral growth. Developing a code of conduct follows the procedure given below.

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Discusses with the students the need of having a code of conduct for the class, and get their consent.

Group the class and request each group to prepare the code, according to their own needs. It should be able to guide students’ behaviour in the classroom and schools.

When the groups have completed their drafts they present them to the class. Following each presentation a short discussion is held to get feedback in order to improve them.

Appoint a committee to prepare the final draft from the drafts submitted by the groups. Once they have prepared it the teacher can refine it through editing. The code should be simple and brief.

Let the committee present the draft and get the consent of the class. Display the code of conduct in the classroom.

Once a week, say, every Friday the teacher should conduct a progress review of the conduct in the class.

2. Developing a school discipline guide

School discipline guide is a policy like document that recommends standard conduct for the students in school. It is a detailed research paper like document that proposes standard conducts in various conflicting situations arising in school. A team of teachers, appointed by the principal, develops the document. They do


a close study of the factors leading to problem behaviour. They interview teachers, student prefects, students and parents and study the past school records of the disciplinary actions. They look into the causes, trends, backgrounds, and situations leading to the problem behaviour of students and also to positive behaviour.

Then the team analyses and recommends action at various levels of the school. The document brings into focus the responsibilities of all levels of the school community, beginning with the class teacher developing and maintaining discipline in school. It recommends actions to parents as well. More importantly, it gives clear guidance to students on right behaviour in various situations, e.g.

a What to do when a teacher is absent in a period?

l What to do when you find something valuable within the schoolyard?

l How to behave in the playground?

Code of conduct developed from the guide could be exhibited in appropriate places such as the school corridor, science lab, playground, etc. The recommendations and standards given in the document legitimize good conduct. Based on the guide, the principal assigns duties and responsibilities to class teachers, subject teachers, divisional heads, deputy principal, management committee and parents. However the guide should be positive and user-friendly in its approach. Mostly it is a visionary guide from which codes of conduct could be drawn at all levels.

In the preparation of the guide all levels of the school community should participate so that all of them feel responsible and remain faithful to it.

3. Practices for developing self-esteem

Peace education stresses the need of improving children’s self-esteem in school. The school has to find many creative strategies and practices at all the levels for it. In the attempt the school can implement various methods of identifying students’ potentials and promoting them further through various methods of rewarding, encouraging, guiding and facilitating. For instance:

l Selecting the best students, weekly, termly and annually (The school announces the areas of selection, e.g. academic performance, special talents in art, drama, music, leadership, problem-solving, helping behaviour,) This can take interesting forms such as selecting the school scientist, engineer, mathematician, artist, actor, orators, etc. Selections can be done through exhibitions, competitions, classroom evaluations and so on.

l Awarding badges, certificates, and prizes,

l Arranging special occasions for display of talents

l Recognition in the morning assembly.

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Practices That Make School a Place of Peace 35

4. Using special activities and exercises for developing peaceful competencies

These type of activities have been discussed at length in the previous chapter, they need no elaboration here. One of the indicators of the school practising peace education is the constant use of active and participative learning methods in lessons. There is a wide range of learning activities available to teachers to suit all age levels of students. These activities may be used for

0 Expanding consciousness/ experience inner peace. 0 Releasing stress of boredom, monotony and learning 0 Evaluating learning

Making learning interesting and happy/ Increasing motivation

Energizing

Improving co-operation in the classroom/ team-building

Improving critical thinking and problem-solving capacities.

Improving social skills such as in communication, and assertive behaviour/ socializing students

5. Moral instruction for the day

Starting the day with a moral or spiritual thought provides inspiration, This can be done at the school level in the morning assembly by giving a short talk on a topic related to character building. Both the teachers and students can deliver such talks. Alternatives such as listening to recorded songs and short talks; reading from literature could be used for change.

A simple practice at the classroom level: Start the day by putting up a motto on the wall in front of the class. Discuss briefly the message in it. This daily activity could be assigned to students as well.

6. School /classroom wallpaper

A wallpaper in a class or school, is useful in many ways. It can provide currently important news and other information to students. They can improve their skill in creative writing, by contributing essays, short stories and articles to it. The paper could be produced in many different and interesting ways such as on themes, on subject bases and so on. As a policy, the paper can take peace as the central concept. An appointed committee can work as the editors’ board.

7. Displaying peace mottos

Having peace mottos displayed in the school plant, classrooms, corridors, and garden acclimatize children to peace attitudes and values. Gradually they begin to appreciate such life guiding moral sayings. They may remember such sayings throughout their lives. The school hall can be given names of values, e.g. Hall of

36 Learning the Way qf Peace

Compassion, Hall of Joy. Constant exposure to peace thoughts helps internalize such values.

8. Peace day/ week

The school can organize peace days or weeks with a view to raising awareness on peace. Select a currently significant theme and draw a programme for the day or week. Themes on environment, social justice, inner peace, non-violence, human rights and problems of globalization will be useful to students. Seminars, lectures, discussions, art exhibitions, debates and drama can be organized under the selected theme. Such a programme should have a community peace-building activity so that it has a practical value.

9. Appointing class mediators

A class mediator or peacemaker is a student who is appointed to resolve conflicts in the class. Conflicts are referred to him or he will mediate when necessary in the conflicts arising in the class. This makes them understand that students in the class bear the responsibility to resolve their conflicts At the same time students appointed as mediators will improve skills in conflict resolution. In mixed schools a class may have two peacemakers, a girl and a boy.

The selections should be made by the consensus of the whole class. By rotating the position monthly or quarterly more students get the opportunity to practise conflict resolution. However on the appointment, they need to be given a basic training in it. Awarding a special badge is necessary for the formal recognition of the position.

However the peacemaker should be a friend of a class rather than a formal leader. The conflict is referred to the class teacher only if the collegial mediations fail. In addition to the role of mediators, they can also act as peer counsellors to those colleagues, who have varied problems. Children need a supporter who will listen to their problems and with whom they can discuss them in confidence. The peacemakers’ performance will depend upon the kind of training given to them by the school. Therefore the school has to give effective training.

10. Appointing a peace committee

The peacemakers in the school could form a committee, which can draw, organize and run peace programmes for the whole school. For instance, they can organize the peace week for the school. This is a good means of handing over the responsibility of peace work to the students themselves.

11. The morning assembly

Morning assembly provides a good stage for developing peace vision and attitudes in the school community. Given below are some ideas to enrich it.

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Practices That Make School a Place of Peace 37

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Presenting a day’s peace thought [by students or teachers].

Reading a portion from world literature that appeals to noble thought.

Listening to a peace song.

Presentation of world news of the week.

A drama with a moral lesson.

A short meditation session.

A guest speech.

A recorded radio programme/ or a programme produced by students.

A session of devotional songs.

Presentation of life stories of great men and women.

12. School link programmes

Children need a lot of socializing experiences. School linking programmes provide opportunities for them to meet, build friendships, share and get together with other school students. These programmes can be organized at school level, grade level, interest group level and student club level. On such occasions children can organize various educational, cultural, environmental, and community developmental activities.

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6

PEACE TEACHER - PEACE METHODS

Students gathered around the teacher as usual in the morning under the tree to hear the day’s sermon. Then a bird came to the tree and sat on a branch. It sang a beautiful song. At the end the

teacher said: “The sermon for today is ovel:”

Understanding the Concept

Unlike academic subjects, peace education is as dependent on the person as the teacher is. Children learn peaceful behaviour more from the ways a teacher speaks, responds to challenges, and looks at issues, than what he teaches. Obviously an unpeaceful teacher cannot teach peace, because his behaviour contradicts what he teaches. This chapter explores the characteristics of a peace teacher along with his approaches to teaching and learning in the classroom.

Attitudes and values are difficult to teach. Teaching them tends to create resistance in learners, because such inculcation itself is experienced as an imposition. Carl Roger (1961) rightly says in this regard,

It seems to me that anything that can be taught to another is relatively inconsequential and has little or no significant influence on behaviour: . . . . . . . Hence I huve to feel that outcomes of teaching are either unimportant or hur@A @. 267)

Teacher-centred and subject-centred approaches are ineffective in peace education. The most effective approach would be child-centred education. In fact, child-centred education is a natural extension of the notion of child rights into the classroom and school. It is built on the following principles:

l Acceptance of the child’s rights to the freedom of expression, obtain information and make opinion.

l Acceptance of the right to childhood.

l The child is the agent of his own learning.

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Learning tke JVay of Peace

Each child is unique in his complex of capacities, aptitudes, interest and experience. Therefore a general approach and treatment in the classroom is unfair and less helpful.

Education should foster the development of the individual in the child.

Education is not mere preparation of the child for an adult life in future. The child has a right to enjoy a child [Every age, every stage in life has perfection, a ripeness in its own. Rousseau]

Subject fragmented curriculum distorts the perception of wholeness. Adoption of integrated school curriculum is helpful to whole child development.

Children need life education as well.

Lifelong education should be encouraged from the primary stage.

Learning to learn is the foundation of child-centred education.

Learning by doing [experiential learning] is most effective.

Learning needs to be related to self.

Understanding Children’s Needs

Basic Human Needs

.

Abraham Maslow (1960) identified five basic human needs. They are:

1. Physiological Needs: e.g. food, clothing, rest, health, exercise, clean environment

2. Security Needs : e.g. social security, freedom from threat, etc. 3. Love or Acceptance Needs: e.g. understanding, tolerance, support, friendship,

warmth, good relationships. 4. Se~f~esteen~ needs: e.g. positive evaluation being respected. 5. Se!f-ac/trcrli,7alion: e.g. developing word perfection. Discovering the ultimate

meaning of life. Peak experiences are ultimate achievement.

According to the theory, the locus of a person’s attention starts from physical needs and rise to higher needs. The three basic levels implied here are physiological, social and self. Though these needs were found in adults, they are visible in children as well..

Children’s needs

E. Wallet (1974) attempted to identify children’s needs, basically following the above model. He postulates six needs in children.

1. Physiological needs: e.g. food, clothing. house, health.

2. Love and attention: e.g. encouragement, proxies, physical touch and warmth, support.

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Peace Teacher - Peace Methods 41

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3. Creative expression: e.g. development of the capacities of sense, creative self-expression, joy, exploring new ways of self-expression.

4. Achievement of cognitive skills: e.g. learning to know.

5. Social skills: e.g. acceptance by peers, interaction with others and need to be related to others.

The need to be a person

Carl Rogers stresses that there is an intrinsic need in us to be an authentic person. The basic quests that constantly arises from our inner depth are:

- Who am I?

- How can I know myself?

- How I can be my true self

- Am I living at present in such a way as to express my true self!

- Am I living in the most self-satisfying way?

Carl Rogers postulates the negligence to be the true self, creates frustration leading to psychological conflicts.

In the child-centred approach, the teacher is more active at the preparation stage of the lessons than the delivery stage. He has to select appropriate learning activities.

In being a facilitator the teacher:

- identifies, meaningful and relevant learning activities through which the lesson could be built and delivered effectively.

- encourages children to discover concepts and approaches through the use of creative methods such as brainstorming. and problem-solving

- builds a conducive atmosphere in the classroom where students can openly express their opinions, attitudes, assumptions and judgements.

- prefers short verbal presentations.

- encourages students to look at issues from various view points, leading to divergent thinking.

- builds the summary of the lesson as key points, and concepts on the board.

- directs students to various activities such as reference to sources in order to gather information.

- helps students to organize information into knowledge.

Experiential Learning

The basic approach adopted in child-centred education is the experiential learning method, popularly known as learning by doing or activity-based learning.

42 Learning the %y of Peace

For this the teacher has to select suitable activities relevant to the subject content. Through these activities children discover knowledge for themselves. Experiential learning is effective in learning concepts, values and attitudes. Peace education uses this approach as a basic method.

It is useful here to discuss how to present and conduct learning activities in a class.

A learning activity means here a learning experience provided to students to discover certain concepts, generalizations, values and attitudes relevant to the lesson concerned.. A good learning activity has the following characteristics.

- It is a game like interesting activity. - It is well structured. - It provides a meaningful learning experience. - It is appropriate to the level of the learners. - It is challenging. - It inspires self-development.

Teacher’s Roles as a Facilitator

In the child-centred method the teacher plays a number of roles, as a facilitator. As a planner, the teacher sets goals and selects most appropriate learning activities. As an initiator of learning he creates interest and introduces activities. He builds a conducive climate for the lesson. He guides the process towards the goals by directing, supporting, bringing in the missing points, and helping individual learners. He mediates between groups or individuals when they are stuck with problems. At the end of the activity the teacher organizes their knowledge through discussion. Finally he evaluates how far the goals have been achieved.

7. Evaluator 1. Planner

G.Organizer of \ / Knowledge

-2. Initiator

5. Mediator I 3 .Climate Builder

4. Guide/Prompter/ Catalyst

Teacher b Roles ns a Facilitator


Experiential Learning

Learning from experience is most natural to us. But that does not mean we learn from every experience. To learn from experience you have to reflect and inquire as to incident. For instance, you have to ask yourself: What happened? What can I learn from it? This means that learning from experience demands reflection, conceptualization and generalization and application to new situations. (After Kolb 1984) The model could be presented in the following manner:

1 .Concrete Experience

@ a 4. Application 2. Reflection

Q 8 3. Conceptualization

and Generalization

Experiential Learning Cycle

Following the learning cycle above, the teacher provides an activity relevant to the lesson. Students individually or in pairs or in groups may do it. The outcome of the activity is not revealed ahead allowing the students to discover it by themselves..

On the completion of the activity the groups are convened to class, where they reflect on the activity. The teacher facilitates reflection by asking them:

1. What did you do? (To remind the type of activity) 2. How did you proceed? (To remind the sequence) 3. How did you feel? What did you find out? What do you think? (To get

involved in discussion/ sharing) Discussion proceeds from reflection to conceptualization and then to generalization.

During this discussion students identify and build concepts, arrive at conclusions from their findings. They also investigate application of the findings to practical situations in daily life.

TYPES OF PEACE LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Grouping

Activities are structured to be carried out individually, in pairs, triads, small groups, large groups or whole class.

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Physical arrangement

Some activities can be carried out within the class, with no special arrangement. However, many activities need space to move around and work in groups, in sitting or standing positions. In carrying out certain play like activities, the most convenient arrangement would be to sit in a large circle facing inside making a large space in the centre. Sitting in a circle creates a participatory climate. When you find no hall facilities inside the school, you can take the class out.

1. Debating

Debate is a curiosity provoking activity that leads learners to find information on a particular social, political or ethical issue under study, e.g. should we abolish capital punishment?

Debate promotes students’ critical and logical thinking. It also helps to improve skills in public speaking and presentation. A debate need not always be organized elegantly. It can be used as a brief activity during a lesson at the classroom. For instance, you can have an instant and short debate on a controversial issue related to the lesson. Divide the class in the two sides of the controversy. One student can speak for or against for 3 minutes only or present only one argument. A judgement is not necessary. Such debates help extensive exploration into the issue under discussion.

2. Colloquy

Colloquy is a formal discussion. As a part of lessons colloquies are useful in developing perception, awareness, and in-depth exploration. The participants in a colloquy need to be well prepared. To begin with the class has to select a moderator, who will conduct the discussion in the right direction. The discussing group can sit in a circle, in front of the class while the rest of the students listen and observe. At the end of the discussion, they can question or present their views on the discussion.

3. The fisltbowl

This is a more interesting form of colloquy. A group of participants are selected to conduct a discussion on a given topic. They sit in a circle. The rest of the class sit behind them in the larger circle. The remaining students, sitting behind, observe critically both the content and the process of discussion, e.g. Did everyone participate in the discussion? Did they miss any important aspect of the issue? Did they provide feedback on the discussion at the end? This form of colloquy is called tishbowl because the participants in the discussion are watched by the observers as fish in a bowl.


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4. Values clarification

This category of activities help students to reflect and reconsider their own values, attitudes and vision.

Teacher b questioning

When a student speaks out on attitudes, if the teacher feels, that he/she needs to reconsider it, she asks a simple question, without expecting a reply in order to bring insight.

e.g. Student : Love is an illusion. Teacher : What kind of love do you mean here? (other possible questions )

n What about mother’s love? 8 Whatpromptedyou to come to this conclusion? n Is there a love, beyond our illusionary loves?

This side and that side

The class stand in a space without furniture, where they can move freely. The teacher asks the class a value ridden question and says, ‘Those who agree with the statement go to that side, and those who do not agree stay on this side.’

Examples for value ridden statement:

n By bad means you can achieve good ends. = Productions just13 environmental pollution. n village life is better than urban life.

Issues arising in subjects like social studies, civics, history could be discussed in this form, e.g. Science serves only the rich.

When the students divide themselves into ‘agree’ and ‘not agree’ groups, the teacher asks: each one in the group to give at least one reason for his/her position. The opposition party can disprove the argument. Lively debates and discussions emerge out of the situation naturally.

5. Case studies

Provide a case study relevant to the issue under discussion in the lesson.’ Students can critically study it, in groups and answer the given questions. They can identify the cause - effect relationship, underlying principles, practical implications of the issue.

6. Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a method of encouraging students to come out with ideas, solutions, or views about the issue under study. It generates creative ideas and alternative solutions to problems.


e.g. The teacher says, “ Lets find out the various uses of a handkerchief. Each one of you think of at least two uses and discuss them. Let us find out 15 uses within five minutes.” Then the class responds with ideas. The teacher lists them on the board. During this responding stage, she should refrain from any criticism of the ideas presented. Criticism discourages creative responses. When you find children have exhausted their ideas, review the responses, identify basic concepts and build the intended knowledge for the lesson.

7. Puzzles

The teacher gives a puzzle related to the lesson. The class has to guess, or find the solution. They can work individually or in groups.

e.g. Leopard, goat and fodder.

‘A man buys a leopard a goat and a budge offodder and takes them home. On the way he comes across a river There is a small boat, which allows only one thing to be taken across with him at a time. How does he solve the problems? For example : If he takes the leopard on the boat, leaving the goat behind it will eat the fodder Or ifhe leaves the goat, the leopard will eat the goat. How does he take all three across?

Children in groups have to find the solution in groups. Every country has thought provoking puzzles. They provide effective tools for improving skills in problem-solving and creative thinking. They provide rich tools for improvising problems, slowness and creative thinking activities in children.

Crossword puzzles

Prepare a simple crossword puzzle as an exercise, to be given at the end of the class. The words are taken from the terms used in the lesson.

8. Self-expression

Children like to express their feelings, wishes, fancies and ideas in various forms. They can be used as effective learning activities in the class.

Examples : Sharing experiences on an issue under discussion.

Expressing one’s future wishes e.g If I am a doctor.. . . .

Expressing imaginary wishes e.g. If I am a bird.. . . .

Getting into great characters e.g. Suppose you are Socrates. You have been condemned to death by the citizens of Athens. Give a speech to the public after the conviction.

These activities can be done in writing as well. Interesting insights emerge out of such free expressions, which could be used to enrich the lesson.


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9. Co-operative story-telling

To stimulate creative thinking, children can sit in a circle and build a story. The first child starts with a sentence to begin the story. The second one adds another sentence and it goes from one after another in the round. The story gradually builds up adding. new events. The teacher may intervene at difficult points to help the process go on the right track. Once it is completed it can be edited to assume an acceptable form.

IQ. Making stories

The groups are given a situation discussed in the lesson, e.g. a story of a slave, working under the tyranny of a pharaoh in Egypt. .A part of the story can be given, to find a successful end by the groups. The stories can be written and read or acted out.

11. Writing poetry or songs

Children can be easily guided to write simple verses or songs. Stimulate their effective feelings on a given topic, allow them to express feelings in the class and let them write the feelings in poetical forms. Their writing could be recited or sung.

12. Drawing

Drawing is an activity that can be used for almost every subject in various ways. In a traditional school, drawing is considered to be an activity, which should be taught only by a trained artist. Teachers of other subjects think they can’t draw and therefore they shouldn’t use drawing in their subjects. They also think that drawing involves following many rules which they do not know or are unfamiliar with.

However any teacher in any subject could use drawing creatively in spite of whether she has had a formal training in it or not. In such contexts, drawing is used exclusively for free expression. The fear of children that they can’t draw beautifully should be removed. Here are two examples showing how drawing could be used in other subjects.

* Language - Drawing students’ impression of an event in literature.

* Religion -Drawing a picture that portrays a religious motto.

Drawing is also a useful tool for development of attitudes. Consider the effects on children in drawing the following topics.

l How do I see myself? Draw your self-portrait.

l Draw a portrait of your friend.

l Make a mask to express a particular emotion, e.g. kindness, joy, terror.

l Think of a good deed you have done. Draw a series of cartoons showing how and what you did. Show it to your friends.


c Draw yourself, in a disaster, e.g. caught in a flood/ a fire/ lost in a forest.

l Draw a fantasy creature, by joining parts of various animals.

Drawing could be done in groups as well. Such group collaboration helps children to experience co-operation and to develop socializing skills. e.g. Draw [in groups] : a scene from a fairy tale..

Alternatives One member in the group draws an object [a tree, animal, etc] Others one by one add things to improve the picture.

Whatever children draw needs to be appreciated in the class.

13. Guided fantasy

As we pointed out earlier, children are highly imaginative. This powerful faculty could be fruitfully used while learning in the class. Especially, imagination can appeal to deep positive feelings in children, such as kindness and peace. Examples: You want to describe the Sahara desert. You can take them on a fantasy trip. You ask the children to close their eyes and relax for a while as in meditation. Then you say, “Let’s go on an imaginary trip to Sahara. We all get wings. We fly, as a group over the great desert. You see vegetation is getting thinner and thinner, and finally all that you see is a land of sand . . . . . . . . . . . . ...” So you continue describing the desert in picturesque language. After the experience you request the students to express what they saw in their minds’ eye and how they felt.

Guided fantasy could be used for meditation, which evoke deep, peaceful, pleasant and aesthetic feelings. Such activities help emotional development.

14. Acting out

Acting out certain situations and events makes learning fun and entertaining. It specially helps to improve speech. There are several forms of acting that can be used in the classroom.

Making funny faces

Thic- is an activity, which brings fun, particularly good for primary grades. Childre,l stand in a circle. The first child has an unusual expression on his face. The face is. passed around the circle. Many variations could be used.

For example, the teacher calls out an adjective: e.g. kind, sad, strong. Children imitate the quality on the teacher’s face.

Pantomiming

In pantomiming children express certain actions by gestures in silence. In these activities children. express certain actions by silent gestures. e.g. Gesturing how a guitar is played/Drawing water from a well/ Opening a door/ Searching for a lost object, etc.


*rr 16. Energizers

Variations

The teacher describes a situation, e.g. “ You are walking alone on a road. Suddenly you see a poisonous snake. You take fright.” A volunteer comes to the middle of the circle and pantomimes.

A small group pantomimes an occupation or an event. Others guess it.

Role-play

Role-play involves setting up an imagined situation through acting out certain characters. The teacher sets the scene by inviting a number of students to play out a scene, relevant to the lesson. The activity takes the forms of instant extempore drama or dialogue. Role-plays develop children’s skills in communication They can help inculcation of good attitudes as well. The activity is especially helpful to develop understanding of the characters they play. Role-play needs to be followed by reflection and discussion.

Simulation

This is an activity, which tries to recreate a situation by acting out the characters and the events in order to study it, e.g. interview, a scene at the post office,

15. Icebreakers

These are activities that help to break down barriers between participants making them relaxed and interactive. They open up and create the social climate conducive to the session. e.g.

* Say your name and a thing you like most and a thing you don’t like most.

* Go outside and pick up something that represents you. Introduce yourself to the group though it.

These are physical game like activities used to release students’ stress and boredom. They arouse energy. When the teacher finds children are restless or bored or in low energy, she gives one or two energizers for a short while and then starts or continues the lesson.

e.g. Fruit salad

Children sit in a circle on chairs. The teacher asks them to give four names of fruits they like most. They call out names of the four fruits one by one in sequence in ,the circle. Then a participant is invited to come to the middle. His chair is then removed so that one chair is short in the circle. The child in the middle calls out one name of the fruits. Then those who have called out the name of that fruit, exchange their seats quickly. Meanwhile, the participant in the middle runs and sits

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on an empty seat. As a result, someone finds no seat to sit on. That participant becomes the next leader and continues the game by calling out another name of a fruit.

Variation: 1. The leaders can call out two names. 2. When the leader says fruit salad, all the children have to change their

seats. 3. Other items could be used instead of fruit, e.g. ‘Those who are

vegetarians change their seats.’

17. Co-operative games

There are activities designed to build up co-operation, group awareness and trust in the groups. Everyone has to work together in the activities, e.g.

l Make a machine joining up together and rhythmically show how it works, with sounds.

l A small group holds hands in a tight circle and pressing themselves together, by holding others. Two outside participants come and try to untangle the group.

17. Making sounds

These games are vocal energizers. They are noisy and should be performed in the open air so that others in the school are not disturbed. Children imitate various sounds, e.g;

Rain storm, thundering, a night in a jungle, a railway station

18. Affirmation activities

These activities are effective in developing the self-esteem of children.

Children express affection, positive remarks, appreciation and friendship for each other either verbally or non verbally, in these activities, e.g:

l Children move around the classroom making pleasant comments to each one they meet.

l A child is invited to come to the middle of the class. The participants one by one come to him/ her and expresses their positive feelings in a manner that makes the child feel happy.

7

DEVELOPING STAFF

‘Staff development is for the pupils.’

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Making a school a place of peace is an achievement of a co-operative effort and the commitment of the whole staff under the supportive leadership of a competent school principal. The degree of the success depends upon the extent of support given by the staff. However, this is not to deny the strength of the individual teachers as change agents. There are illustrious instances where a single teacher has been able to change the whole school. Even such an effort involves winning the staff support.

Suppose you are a principal who wants to improve the quality of education through peace education. How are you going to win the staff support? Naturally it has to be achieved gradually through a process of staff development. Usually when the hierarchy tries to introduce a change the subordinates tend to resist. It is simply because people are reluctant to move away from their status quo or their established positions of present mindset and behaviour. Therefore the change has to be introduced with care, gentleness and tact in a way that nobody feels threatened.

1. Start it with yourself

Only a changed person can change others. The inward change flows naturally outward. The genuineness of it affects the social climate and permeates throughout the organization. The principal needs to be a role model of the innovation he intends to introduce to his school. Here he has to develop the qualities of peaceful behaviour such as being positive, genuine, compassionate, co-operative, empathetic and assertive when necessary. He has to create a sense of belongingness and appreciation through building teachers’ self-esteem and confidence. As a leader he behaves in such a manner so as to bring out the best in people whom he comes into contact. Through providing positive reinforcement by praising, encouraging and developing trust. When such a principal shows interest in a certain change the staff tends to support him.


2. Provide literature, handbooks and guides on peace education to the staff.

Every innovation has a knowledge base. To effect the innovation the knowledge pertaining to it needs to be imparted to the actors. For this effect the school needs to collect some good books, guides and other reading materials for the study of the teachers. Sometimes mere availability of the books in the school library will not draw teachers’ attention. Introducing good books to the staff can encourage such selected reading.

3. Organize staff seminars on peace education

It would be very useful to provide good training to the staff or at least to a group of the staff. The school can organize in-house programmes to provide training by inviting suitable resource persons from outside. Sometimes the school can rely on those teachers who are interested in the innovation and gain experience by applying the available knowledge.

4. Appoint an interest group

The school needs to have a committed group to work for the innovation. Fortunately many schools have teachers who love peace and want to do something about it. Such groups need to be developed and strengthened. If they could be formed as a committee they can serve the school better by taking the lead under the principal’s guidance.

5. Decide activities

For instance, the committee can undertake to plan, organize and implement staff development activities in peace education. The activities should be based on the felt needs of the staff in the area of innovation.

Examples for staff development activities:

* Develop a school policy for peace education in collaboration with the staff, which will provide a guideline for action.

* Conduct school research and development work for the school.

* Design and conduct pilot projects in peace education.

* Organize in-house teacher development activities such as seminars, experience-sharing meetings, and lectures on relevant issues (e.g. ways of eliminating bullying in the college campus, identifying the school’s hidden curriculum, ways of developing discipline, new methods of building students’ self-esteem, new strategies the school can adopt to build peace culture, ways of identifying peace concepts in the curriculum)

* Organize model lessons regularly.

* Develop teaching aids for peace education.

Developing Staff 53

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* Encourage and facilitate teachers to write and produce peace drama.

* Organize film and video shows for the staff on peace education.

As the above list shows a variety of interesting activities are available for staff development. It is more effective when teachers themselves take the responsibility and initiative in organizing such activities for themselves. In fact teachers themselves should take the ownership of staff development. Another important principle in staff development is that it should be a continuous process. Staff development is crucially important to the school because it directly contributes to the quality improvement of teaching and learning,

6. Implement the plan

The committee has to implement the plan regularly. One of the constraints for school-based staff development is the time available. In certain countries arrangements for staff development have been made by making the staff stay after school hours.

In many schools the staff can be motivated to stay willingly after school for a short period of time for the sake of their own professional development. If they find the sessions useful they tend to participate. However, there are staff development activities, which can be done in the form of on the job iruining. Examples: model lessons, understudy, quality circle discussions, research and development activities, peer support, etc.

7. Evaluate

The effectiveness of the programme has to be evaluated to develop it further. They need not be so formal in many instances. What is necessary is .;o get teachers’ feedback and suggestions for improvement.

Concluding Thoughts

An innovation in a school should begin with staff development. Teachers need to understand the goals, concepts, and methods of peace education. The need can be fulfilled through in-service training by the authorities. Schools themselves can do this through school-based staff development mode.

Things To Do

1. Do an informal attitude survey of your colleagues about the need of peace education. Do a critical analysis of their attitudes.

2. What are the criticisms they have on peace educations, as they know it now?

3. What types of staff development are most suitable, correct and improve their attitudes?

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8

REDUCING VIOLENCE IN SCHOOL

*I believe that every person has the potential to be a perfect embodiment of non-violence. If you generate the quality of non-violence within you it

will spread out to the world from you like a mighty storm’.

- Mahatma Gandhi

Every organization has violence in it in many gross and subtle forms and school is no exception. Violence in school is visible in five different forms. This chapter briefly discusses the control measures a school can take to reduce and prevent violent behaviour in school.

1 .Verbal violence

2.Psychological violence

3 .Physical violence

4.Criminal violence

5 .Structural violence

e.g. insulting, name-calling, threatening, cursing, alluding, shouting, labelling, and arguing.

(Aimed at emotional hurting) e.g. blaming, condemning ridiculing, scorning, embarrassing, anonymous writing revenging.

e.g slapping, caning, kneeling down, torturing, hitting, assaulting, pulling ears.

e.g stabbing, shooting, stealing, destroying property, raping, child abusing, vandalizing, gang assault.

(Violence arising from the way school is set up) e.g. pushing students to compete with others, comparing individuals, keeping children sitting passively for hours, subject-centred and teacher-centred delivery of lessons, neglecting students’ special needs, harsh imposition of rules, externally imposed discipline, drilling.

Obviously, the actors of the above violence are the members of the staff and students except on rare occasions where public intruders break in and commit aggressive acts.


Teachers’ violent behaviour

In many Asian schools the tradition of physical and verbal violence still continues by way of caning, scolding and other ways, in spite of all the propagation of child rights going outside. They are justified in the name of education.

When a teacher commits an act of violence against children say, caning or harsh abuse, the happy social climate of the whole school is affected adversely. A negative climate, charged with fear and threat emerges. Constant teacher violence implies the following negative impressions about the school.

(a) Distanced teacher-pupil relationship.

(b) Deteriorating teacher professionalism.

(c) Inefficiency of school management to control such unprofessional behaviour.

(d) Teachers’ lack of skills in maintaining a positive discipline.

(e) Children’s apathy against the present quality of education they receive.

What is the way of discouraging teacher violence in school? The following guides may be helpful.

1. Conduct school-based staff development sessions on

l Maintaining positive discipline in school l Methods of motivating students. l Method of classroom management.

2. Conduct programmes to improve teacher-pupil relations, e.g:

l Drama

l Education trips and hikes

l Staff development in innovative teaching methods.

3. Discourage the use of caning and other forms of physical punishment.

4. Adopt humanistic and democratic strategies in the maintenance of school discipline.

Students’ violent behaviour

Students’ anti-school and anti-discipline aggressive behaviour are an inbuilt element in school as an organization. They differ only in degree with various types of schools. The underlying violence among students in school mostly goes unnoticed by teachers.

Violence or aggression is generally defined as acts committed with the intention of hurting, injuring or harming another person. Words or thoughts that express the intention of hurting are also a part of aggression.

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Reducing Violence in School 57

However, all forms of children’s aggressive behaviour need not to be taken seriously. Naming some forms of behaviour as violent may not be fair. For instance, children fight for fun and to test their strength. Such behaviours are not malignant, vicious and therefore not aggressive. Such behaviours seem to play a part in children’s psychological development. They disappear naturally with the other stages of growth. Parents and teachers should be concerned only when such behaviours seem to establish as a pattern of personality by repeated.

Form of Aggression

Psychologically we can classify aggression into live basic forms of expression.

1. Orgunized group aggression: where a gang perform an aggressive act, with a pre-planned course of action.

2. Direct aggression: where people directly express physically or verbally their anger against others.

3. Indirect aggression is mostly manipulative where a person pretends to be nice, but works behind towards the destruction of others.

4. Symbolic aggression: conveys the message of violence through a symbolic action. They are mostly used in political and public campaigns.

5. Instrumental aggression: is used as a strategy or a means to achieving a certain goal.

Ways of reducing students’ violent behaviour

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9.

Prepare a school policy for prevention of violence in school.

Based on the policy, draws a violence control programme as a part of discipline management

Build school as a community, based on the principles of mutual respect and co-operation. Emphasize the value of non-violence as a part of the school tradition.

Make learning meaningful and joyful. Improve the quality of education in the school to the satisfaction of the students.

Implement a fair system of discipline control using positive techniques.

Encourage each class to draw a code of conduct and maintain it.

Refer students found in vicious aggressive behaviour to counselling.

Keep the school under surveillance during intervals, especially in those areas where bullying and other anti disciplinary behaviours could occur.

Implement school timetable effectively so that students find no time to engage in anti disciplinary activities.

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10. Organize a surveillance system to check students’ movements after school is over, e.g. on their way home up to a certain limit.

11 Implement the school timetable tightly allowing no free periods, during special seasons when ragging and bullying increase in the school. (e.g. beginning of the year/ when new students enter high school.)

Concluding Thoughts

As mentioned earlier, the above measures are mostly negative in approach.. Most of the disciplinary problems reflect the inefficiency of the way the school is managed, the curriculum is delivered and the level of student-teacher relations. What is really necessary in such cases is to correct the causes of conflict, that give rise to them, rather than suppressing them through strict control measures. Peace education is basically a positive approach to school discipline as amply presented here.

Things To Do

1. Find out ways by which some good schools maintain their discipline. Discuss with their principals.

2. Discuss with your colleagues to find out their problems of classroom management.

3. Identify some activities of violence prevention for your school.

9

A MODEL FOR PEACE EDUCATION

All education programmes attempt at developing children through the provision and facilitation of certain learning experiences. The plan of the programmes is what you call the curriculum. Tanner and Tanner (1975) define curriculum as the planned and guided learning experiences and intended learning outcomes, formulated through the systematic reconstruction of knowledge and experience under the auspices of the schools for the learner’s continuous and wilful growth in personal and social competence. A programme begins by identification of goals. Then learning experiences have to be selected which enable children to develop to the intended outcome. In a peace education programme your primary objective is to help the child grow into a peaceful person. You have to identify the basic characteristics you expect out of the person. Then select learning experiences, which will develop the child towards that expected level. In this manner you have to develop a clear vision and model for an effective programme. This Guide proposes the following model for peace education curriculum.

The model consists of ten basic themes, which can accommodate many peace values and concepts most meaningful in the present global context. It gives the basic characteristics of a peaceful person that we wish to see developing in children. This handbook is based on the thematic model. Each theme will be discussed separately. But let’s have a quick run.

To begin with Think Positive, the theme aims at developing a positive mindset in children. Positive thinking is the first characteristic of a peaceful person. It involves building a positive self-concept in oneself. Having a positive outlook helps the child to not only value himself but also to value life in all forms. It also builds attitudes towards accepting others with respect, and appreciating them honestly. This is a self-empowering concept that helps children to develop positive attitudes towards themselves as individuals and their country and humanity.

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The Model Peaceful Person

4

Build Peace in Comnnmi~ Care for the Planet

Think Critically

Respect Human Digni(y

Discover Inner Peace

Think Positive

Resolve Conflict Non- tiolently

Be Your True Self

Learn to Live Together

Be Compassionate and Do No Harm

Fig.2 Thematic Model of Peace

The second theme Be Compassionate and Do No Harm tries to inculcate empathetic qualities such as love, kindness, friendliness and so on. These qualities are primarily important to respond to the violence in society.

Discover Inner Peace as a theme is concerned with resolution of one’s own psychological conflicts and problems and discovering the peace of mind. Under this theme ways of understanding self and the process of thought, controlling emotions such as anger, art of soothing the mind could be discussed. It also addresses children’s spiritual needs and provides experiences of inner peace.

Learning to Live Together is so important today in a world where there is so much polarization of human beings on the increase. Children need to learn to work harmoniously in groups with others. The theme can accommodate such subtopics as sharing, mutual help, trust building, taking group responsibility, leading and following. Learning co-operation reduces egoistic competitive tendencies in children..

The next theme Respect Human Dignity is based on the concepts of Human Rights, Duties and Justice. It attempts to develop a consciousness that recognizes, respects one’s own and others’ rights.

A Model for Peace Education 61

The concept in the theme Be Your True Self, means the strength of the character to be honest and direct in expressing one’s needs, feelings and thoughts without letting others down. The skills in such behaviour are necessary for resolving conflicts and effective social interaction.

Developing Critical Thinking is an essential intellectual skill helpful to problem- solving. It also includes decision-making skills. Critical thinking on the part of the citizens is a necessary feature of a democratic society. It involves analysis, syntheses, looking at the other sides of an issue, searching for alternatives and logical thinking.

Resolve Conflict Non-Violently encompasses such skills necessary for conflict resolution as conflict analyses, negotiation, active listening, mediation, creative problem-solving and alternative solution seeking. It is a basic component of peace education.

Build Peace in Community as a theme provides an opportunity for children to be exposed to social realities and understand people’s problems and work with them. School can organize various peace-building projects in the community.

Attitudes towards the Cwingfor the Plunet is a global educational need not only for children but for the masses as well. The health of the planet has direct and immediate influence on the destiny of mankind. Under this theme several interesting activities, projects and assignments could be organized in school.

The above thematic framework provides a comprehensive content area for peace education. The themes could be developed from grade to grade in-depth and width spirally. For instance, the first theme, i.e. positive thinking could be developed in the following manner.

l Understanding myself

l Self-esteem and ways of developing it

l Meaning of positive thinking

l Effect of negative thoughts

l Philosophy and psychology of positive thinking

l Positive thinking in our culture and religion

The above model is simple and easy for curriculum developers to use as a guide to select peace concepts. Having such a model helps teachers to identify peace concepts in the curriculum. Through inservice training teachers can be equipped with the necessary knowledge, methods of teaching to diversify the curriculum effectively in the above areas. A large number of interesting and game like learning activities are available for this purpose.


However, some curriculum developers can argue that their curricula have these concepts already and why they should ever bother about peace education as such. Of course many curricula deal with the above concepts. Here it is very important to bear in mind that peace education is not another subject. It performs two important functions in a curriculum. Firstly, it unities all the other subjects under the holistic vision of peace. In the absence of such a holistic view the learning done in subject compartments tends to be fragmentary and remains superficial. Secondly, peace education humanizes education. As said before it is a humanistic approach to education rather than a subject. Any lesson, in any subject could be presented through the peace approach with full justice to the subject contents and the objectives It is also interesting to see that good teachers even without any formal knowledge, use the peace education approach in their lessons and classroom management. This shows the fact that such an approach is integral in good education. However, theoretical and practical knowledge can improve their present classroom practices.

The proceeding chapters develop further the core concepts given above with suitable classroom practices, hints for peace culture-building and learning activities.

Concluding Thoughts

In designing a peace programme, a school or an education system needs a clear vision and a model to ensure the integrity and the consistency of the effort. A model is how you organize your thinking and effort to achieve a goal. The concept of peace being so wide the absence of a model leads to piecemeal work, sometimes resulting in contradiction. In such conditions as having too many unrelated views, values, and concepts distorts the essential message. Once a model is developed, especially in the curriculum it can be developed spirally in depth and width from grade to grade

Things To Do

1. Identify a set of core values that are mostly relevant to your country and develop a meaningful model of peace education for your school.

2. What are the features a good value education model should have? Analyse the above given model in the light of the features identified.

3. What do you mean by a core peace value? Give examples.

10

THINK POSITIVELY

A man who regards his life as meaningless is not merely unhappy but also hardly fit to live.

Albert Einstein

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Objectives

l Develops self-esteem l Skilful in affn-mation l Motivated in learning l Develops positive attitudes to work l Expresses optimistic attitudes to the future

Core Values

l Positive outlook 0 Self-esteem l Affirmation l Positive attitudes to learning l Positive attitudes to work l Positive attitudes to the future

Content

0 Understanding the concept 0 Positive thoughts 0 Self-esteem 0 Positive attitudes 0 Affirmation 0 Positive attitudes to learning 0 Positive attitudes to work 0 Positive attitudes to the future 0 Intended outcome 0 Classroom practices 0 Hints for peace culture-building


Learning Activities

1. A quality in me, which I am proud of 2. Expressing affection 3. What am I? 4. Introducing friends 5. Something good I have done 6. Affirmation game 7. Guess the person 8. My shield 9. Demonstrating affection 10. Things that I enjoy doing Il. What I was in the past, what I am in the present 12. Playing great characters 13. Facing challenges in life 14. What it? 15. Lost friends


Suppose you are thirsty and you find at last a glass, half filled with water. How do you see the glass? You may see it either half full or half empty. If you see it half full with water, then your outlook is positive. A mind with a negative outlook tends to see it half empty. As we all know,‘to live with a negative mind is so distressing, because it sees the dark side of things, including one’s own self. Such a person blames everyone for his failures. You can’t make him happy even if you give him all that he asks for.

When you have a positive outlook, you see the brighter side of things, including yourself, others, events of life and nature. In short, it is to see “The silver lining in the dark cloud” as William Blake puts it. Positive perception brings in contentment, happiness and hope. All life-fulfilling experiences arise from a positive state of mind. They naturally lead to a harmonious relationship with others.

It is interesting to note, that people’s positive or negative states of minds arise from their self-concept, i.e. the image they have built about their own selves. People perceive the world through the tinted glass of their self-concept. If your glass is bright, you see yourself as worthy, able, and good. This attitude leads you to achieve success. And that experience of success strengthens back your image, leading again to achieve success. For instance, if you think that you are a winner, that thought gives you courage to win. Thus success teaches success. So does failure.

Here we see how the negative mind is caught in a vicious circle, difricult to break away from. Psychologists have found that those who have positive self-

Think Positively 65

concepts can face challenges of life courageously and they are not broken down easily. Even if broken down they can regain normalcy within a shorter period compared to persons with negative self-concepts. In essence a positive self-concept is empowering. Consider the following positive perceptions.

Positive Thoughts

l With each day I become stronger, happier and better in every way and every manner. Living is wonderful. I enjoy living every moment of living. Today I choose to be happy. I pardon myself. I love myself. I am my own master. I grow in life towards a positive direction. Every person is good at heart. I behave in such a manner that everyone whom I am in touch with, comes out with his or her best self. Whenever life gives me a lemon, I make lemonade out of it. Every failure is a blessing in disguise. Trust begets trust. I respect the dignity of every human being whom I come into contact with and loog at every incident in life from a positive perspective. Looking at a painful experience positively does not mean that you accept it and cease to act.

The question is often asked that whether we can look at every incident in life from a positive perspective. Looking at a painful experience positively does not mean that you accept it and cease to act. But if you look at it as something that opens your eyes to the reality or truth from which you can learn, then it is positive outlook. Many such incidents can be perceived as opportunities as well. For instance, in the Chinese language the word conflict means opportunity. When life closes one door it opens another. Instead of weeping for the door closed, we can look for the door opened.

Positive attitudes not only build effective individuality but also build solidarity within groups. They charge the social atmosphere with such positive energies that instil joy, creativity, sense of purpose and friendship in people. For example, a positively charged classroom atmosphere is so conducive to joyous learning where work becomes an expression of creativity and productivity.

Self-esteem

Teachers bear witness to the fact that most of the high achieving students in schools have positive self-esteem. In the past teachers thought that intelligence was


the single factor for successful learning. But now they are increasingly realizing the significance of self-esteem as a factor for successful learning.

One who has a low self-esteem finds it difficult to appreciate others, care for others wholeheartedly, because of the insufficiency within. Only a person with a positive self-esteem can face challenges of life healthily. There is a need in very human being to build a positive self-esteem. It is a basic human need. People build their self-esteems from others’ recognition and acceptance. With children, the need to be recognized, praised, appreciated and valued by parents, teachers, peers and others is very strong. The need has to be fulfilled properly to assure the healthy mental growth in children. Their characters are moulded from the positive valuation they receive. When a child behaves rightly, a word of appreciation reinforces that act and thereby the child tends to repeat it. Skinner, the behavioural psychologist, says, “You are what you have been reinforced.” Naturally the deprivation of social acceptance and appreciation lead children to a pervasive pattern of behaviour. Then they seek recognition from destructive acts. Often children with problematic behaviours are such deprived ones. As we pointed out early, a false self-concept can produce a false self-esteem in people. Having an over valued self-esteem leads a person to look condescendingly or patronizingly upon others. On the other hand, an undervalued self-esteem leads a person to withdraw himself and be submissive to others’ manipulation. School should help children to develop realistic and healthy self-esteems.

Affirmation

It is interesting to observe, how a person’s positive or negative attitudes influence others’ behaviour. Surely you must have seen some individuals gifted with bringing out the’best in others. This ability is called affirmation. The secret of good leadership is the ability to bring out the best in those with whom they come into contact.

Good leaders do it by affirmation, i.e by words and deeds of appraisal and encouragement and expression of warmth, friendliness and trust. On the other hand, a negative minded person brings out your low self. Negative minded people are poor in expressing love, warmth and appraisal. They seem to have inhibitions within themselves that prevent them from expressing such innermost feelings. These inhibitions arise from unresolved psychological problems.

Affirmation is the interpersonal aspect of the positive outlook. Children should learn ways of expressing affectionate feelings and warmth. Affirmation skills are an integral part of the socializing process in education.

First and foremost, teachers need to learn affirmation skills. A person, who is poor in expressing human warmth, affection and appreciation, can hardly be a good teacher.

Think Positively

Phrases for Appreciating Students

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Good. Very good. Excellent/ Brilliant. Good question. Good answer. An interesting/ brilliant/thought provoking/ idea! You are correct. Wonderful! You are so hard working! You are very bright! I am so proud of you! You have a good future. You are honest. I trust you. I appreciate your effort. One day you will be a great scientist/ scholar-l artist/etc You have a talent for.. . . You should be proud of you. I really like students like you. Accept my congratulations!

[Discover more phrases of your own!]

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Positive attitudes to learning

A positive outlook can be used effectively for self-development. For instance, a student needs to have a positive attitude towards learning. A positive attitude to learning is the source of motivation for students. First and foremost, school has to develop positive attitudes to learning in students. Yet some traditional schools do quite the opposite, by viewing learning in a narrow sense. Until recently schools could not imagine education without tears.

Learning is meaningful to the degree it is related to self and life. Most of the subject compartmentalized learning has no relevance to self or life. Such education rarely provides insight into true learning. In fact, the nature of learning and lifelong learning is rarely discussed with students.

Good teachers always create positive attitudes to learning by use of interesting and creative teaching methods. Students should not only learn the subject matter

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but also learn how to learn. Self-learning methods have to be introduced to them. The habit of reading also needs to be encouraged. Learning is effective when students themselves build knowledge by active participation.

Positive attitude to work

Developing a positive attitude to work is a basic responsibility of education. Every education system has identified the need for it. Period for work experience is named in various systems differently as life skill, creative work, handwork, and pre-vocational subject.

Children have a natural interest to work. To them, work is exciting. However, the above vocational subjects are rarely presented in a manner that evokes enthusiasm in children. School can build working attitudes by exposing children to the world of work, through visits and interaction with people of different vocations. Children’s attraction to vocations changes with their stages of growth. Gradually their fanciful attractions diminish and fade away and finally they select the vocation that suits them most.

One innovative practice schools in many countries have introduced in this area is work activity room. It is an open workshop in school where there are various tools and materials for children to choose freely and work.

Positive attitude to future

It is often said that youth do not have proper attitudes towards their own future and of the country. It has been shown that this lack of hope can lead to anti social and self-destructive behaviour like joining terrorist movements and drug abuse. In Sri Lanka nearly 6,500 people-commit suicide annually and most of them are youth.

One of the goals of peace education is to create positive attitudes to the future in students. As a teacher, we should know how to respond to students’ hopes and fears of their future. Youth often say that they have no future. What does that mean? Surely it means that they have no future as things go in the country. This is a passive way of thinking about the future. There are two kinds of futures. One is the future that comes when we do nothing. The other future is what we build for ourselves. By determination and courage. Ask any man of success. Surely he may say that he built his own future. This is true at the national level as well.

David Hicks provides a good insight into the education on future-oriented perspective in his book Exploring Alternative Futures. He suggests four steps for developing positive attitudes to the future in children. They are:

1 Thinking about the future, i.e. children share their thoughts, hopes, fears about the future.

2. Exploring probable future: Children clarify what kind of futures they expect.

3. Selecting a preferable future. Here they select the most suitable future they prefer to.

Think Positively 69

4. Active citizenship: Children identify the kind of citizenship needed for the preferable future society and they develop the attitudes and skills.

Intended outcome

By effective characterization of the core value of positive perception you will be able to bring out the following positive changes in the students. It is necessary to determine the intended behaviour in the students, through the intervention of peace education. They are important in that they provide the foundation for evaluation. Once they are established through survey of needs, they should be strengthened and nourished through integration of the core values through various media in the school. We believe that the above core values can bring the following positive changes in students.

1. Self-esteem

l Has a positive attitude towards oneself. Conscious of self-identity. Behaves with self-dignity.

2. Affirmation

l Has a constructive attitude about community, school, country, one’s culture, nation and future.

l Brings out the best of people by appreciation, encouragement, support, expression, friendliness and gratitude and exchange greetings.

3. Positive Attitude to Learning

l Motivated learning.

0 Participation in classroom activities.

4. Positive Attitudes to Work

l Exhibiting such behaviours as commitment to work, honesty and persistence.

5. Positive Future Orientation

l Express optimistic future attitudes.

Classroom Practices

l Children generally absorb living qualities such as positive outlook from social learning. In this regard teachers as role models are very effective. When a teacher has genuine good qualities in herself, her ways of responding to daily situations and lifestyle exhibit them. Children tend to admire and internalize them.

l Life stories of great men and women inspire us with the power of positive thinking. The school’s texts can encourage children’s character building by including inspiring deeds of positive qualities such as courage, determination,


persistence and creative problem-solving. However when they are lacking in the texts the teacher can supplement them. She can also encourage children to read such biographies.

l Appreciating students in a way that brings out their best is an art teachers can really learn and practise. A general guide is given below.

l Learn as a teacher to express yourself in positive terms even in the most difficult situations. For example, instead of remarking ‘You are weak’ say, ‘I am sure you can catch up with this subject easily.’ Another example: A student does ten sums and brings the exercise book for you to mark. You will find that all the sums are wrong. Here instead of saying‘ Very poor’, you can comment ‘Your effort is admired’.

l Encourage students’ efforts using such phrases like: ‘You can’, ‘You have the capacity’, ‘I am sure you will be able to do that’.

l Inquire when appreciating group assignments, ‘How did you do it? Who did these? What difficulties did you have and how did you overcome them?’

l Instead of denouncing a student for his problem behaviour, show a model student and appreciate him or her. Try to maintain discipline in the classroom through positive evaluation.

l Instead of saying generally ‘Good’ for a student’s work, say a drawing, appreciate the features specifically, e.g. ‘You have selected your colours to suit the scene. Specially the clouds over the setting sun are beautiful’. Such comments help students to improve their creativity and techniques.

Hints for peace culture-building in school

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6. 7.

8.

Have a series of short speeches in the morning school assembly to introduce positive thinking and values related to it. Organize a series of lectures to introduce lives of great characters, e.g. Mahatma Gandhi or Abraham Lincoln. In these talks stress how they faced the challenges of life positively. Develop self-evaluation instruments for students to help their character building. Invite model persons, like national level scholars, poets, artists, writers, and scientists to school and let students listen to them. Organize displays and exhibitions of students’ creative work at the levels of classroom, section, school and community to help them get recognition. Identify creative strategies to provide positive evaluation to students. Organize student personality skill development training sessions in such areas like leadership, human relations, communication and creative thinking. Exhibit mottos relating to positive perception.

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Think Positively 71

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Think Positively

1. A quality in me, which I am proud of

This is an activity about self-reflection and valuing others.

Level: Secondary

Curriculum Concern: Religion/ when you want to discuss

Concepts:

1. Positive attitudes help self-development.

2. Recognition and acceptance of each other’s positive qualities improve mutual respect in a group.

Objectives:

1. Identifying positive qualities in oneself.

2. Affirming others’ positive qualities.

Activity:

The children stand in a circle facing the centre. Each child non-verbally acts out a personal quality in him/her, which he/she is proud of. Those who are standing in the circle should guess it. The child who makes the right guess wins. If they fail, the actor may give a hint to help them. The teacher jots down on the blackboard the qualities acted out.

Discussion:

l Apprkciate the good qualities that children have cultivated in them.

l Take several good qualities/ human values and discuss their nature, meaning, functions and beauty.

l Ask how such qualities could be further developed in oneself.

a What are the problems in practising them and how could they be overcome?

2. Expressing affection

This is an activity about expressing affection to others and opening communication in the class

Level: Upper primary

Curriculum Concern: Speech/When you want to buiid a friendly climate in the class.

Concept: Ability to express affection helps open communication.

Objective: Learning to express affection socially.

F


Activity :

Children stand in a circle. One child comes to the centre and tells the class, “I have gone on a trip and I have brought you a present” and walks up to a peer and performs an act expressing affection, e.g. a handshake, hug, bowing down, etc. It can also be a loving word such as “I like you”, “You are such a nice person”.

Then the act or word is passed from one to the other in the most possible affectionate manner or tone. On completion of the round, another child comes to the centre and continues the game.

Discussion: Guide questions

1. Did you enjoy the activity? If so, why?

2. Why some people are more popular among groups than others? Give a reason.

3. What are the good expressions of appreciation you learned from the activity?

3. What am I?

This is a listening activity that helps to understand oneself and others.

Level: Primary and lower secondary.

Curriculum Concern: Language:/ When you want to improve listening skills

Concepts:

o Becoming an individual begins with self-understanding. o Becoming an individual also involves accepting others as individuals. o Ability to listen to others attentively and caringly is a basic social skill.

Objectives

1. To encourage children to perceive themselves as individuals

2. To improve the children’s skill in listening to others attentively and caringly respecting them as individuals.

3. To develop a friendly atmosphere in the classroom.

Activity:

The class is divided into groups of five. Each group sits closely together in a circle keeping enough distance from other groups so as not to be overheard.

Each member in turn speaks for 4 minutes on the topic ‘What am I?’ Others listen to him / her attentively and caringly. Questions can be asked for any further clarification. However, disturbing the speaker is not allowed.

Discussion:

At the end of the activity, reconvene the class and conduct a discussion helping children to learn from reflections of the experience.

Think Positively 73

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Guide - Questions:

l How did you feel while speaking of yourself?

l Did the group listen to you attentively?

l Did you give a deep understanding of yourself in speaking out?

l Did the way others listened to you encourage your speaking? If so, how did it happen?

l Did you listen attentively and caringly to others in your turn?

l Did you have any difficulties? If so, what were they?

l Did you learn anything from the activity? If so, what are they? (List them on the blackboard. Elaborate important points)

l How are you going to incorporate your learning into your daily life?

(Discuss: the application of the concepts)

4. Introducing friends

This is an activity helping to get to know each other.

Level: Secondary

Curriculum Concern: Language: Speech/ When you want to build a friendly classroom

Objectives:

1. Building a climate of friendly understanding in the class.

2. Developing respect and acceptance for each other in the class.

Activity

This activity takes a long time to cover all the participant in the class. Therefore it is appropriate to break it up into several sessions of twenty minutes.

Step 1.

The children form pairs. Each pair spends five minutes getting to know one another. One should try to draw out as much personal information as possible to understand and evaluate the other person’s best self. e.g. His/her skills, capacities, likes and dislikes, tastes, ideals, past successes, ambitions.

Step 2.

Children are called into class where each pair comes forward in turn introduces each other, i.e. A introduces B and then B introduces A.

Encourage participants to make their introductions creative and interesting.

Discussion : Guide - questions / instructions

1. What did you learn from this activity?


2. Comment on the value of friendship in the class.

3. Encourage the children to adopt a positive outlook towards each other and to trust in the goodness of each one.

4. Discuss the usefulness of remembering peoples’ names.

5. How to be a lovable person.

5. Something good I have done

This is an activity about understanding kindness

Level: Upper primary and secondary

Curriculuni Concern: Religion/ When you want to discuss kindness

Objective: Evoking altruistic feelings in children and reinforce such behaviour

Activity:

The class breaks up into groups of five. Each group sits closely, together in a circle keeping enough distance from other groups, so as not be overheard. In each group one member in turn, narrates a good deed he/she has done in the past. It may be an act of helping, giving, sharing something with somebody in need. Others listen attentively and carefully. Once the narration is over the group appreciate the act. The procedure continues until all have spoken.

Discussion:

Call the children into the class and make a list of good deeds from the narrations in each group, on the blackboard. Categorize the deeds into board types. Ask how such qualities could be further developed in oneself and the difficulties in practising them. Find ways of overcoming them.

6. Affirmation game

This is an activity about affirming and valuing others

Level: Upper primary /Lower secondary

Curriculum Concern: Physical education / When you want to build teams

Objectives:

1. Experiencing self-esteem

2. Improving skills in aflirmation

Activity:

Children walk around in a circle one after the other slowly. As they walk, one child is pushed into the middle of the circle. E&h passer by makes a positive remark

Think Positively 75

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to the one in the middle. The remarks should be appreciative comments about talents, skills, or qualities in them.

Examples:

l Great runner l Friend of all l You have a bright future

When everyone in the circle has made a remark, the child returns to the circle and the procedure continues as before, with a new child pushed into the middle.

Discussion: Guide questions and instructions.

l Did you enjoy the activity?

l Could you discover something about yourself in doing it?

l ‘Expressing good remarks for others is something that one has to learn and practise.’ Review the statement.

Note: Encourage children to make creative comments, which not only make the

recipients feel good but also add fun to the activity.

7. Guess the person

This is an activity about affirming others


Curriculum Concern: Social Studies/ When you want tell that every person is valuable in his/her own right

Concept:

Positive comments have the power of bringing out people’s best selves.

Objectives:

1. To encourage affirmation of each other

2. To build up self-esteem.

Materials:

A slip of paper and pen for each child.

Activity:

Each child writes secretly on a slip of paper, an interesting appreciative comment on a classmate, rolls it up and hands it to the teacher. Having collected all the slips the teacher reads the comments aloud taking them one by one.

When a comment hasbeen read out the class should guess whom it is about. The writer remains silent allowing guessing until the correct name is pronounced.

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Once the correct guess is made the slip is awarded to the child who owns the cdmment.

The activity proceeds until all comments have been read out and their owners identified.

Discussion: Guide - questions and instructions :

1. Did you enjoy the activity?

2. What talents, skills, and qualities did your friends appreciate in you. (Invite each child to comment)

Assignment:

Paste all the slips each one has received on a sheet of paper and preserve it.

Show it to your parents.

Note: A problem that might arise from the activity is the possibility of leaving out some children unmarked To avoid it, pair the children and ask them to write comments on each other, without showing what has been written.

8. My shield

This is an activity about understanding one’s deep self. Level: Secondary

Curriculum Concern: Religion/When you want to help self-discovery.

Objective:

1. To help gain insight into the self.

2. To enhance mutual understanding in the class.

Materials:

A half sheet paper and a pencil for each student.

Activity:

Step. 1. Explain what a shield is. Draw various shapes of shields. Let each child draw a shield in any shape large enough to be shown to the class.

Instructions to children

The shield should have four cages large enough to draw one symbol in each. Number compartments from 1 to 4.

Examples of shields:

Draw a symbol in each cage that represents your following features.

Cage 1: My highest expectation in life.

Think Positively 77

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Cage 2: My best quality Cage 3: My greatest strength / ability. Cage 4: My greatest weakness.

Step 2.:

The children come forward in turn, one by one and show their shields to explain the meanings of the symbols drawn in each cage.

Discussion: Guide - questions and instructions:

1. Did the activity help you to understand yourself more deeply?

2. Did you find it difficult to decide on symbols?

3. Now, did this activity help you to understand your friends, too?

4. What benefits could you derive from this exercise?

Note:

Some children may find this activity difficult or confusing due to lack of understanding what symbols are. Therefore while introducing the activity explain what a symbol is providing enough examples or even giving a simple exercise in symbolization.

9. Demonstrating affection

This is an activity about learning effective ways of expressing one’s affection

Level Secondary

Curriculum Concern: Classroom Management/ When you want to make the class lively before starting a lesson

Objectives:

Expressing and receiving affection Improving self-esteem. Creating a friendly atmosphere in the classroom

Activity:

Step 1.

Explain the following points briefly before stating the activity.

l Love, friendship and affection are beautiful human qualities.

l The world can be much better if people behave affectionately towards each other.

l Gaining skills in expressing feelings of affection is important in being related to people.


l Now let us play an interesting game, which will help you to learn the ways of expressing your affection towards others.

Step 2.

Children stand in a large circle facing towards the centre. A child is selected and put in the centre. He / she is the recipient of affection of the group. Starting from a point, each child comes to the centre and expresses his/her affection in a non-verbal act, i.e. by touches or gestures such as

l Shaking hands l Touching face l Stroking head 0 Smiling l Patting on shoulders l Bowing head in respect l Acting out a ‘Love’ message l Hugging

Creative expressions are appreciated.

Step 2.

When everyone in the group has had his / her turn, the recipient returns to the circle, Everyone closes his eyes and keeps his fingertips upon the shoulders of the one in front, starts tapping him gently so as to create a pleasurable and releasing sensation. The tapping is soft and gentle at the start. It gains speed, and becomes heavier as it proceeds. Once the climax is reached the tapping gradually slows down and ends. The tapping should be like the pattern of rain.

Then children turn in the opposite direction repeat tapping in the same manner. The activity re-starts selecting another child as recipient and placing in the centre.

Discussion: Guide - questions:

To the recipients:

l How did you feel while receiving your classmates’ affection?

l Did it change your view of your classmates? How do you feel about your classmates now?

l Describe the feeling of being loved.

l To the rest of the participants.

l Did you enjoy expressing your affection?

l Raise your hands, those who felt pleased after expressing affection.

l Did the tapping make you feel better?

Think Positively 79

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l What did you learn from the experience?

l How can you adopt it to enrich your daily life?

Note :

In cultures where touching the opposite sex is a taboo the activity can be practised in two separate circles, one for boys and the other for girls.

10. Things that I enjoy doing

This is an activity about exploring how we can use our leisure productively

Level: Secondary

Curriculum Concern: Health science/ when you want to discuss the use of leisure

Objective:

1. Exploring productive and innocent ways of spending leisure.

Activity: Step 1.

Explain 1. Our life must be basically joyous and happy. 2. We must learn productive ways of enjoying ourselves. 3. Let us explore our present ways of enjoyment.

Step 2.

Children sit in a circle. Each child is given 3 minutes to explain things that he/she does for enjoying himself/herself. Examples for possible responses:

l Playing with my friends l Going out with friends for hikes/picnics l Flying kites l Caring for plants in the garden..

Step 3. Individual work.

Individually make a list of the activities you enjoy doing.

Step 4.

The children mix freely in the room with their lists in hand. They pair with whomever that they happen to meet, and each one in turn describes to the partner in detail the activities he/she enjoy doing. When the pair finishes speaking, then they disperse and join with others and form new pairs The purpose of the activity is to allow children to learn others ways of enjoying themselves and share their ways.

Discussion: Guide - Questions

---. _-


1. What were the common hobbies of your classmates? 2. What were the ‘not so common’ activities you heard? 3. Out of those you heard which were the most interesting ones? 4. Were there destructive habits? If so, what are they? 5 What are the characteristics of bad habits of enjoyment? 6. What bad habits and activities do some people engage in for enjoyment?

11. What I was in the past and what I am today

This is an activity about understanding one’s growth


Curriculum Concern: Health science/ when you want to discuss our growth.

Concepts:

1. Importance of understanding the pattern of one’s growth. 2. Constant positive change indicates constant growth.

Objectives:

Helping to understand the pattern of one’s growth.

Materials:

A piece of paper and a pen for each participant

Activity:

Step 1. Preparatory Discussion Discuss the significance of growth in our life. Key points:

1. Life is a continuous growth process. 2. We grow physically, intellectually and socially. 3. Growth means change in a positive direction. As we grow so do our old

habits, values, attitudes, interest, beliefs, and perspectives..

Step 2. Individuals Assignment

Compare your present characteristics with those of the past.

Identity five important changes that have taken place during the past three years. Write them down on paper.

An example: In the past I had been talkative at home, and in the company of friends. Now I am not so talkative. I try to speak with more sense and circumspection.

Think Positively 81

Step 3. Interviewing

Divide the class into groups of eight. Let each group sit in a circle. A member is nominated as interviewer.

He/she interviews group members one by one, using the following guide. Others listen attentively.

Interview Guide

l What is the most significant change you have had during the past three years?

l Explain how it happened.

l What factors have affected that change?

l What is the pattern of change that you observe in your life? (Put the guide on the blackboard)

Step 4.

Once group interviews are over children come out and walk freely in the room. Whenever one meets another, one stops him/her and enquires about the change

Discussion: Guide - Questions and Instructions

1. Raise hands, those who feel the activity was useful to them. 2. What is the most important thing you have learnt from the activity? 3. What were the common changes in the group? 4. What factors affect positive changes in people?

12. Playing great characters

This is an activity about valuing great characters


Curriculum Concern: History/Literature/ when you want to appreciate great characters in the text.

Activity:

Step 1.

The children form triads and stand apart keeping enough space from other groups so as not to be overhead or disturbed. Members in each triad nominate one as the chosen character and the other two as interviewers. The character imagines himself/herself to be a great person such as a social worker, philanthropist, nature lover, peacemaker, kind doctor, etc. and speaks in the manner of that imagined character.


The interviewers put various questions to the imagined character who responds with his or her noble qualities. They question his work, motives, attitudes, visions, etc. The purpose of the activity is to help understand noble minds.

Step 2.

After the interview they admire the character. The role-plays continue in the groups until everyone has finished.

Discussion :

Discuss and identify common characteristics of great helpers of mankind.

Introduce a life story of such a historical character, so as to arouse interest to read about them. Examples: Florence Nightingale, Abraham Lincoln, King Ashoka.

13. Facing challenges of life positively

This is an activity about facing difficult situations with a positive mind.

Level: Upper secondary

Curriculum Concern: History/ Literature when you are discussing an unfortunate situation with a person, or people faced.

Concept: Facing life with positive mind/ being unshaken by what happens to us.

Objectives: Enabling to be positive in mind in face of challenges.

Activity

Provide the class with a seemingly unfortunate situation from history or literature.

Example: the Jewish prisoners in the Nazi concentration camps. Tell students: Imagine that you were a Jew. Hitler’s soldiers arrested you and put you into the camp. Conditions are appalling. Prisoners are mentally broken down by depressive thoughts. You could be killed at any moment. You decide to live the few days left without mentally breaking down. You determine to live completely with a positive perception. Prepare a self-guide with at least six instructions to live positively in that condition.

Make groups of six. Let students discuss in groups and present the self-guide they prepared for the class.

Discussion. Guide questions:

l What were your initial thoughts? l When you identified a positive way how did you feel? l How do you define the strength of character‘? l What did you learn from the activity?

Think Positively 83

l Find out people who faced the challenges of life with positive minds,

14. What if?

This is an activity seeing the brighter side of distressful events of life.

Level: Secondary

Curriculum concern: Guidance/When you are discussing character building Make a list of five seemingly negative things that might happen to you. For example:

l Not being able to enter university l Getting a job in a remote rural area l Not getting a job l Having to work under a rude boss

Group the class and give one topic in the list to each group. Ask them to discover the best they can do under the given condition. On completion they present their lists to the class. Discussion: (As in the above activity).

15. Lost Friends

This is an activity about affirmation.


Curriculum concern: Language/ when you want to improve skills in speech

Objectives:

1. Improving skills in affirmation 2 Fun 3. Valuing people

Activity:

Divide the class into groups of twelve and let each group sit in a circle.

The group selects 2 members-one to play the role of a police officer and the other to play the role of an informant about a lost friend.

The informant selects a friend from the group in her mind and informs the police officer that he / she is lost. But the informant does not give his friend’s name. When questioned, all that he recounts are is his friend’s good qualities and skills.

By listening to the positive description the police officer has to guess her friend and pick her. He has three chances, failing which he should resign and give his place to another member in the group. The activity continues for several rounds.


Discussion: Guide - questions

1. Did you enjoy the activity? Why? 2. Did you learn anything out of it? If so, what is it? 3. (From informants) Did you find it easy to describe your friend by his

positive qualities? 4. (From lost friends) When the informant described you in such positive terms

how did you feel ? 5. How are you going to use what you have learnt from this activity?

Period from . _.. to . . . . . . Teacher’s Self-Evaluation: Core Value: Think Positively

behaviours attempted D develop

1. Positive attitude to self and others

2. Affirmation, e.g. appreciation, encouragement, greeting

3.Positive attitudes to work

4. Positive attitudes to learning

5. Positive future orientation

Total Frequency

T- .anguage Studies

F F

F F

F F

F F

F F

F F

Social

F F

F F

F F

F F

F F

F F

.eligiou! Edu-

cation

F F

F F

F F

F F

F F

F F

Physical

F F

F F

F F

F F

F F

F F

Media of Integration

Arts

F F

F F

F F

F F

F F

F F

Science

F F

F F

F F

F F

F F

F F

co. Activity

Class Mgt.

Teaching Method

Subject Perspect

ive

Effect on Children’s Positive

Very Effective

Marking J: = Discussed X = Discussed with Activities F = Frequency

Comments... .._ __. . .__ _.. . . . . . . .., .._ . . . .,_ _.. . . . .._ .

Suggestions for professional development... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Suggestions for the improvement of the Guide.. . _. . . ._. _. . _. . . . . . . ._ __. . . . X = Discussed with Activities F = Frequency

Comments. . .

ange

Effective Not so Zffective

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11

BE COMPASSIONATE AND DO NO HARM

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As a mother loves her one and only child, so shall you love the whole humanity.

The Buddha

Objectives

l Responds to human problems with compassion l Practises meditation and prayers on compassion 0 Values non-violence l Argues for abstaining from all types of violent behaviour l Expresses feelings of empathy and warmth when others share their grievances l Is kind to animals 0 Listens attentively l Describes the benefits of forgiving

Core Values

l Non-violence l Kindness l Empathy l Equanimity

Content

Understanding the concept Non-violence Kindness Empathy Equanimity Concluding thoughts Classroom practices Hints for peace culture-building in school.

Learning Activities

1. Meditation on compassion


2. Meditation on caring 3. Reading faces 4. Touch talk 5. Master pupil drawing 6. An animal I love 7. A mother bird’s cry 8. Benefits of being compassionate 9. Attentive listening 10. Forgiving 11. Empathetic listening


Compassion, in simple terms refers to that quality which encompasses non- violence, kindness, empathy and equanimity in the highest and purest form. It takes people out of their pursuit of egoistic interests and opens their eyes to the realities of the suffering of others around them. It is the essence of being human.

Every religion teaches us to be compassionate and take it as the supreme guiding principle in life. It drives man to be kind, helpful, and caring towards all. Let us have a closer look at the basic five forms of compassion mentioned above.

Non-Violence

Non-violence is an integral active quality in compassionate living. It means to abstain from all violent acts and motives. In a conflict to be non-violent does not mean that you submit yourself to unjust causes. There are many civilized and democratic ways of struggling against unjust causes. Mahatma Gandhi demonstrated the power of non-violent action in his struggle for freedom from the British Empire. He said that only cowards take arms. Non-violent activists derive their power from truth, justice, inner conviction and compassion. Consider the following principles

non-violence:

0 ‘Hatred cannot be conquered by hatred. Hatred can only be conquered by compassion ‘. (Lord Buddha)

o ‘If somebody slaps you on the left cheek turn your right cheek also’ (Jesus Christ.)

o ‘I respond to those who do good to me by goodness. I also respond to those who do evil to me by goodness ‘. (Lao Tzu)

o If someone lives a ltfe of non-violence, he need not perform other religious acts because non-violent living itself is the highestform of being religious. (Thirukkural, The Tamil Instructional Book of Poetry).

‘There is no such powerful weapon than Compassion’ (Mahatma Gandhi)

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Be Compassionate and Do No Harm 89

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Kindness

This is the state of mind that motivates a person to help and serve those who suffer. Kindness transcends the ego that seeks reward, profit and benefits in return. You can be kind in all your responses to other people by the way you think, talk and behave.

Kindness naturally extends to animals as well. Children learn their first lesson of kindness, by being kind to animals. When children learn not to kill animals, they also learn not to kill human beings. One who cannot kill an ant also cannot kill a man. Kindness to animals is gradually eroding away from the modern mentality of man. Consider how cruelly animals are treated in laboratories, farms, and slaughterhouses. The figures show in 1980 nearly 70 million animals have been killed for research purposes only in laboratories. Dr. Bennett Derby, an eminent neurologist, says that 90 per cent of animal experiments are repetitive and inadequate. Every religion teaches kindness to .animals.

“There is no beast on earth nor bird whichflieth with its wings but the same is a people like unto you... all Gods ’ creatures are His family ”

Prophet Mohammad

He, who injures harmless,beings from a wish to give himselfpleasure, never finds happiness, neither living nor dead. He who does not seek to cause the suffering of bonds and death to living creatures, but desireth the good of all obtains eternal bliss.

Manu (Hindu Moral Code)

Empathy

Empathy is an affective response of concern and tenderness to the joys and suffering in others. With empathy you share the other person’s feelings and experience it as if you have entered into that person’s inner world. Though in psychology it is used in a technical sense here we can use it in a general and practical sense, to mean being sensitive, friendly, warm and caring.

Like compassion empathy encapsulates feelings not only for the fellow human beings but also for animals and natural environment. Such qualities are necessary for the survival of the human species. The present dehumanizing social forces destroy empathy in man. It is slowly replaced by egoism, individualism, selfishness and ruthless competitiveness. This important human response has to be protected and developed as a part of upbringing and education of children. Children inherit empathy intrinsically in abundance. Peace education provides experiences in empathy so that children can awaken to their own true nature. The traditional curriculum has very little place for developing empathy.

C


Equanimity

Equanimity means maintaining a detached sense of calmness in mind and temper, in face of stressful and provocative situations in life. It also includes being large hearted and forgiving.

The most effective way of fostering compassion in children is to provide opportunities to experience it through action. Such actions are.

l Understanding (others) l Feeling (for) l Providing support/helping/serving l Tolerating l Expressing warmth * Loving 0 Caring/consoling/counselling/comforting 0 Listening l Respecting l Giving l Being friendly

The theme aims at developing these types of behaviour in children in such a way that they could be observed in their daily interactions with others.

Intended Outcome

1. Non-violent living l Abstaining from all types of harmful behaviour l Resolving conflict non-violently

2. Being kind l Understanding and being concerned of others’ needs and feelings l Feeling for others l Helping l Behaving courteously 0 Caring l Listening attentively to others’ problems

3. Empathetic l Friendly behaviour l Pleasant speech and manners l Tolerance l Being genuine l Expressing honest appreciation, congratulations and gratitude l Healthy social interactions

Be Compassionate end Do No Harm 91

4. Being equanimous l Maintaining temper and calmness of mind l Tolerance l Accommodating l Mature of behaviour in face of challenging situations

Classroom Practices

Social studies/ languages

l When you discuss various human situations found in history, geography, literature describe them through compassionate perspectives.

l Narrate stories, which highlight acts of compassion.

Arts

l Select topics or themes that build compassion, e.g.: Draw your family in a form of animal family you like most.

Religion

l Introduce meditations and prayers that evoke compassion.

Environmental studies/ science

l Help students to love animals, birds, plants and natural environment, rather than treating them as things to be exploited by man.

Hints for peace culture-building in schools

1.

2.

3. 4. 5.

6.

7.

Respect students’ friendship. Facilitate them in appropriate ways such as allowing friends to sit together. Encourage students to organize birthday celebrations, class get-together parties and entertainment activities. However they should be conducted in a simple and inexpensive manner in line with the school tradition. Such social events create a happy atmosphere in the classroom. Promote courteous behaviour in the classroom and school, e.g. greeting, thanking, decent conduct, self- discipline, pleasant words, etc. Encourage students to organize welfare activities for themselves. Provide opportunities for group interaction in the course of subject learning. Respect and encourage honest expression of students’ opinions, needs and feelings. Integrate aesthetic activities, like singing, role-plays, playlets into lessons to ensure that learning will be fun. Organize community development projects, e.g. building a house for a poor family, cleaning the village well, planting trees in the village, organizing a medical clinic for the villagers.

8. Organize religious talks on compassion in school.


LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Be compassionate and do no harm

2.1. Meditation on Compassion

This is an activity that awakens compassion


Curriculum concern: Religion/ when you want to create deep feeling for mankind

Objectives: 1. Developing compassionate feelings for oneself and others 2. Experiencing inner joy of compassion

Step 1: Suggest

l Sit silently and let your body relax. Be perfectly still and composed

0 Close your eyes

l Feel easy

l Let your mind calm down

When your mind is well-composed and silent, wish “May I be happy”, “May I be healthy”, “May I be free from suffering”. As you repeat the wishes mentally, develop love towards yourself. Imagine you are being healed.

Step 2: Now think of your parents and loved ones and wish in the same way: “May they be happy”, “May they be healthy “, “May they be free from suffering.” As you repeat the wishes mentally, develop love towards them. Imag- ine that your love heals them and they become happier and healthier.

Step 3: Extend your compassion towards all beings on earth and wish “ May all beings be happy”, “May all beings be healthy”, “May all beings be free from suffering “, “Let no one hate another,” Let no one frighten or threaten another,” “May all live in harmony and peace.” As you repeat the wishes mentally, imagine and feel that your compassion extend towards all and it brings peace on earth.

/

2.2. Meditation on Caring

(Adapted from Buddhist meditations)

This is an activity that cultivates the feeling of caring and love for people.


Curriculum concern: Religion/ Environmental studies/ during a discussion on morality


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Objectives: 1. Develops compassionate feelings for others 2. Experiences the feelings involved in caring for people.

Step 1: Sit silently and let your body relax. Be perfectly still and composed

Close your eyes Feel easy Let your mind calm down

Step 2:

Think of someone who cares for you. How do you feel being cared for by him or her? Feel within your heart that person’s feelings when s/he is caring for you. Now in return you imagine that you are caring for that person, enjoy your feelings of love and kindness towards him or her.

Imagine you care for more people. In what ways do you care for them? Think of various ways of caring for others in various situations. Send your caring waves to them.

Step 3. Discussion.

Discuss with the class the meaning of caring under various situations where people need caring, e.g. caring roles at home, caring in the classroom, caring for a friend with a problem, caring for a sick family member.

Ask students to complete the following sentences one by one according to their genuine feelings (without repeating what others have said)

* When someone is caring for me I feel...... * When I really care for someone I feel.. . . . . . * I care.. . . . . . . . . . . * I wish.. . . . . . . . . .

2.3. Reading Faces

This is an activity about sensing others’ feelings

Level: Lower Secondary

Curriculum concern: Language/ when you want students to do a creative writing activity.

Objectives: Developing empathy

Materials: Collection of photos of faces from paper cuts. The faces should reflect different feelings.


Activity:

Divide the class into groups of six. Give one photo to each group and ask them to watch it silently trying to read the feelings and the character. Exercise. 1. Write out the person’s feelings as if you are that person.

2. Act out in the class the feelings by the groups.

Discussion Guide questions:

l Why is it important to understand others’ feelings? l How do we read a person’s feelings?

2.4. Tolrch Talk

This is an activity about reflecting how we understand others’ messages.


Curriculum concern: Language/ when you want to discuss the basics of communication

Objective:

Activity:

1. Understanding the barriers to communication. 2. Fun

The children move around freely in the room. At a signal they stop forming pairs with whomever they happen to be near. They hold hands, palm to palm as in the manner of hand shaking. They remain silent and quiet for two minutes and try to read each others’ mind.. At the second signal they close their eyes and try to communicate messages with each other by touching palms. Talking is not allowed. They can select messages such as:

- Let’s be friends - Let’s go for a walk - You are a nice guy.

A puts across a message to B by touching his/her palm in certain ways. Two minutes are given for A. B has to understand silently what A is telling him/her through the touch. Then the roles are reversed. When the time given is over, they ask each other what were the messages received and check out. At the next signal the pairs disperse and form new pairs to continue the activity. At least one has to do it with five partners, the hand talk at least with five partners.

Discussion: Guide - questions

l What types of messages did you try to communicate?

l Hands up those who could understand at least one message correctly?

l What kind of attention is necessary to understand others’ messages?


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l What are the other means of communication, other than speaking? l Do people always receive messages exactly the same way as we send them?

l What are the factors that cause misinterpretation or distortion of messages?

l What did you learn about communication from this activity?

l How are you going to use them in your daily communication with others?

2.5. Master-Pupil Drawings

This is an activity about learning the effectiveness of two-way communication.

Level: Secondary

Curriculum concern: Drawing/when you want to help children learn communication.

Objective: 1. Understanding that others do not always understand what we say in the same way we mean.

2. Being aware of one’s own ability in communicating.

3. Proving the effectiveness of two-way communication over one way communication.

Materials: Three half sheets per each pair of children.

Activity: Step 1.

Let children get into pairs and sit facing one another keeping their desks face to face. One child assumes to be A and the other B.

A draws a picture (e.g. a house, a tree, an imaginary beast, a village) without showing it to B. Having drawn, A explains his picture to B who tries to reproduce it while listening. No one is allowed to show or see the other one’s drawing.

B should draw the picture silently. Questioning or requesting for more details is not allowed. On completion, B writes on it ‘Pupil’s first attempt’ and keeps it, on the desk upside down.

Step 2

On the next round, B has to draw the picture again. A describes his picture again for B to listen and draw. They shouldn’t show their pictures to each other while describing or drawing. However this time B is allowed to ask questions for further clarification. When B has completed the drawing, he /she name it ‘Pupil’s second attempt.’ A writes on his drawing ‘Master picture’. On the completion of B’s picture, they are allowed to see each other’s pictures and compare them.

All pairs arrange their picture sets for a class exhibition. Master pictures should be kept with the ‘Pupil’s pictures’. Children compare the similarities and the differences between the master pictures and pupils’ first attempts and second attempts.

Learning the Way of Peace 96

Discussion: Guide Questions

1. Did you enjoy doing this activity? Give reasons for your judgement.

2. 3.

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4.

5.

6.

7.

Which pupil’s picture has come closer to the master’s picture? Out of the pictures of the first attempts and the second attempts which attempts are generally more similar to the master’s pictures? (There is a high probability for the pupil’s second attempt pictures to be more similar to the master’s pictures, because in the second attempt the pupil could ask questions for clarifications. This proves that two-way communication is more effective than one-way communication.) Identify pairs whose pictures show a significant difference. Interview them to find out the reasons for such a difference. What types of communication problems did they have? Identify a few pairs whose pictures are similar. Find out the causes for the similarity. How do we explain something to others in a manner they really understand? Why can’t we understand some people’s explanations? What did you learn by this activity? (Write down children’s learning experiences on the board and express appreciation)

8. How are you going to apply what you have learnt just now?

2.6. An Animal I Love Most

This is an activity about developing kindness to animals

Level: Primary

Curriculum concern: Language / when you want to do creative writing

Objective: Developing kind attitudes to creatures.

Activity

Step 1: Point out creatures that have interesting characteristics from which we can learn, e.g.

l A cat likes to be clean. l A dog is faithful to his master. l A cow has maternal qualities. Get more examples from the class and list them on the board

Step 2:

Tell the students to select the creature they love most and write an ode (an appreciative poem/essay/ letter expressing noble feelings). On completion let them read it to the class for appreciation.


Discussion: Guide Questions:

l Did you enjoy writing it? l How can we abstain from harming animals, birds and other creatures?

2.7. A Mother Bird’s Cry

This is an activity about abstaining from harming creatures. Level: Primary

Curriculum concern: Religion/ Language/ When you want to give a topic for creative writing

Objectives: Creative writing skill Empathy

Activity

Stepl: Discuss cruel acts some children do to creatures, e.g:

l Destroying birds’ nests l Throwing stones at birds l Hurting cats and dogs at home l Killing innocent serpents

Step 2: Ask the students to imagine the following event.

There is a parrot’s nest in a tree in the schoolyard A group of children come under the tree and throw stonesforfun aiming at the nest. The mother bird is frightened and sad at the cruelty of these children.

Write an appeal by the mother bird to children not to hurt her babies.

Discussion: Appreciation

l How did you feel while writing the essay? l What did you really learn from the lesson? l How can we help birds? l Suppose all the birds become extinct. How would you feel living in a world

where there are no birds?

2.8. Benefits of Being Compassionate

This is an activity about understanding compassion.

Level : Secondary

Curriculum concern: Religion/when you discuss the violence in society.

Objective: Valuing compassion


Activity

Step 1.

Write the word “Compassion” on the board. Ask students: What thoughts and feelings come to your mind when you hear the word? Ask each student to come to the board and write it down.

Step 2:

Explore compassionate behaviour as much as possible with the participation of students. List them down. Discuss the nature of being compassionate on the basis of the identified behaviours.

Step 3.

Ask students to work in groups and identify at least ten personal benefits and results of being compassionate.

e.g. * People begin to like you. * You will get more friends.

On completion of the work let groups present their findings. You prepare the list on the board leaving out repetitions.

Discussion:

l How does a mother practise compassion to her children? l Tell us some compassionate acts you have seen in people. l How are you going to practise compassion in your daily life?

2.9. Attentive Listening

This is an activity about improving listening skills.

Level: Secondary

Curriculum concern; Language/ Listening

Objective :l. Understanding the need for improving their skill in listening 2. Identifying wrong listening practices and getting rid of them.

Activity: Step 1. Explain:

1. Listening is as important as speaking. 2. Just as speaking, one has to learn and improve listening. 3. Let us learn to listen to others attentively.

Step 2

Ask the children about bad listening practices they have observed or experienced. List their responses on the blackboard, e.g.


l Listening inattentively and carelessly. l Changing the topic of speech, before the other person finishes what he /

she has to. l Making use of the topic to boast about oneself / to relate one’s own

experiences. Step 3

The purpose of this activity is to let children experience being listened to them non-attentively. They form pairs. In each pair one is named A and the other B. A speaks for 3 minutes on one topic selected from the following list.

l A problem I have in school. l A game I like most. l A happy incident in my life.

While A is speaking, B should listen to him/her non-attentively. After A has finished, B takes the role of the speaker. A listens non-attentively.

Step 4.

This time they take another topic in the list and one speaks while the other listens attentively. After 3 minutes roles are exchanged.

Discussion : Guide questions.

1. Tell us the most important thing you have learnt from these listening exercises.

2. How did you feel when you were not properly listened to?

3. How did you feel when you were properly listened to?

4. What are the factors that lead people to listen non-attentively or carelessly to others? (e.g. thinking about something, and listening, selfishness, talking in an uninteresting manner)

5. What are the ways by which you can draw the attention of the listener? How can we speak interestingly?

Note: This activity can be repeated using other wrong listening methods such as changing the topic abruptly, making use of the topic to boast about oneself, etc.

2.10. Forgiving

This is an activity about forgiving.

Level : Secondary

Curriculum concern: Religion/when you discuss reconciliation after a conflict in the class

Objective: Valuing forgiving


Activity

Step 1:

Draw the attention of the class to the importance of forgiving. Explain the meaning of the word. Ask students to give several examples for it.

Step 2.

Give the following case study

Pala called Ashok a nickname and everybody laughed at it heartily. Ashok became so angry he walked directly up to Pala and assaulted him. They began fighting. Luckily others came and stopped the fight. Though several days have passed, Ashok is still angry. His angry thoughts suggest that he should assault Pala again.

Invite several students to come forward and role-play Ashok in his anger. Each one has to express his angry thoughts.

Based on the role-play, conduct a discussion on keeping anger in mind without resolving it. Use the following chart on the board to identify the consequences Explore the benefits of not forgiving and forgiving.

Benefits of not forgiving Benefits of forgiving

1. 1. 2. 2. 3. 3.

Discussion: Guide Questions.

1. What is pur discovery? 2. Why could we not identify the good reason for not forgiving? 3. What is our conclusion?

Step 3.

Invite the same students to role-play the changed Ashok’s attitudes. (Suppose that he changes his mind to forgive Pala and rebuild the friendship) Appreciate the new aspects brought up in role-plays.

2.11. Empathetic Listening

This is an activity developing empathetic listening.

Level: Lower secondary

Ee Compassiona& crnd Do No Harm 101

Objectives:

1. Experiencing of being listened to with empathy by another person

2. Understanding the importance of listening with empathy to others.

Activity: Q

Step 1

The class is divided into groups of three. Each group sits keeping enough distance from other groups so as not to be disturbed.

Write the topic “A sad incident in my life” on the blackboard. Ask each one in the group to describe a sad incident that he or she has experienced. The other two should listen to the speaker with empathetic feelings, i.e. with friendly and caring feelings.

After the incident is related, each listener should express his or her honest feelings experienced while listening to the speaker.

Example: Suppose the speaker says how he/she felt when their house was burgled. Having listened to him each one in the group has to feed back her or his empathetic feelings to the speaker, e.g. “We were shocked to hear what happened to your family! We can understand how sad it had been to all of you. At the same time we appreciate your courage in bearing it out.” They have to invent new phrases.

Then the second one starts to relate his incident. The activity continues until everyone in the group has finished telling his story followed by empathetic feedback.


l How did you feel when you saw that the others were listening to you caringly and attentively?

l Could your friends really understand your feelings? l How did you feel when others were expressing their feelings to you? l What did you learn from the experience?

Go to the next page for the evaluation sheet.

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Period from _. _. _. to _. _. _. . Teacher’s Self-Evaluation: Core Value: Be Compassionate and Do No Harm

Media of Integration Effect on Children’s Positive Change

3ehaviours attempted Subject

o develop Language Social Religion Physical Arts Science co. Class Teaching Perspect- Very Effective Not so

Studies Edu- Activity Mgt. Method ive Effective Effective cation

I .Non-violent F F F F F F living F F F F F F

2. Being kind F F F F F F F F F F F F

3. Being empathetic F F F F F F F F F F F F

4. Maintains temper F F F F F F and calmness in F F F F F F mind

Total Frequency

Marking 0 = Discussed J = Discussed with Activities F = Frequency

Comments... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _._ ._. ._. ___ . . . . . . . .

Suggestions for professional development... .__ . . . . . . . .._ . . . . .__ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __. .._ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Suggestions for the improvement of the Guide.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _. . ._ .._ _. . . . . . . . .

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12

DISCOVER INNER PEACE

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.

Helen Keller

Objectives

l Discipline in mind l Discipline in physical behaviour a Discipline in speech l Increased awareness in action l Contented living

Core Values

l Resolution of inner conflict l Self-knowledge l Spiritual needs l Meditation

Content

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Understanding the concept Peace as resolution of inner conflict Self-knowledge Children’s spiritual needs Meditation as a classroom practice Imagination in children Practising awareness Types of meditation for children Intended outcome Hints for peace culture

Learning Activities

1. Walking meditation 2. Watching with silent mind

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3. Learning to relax 4. Experiencing inner peace 5. Letting go 6. Instant peace of mind 7. Meditation on the present moment 8. Meditation on goodness 9. Meditation on sharing 10. Meditation on being awake


The statement in the preamble of the UNESCO’s Constitution, “Since war begins in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be created” provides a guiding principle for this theme. Learning to Be means to learn to live peacefully with oneself. Peace can be experienced within ourselves. Inner peace arises out of intrinsic inner richnesses such as compassion, spiritual joy and wisdom. Here we have to understand the significance of beingness. It is the state of mind where a person experiences the joy of wholesome living.

Peace as Resolution of Inner Conflict

At the superficial level of mind, inner peace can be experienced through resolution of psychological conflict. As we know conflicts can be either external or internal. In fact most of our conflicts are internal, i.e within ourselves. According to Sigmund Freud, our mind is a battlefield where the life instinct is in conflict with the death instinct and in the clashes with super consciousness and so on. Various psychologists have described the nature of inner conflict.

For instance, Curt Luwin showed that we have three basic types of inner conflicts.

They are:.

1. Approach - approach conflict

In this type of conflict a person is caught in between two equally attractive objectives out of which he can select only one. An example would be the choice between two equally attractive jobs.

2. Avoidance - avoidance conflict

Here the person tries to avoid two equally undesirable objectives where he is forced by circumstances to select one other than selecting one. Say that a person gets two jobs. which are equally unattractive. But under the circumstances he is pressed to select one.

Discover Inner Peace 105

3. Approach -negative conflict:

In this type a person is both attracted and repulsed by the same objective. He wants something for a certain reason and at the same time he does not want it for some other reason..

Erik Erickson .postulates that man’s psychological growth results from the healthy resolution of inner conflicts. According to him in each growth stage man is confronted with a basic psychological conflict. Inability to resolve that inner conflict blocks his further growth and even leads to pervasive behaviour. This is has been proved by the studies on many criminals and terrorists. Some of them had been led to adopt violent ways of life as a result of the inability to resolve their inner conflicts such as deep hurts experienced during childhood. It is evident that a person who is unable to live with himself in peace cannot live in peace with others. How can we help children to resolve their inner conflicts?

Self-Knowledge

To resolve one’s inner problems first of all one has to learn to look within and observe how the mind works. The problems distressing the mind have to be perceived. and understood. The more you understand yourself the more you mature psychologically. Helping children to look within and understand the self is an important life skill. The gravity of this need in education is evident by the kind of immature acts people commit throughout the world. Much disruptive behaviour of people arise out of their unresolved deep inner conflicts. Obviously one who cannot live in peace with oneself cannot live in peace with others.

Children’s Spiritual Needs

This theme addresses children’s spiritual needs. By spirituality we do not mean here being religious in the conventional sense. Peace in one’s life arises from the deep human spirit that underlies all faiths. Peace education deals with the depth of the human mind. Touching the seat of spirituality is necessary. Here by spirituality we mean that essence rooted in man, which seeks for fulfilment through expressing and experiencing goodness in the highest degree. It drives us to do good, be kind, search for the true meaning and values lying deep within us. The present education has failed even to recognize children’s basic needs.

Children’s spiritual needs are delicate and strong. They want to experience joy, beauty, love, warmth, kindness and wonder. They want to feel good. Education should cater for these children’s spiritual needs. Depriving them of such needs surely withholds the blooming of their wholesome personalities.

Inner peace is not only resolution of psychological conflicts. All religions teach that there is still deep peace within us. As a matter of fact all of us know that when the mind calms down a serene feeling of joy and peace begins to unfold within us. One of the effective ways of realizing the peace within is meditation as taught


in all religions. However here we take it not as religious practice, attached to any particular belief system but as an open mental activity. The research findings show that meditation develops mental sanity, releases stress and improves creativity and insight. A meditation may be either tranquillizing or insight-producing. One can practise tranquillizing meditation by sitting still and concentrating on breathing in and out. As the mind settles down in concentration an intense sense of peace begins to unravel. Insight meditation awakens wisdom within us. All meditations are exercises in developing awareness and calmness in the mind. Disorderly behaviour of children is mostly caused by restlessness and confusion within them. It is expressed in forms of aggression as quarrelling, disturbing others, noise and bullying. With some it is expressed through withdrawal behaviours like disinterest in participation, apathy and indifference in learning However, when children begin to unravel peace, joy and contentment within them, naturally it is reflected in the behavioural pattern in the form of increased self-discipline, joyfulness, creativity and genuineness. It also leads to effective learning because of the awakened sense of wonder, enthusiasm and liveliness.

Meditation as a Classroom Practice

Stephanie Herzog, an American teacher who experimented in adopting meditation as a classroom practice has recorded her experiences in a book entitled Joy in the Classroom. She relates how children’s imagination, listening, learning and the whole classroom atmosphere changed positively as children improved their meditation. She says;

‘Meditation is a technique in getting in touch with our own inner wisdom. Most children grow up without ever discovering that there is a source of wisdom and strength and love inside themselves. They look to their parents for these qualities but often parents are lacking in these qualities in themselves ’ (Page 5)

She reports:

;Ifter using meditation in classes, I began to notice a definite change in the students ’ ability to be self-disciplined, self-motivating and responsible. I don ‘t think the children in my classes were conscious that they were gaining these qualities and it was not an intention of mine to accomplish this through this meditation. It all just happened naturally. ’

It should be stressed here that meditation in this context are simple activities of being still, inwardly appreciating deep positive feelings such as love and serenity, experiencing the beauty of Nature and goodness within. For instance, the meditation Stephanie used included five steps:

l Getting in touch with one’s own self and relaxing l Deep breathing to change and get control of emotions


l Concentration of mind. l Expansion of mind with imagination and intuition. l And grounding the new-founded high-level awareness into a productive

activity.

Imagination in Children

This theme can accommodate children’s faculty of imagination as well. As we know, children are gifted with high imaginative power. As they grow up, unfortunately most of them lose this important capacity. One of the secrets of successful persons’ is their retained capacity for imagination. Scientists, artists, businessmen, engineers, architects and all others need it. Creativity comes from imagination.

However there are people who despise imagination in children. They will tell you that imagination is unrealistic and leading to self-illusion and such kind of stuff. According to them children should be exposed to realities of life and society. Their imagination should be discouraged. Unfortunately many traditional schools take this attitude. As a result they ignore children’s imagination and do not provide opportunities except in a few instances. Taking away, children’s imaginations would be depriving them from the joy of being children. Such suppression will surely weaken their spirit of playfulness, curiosity to know, to experiment, and to create. Because children’s many active drives are generating from their imaginations. When their healthy imaginations are suppressed it may find other less healthy ways or moods of expression such as daydreaming, self-enclosure, passivity and negative or antisocial behaviours.

Self-image is also a construct of imagination. It is how one imagines one’s own self. Once a self-image is built, the person tries to live up to it whether it is negative or positive. Teachers have to help children to build positive self-images, not only by right appraisals but also by encouraging, providing stimulation and opportunities to express themselves.

Through meditations, soul appealing and meaningful imaginary experiences could be evoked in children using their natural sense of wonder, curiosity and beauty. Meditation in the conventional sense is an act of awakening to reality or truth. But children have come to reality walking through their veil of imagination. For them it is the stepping-stone to attain reality. Various forms of meditation for children could be developed to use in the classroom as educational tools.

Practising Awareness

Meditation in true sense is an act of establishing awareness, i.e. being aware. The synonyms for awareness are being alert, mindful, attentive, etc. It is basically a survival life skill. Take for instance, the function of awareness in an act of crossing a busy road. A moment lost of it may take away one’s life. Thus awareness is a basic function of intelligence. Children have to be trained in being aware of dangers


in their surroundings. Be it home, school, playground or road. Awareness brings self-control, composure, and sharpening of attention.

The second level of awareness is being mindful of the movement of the body, i.e. how you walk, sit, eat, etc. It develops one’s sensitiveness towards the body.

The third level is being mindful of the activity of the mind, That is when you are angry know that you are angry, when you are confused know that you are confused, This is a subtle level of awareness. Awareness helps us to overcome an inherent weakness of the human mind. We are inclined to be carried away by our own desire, anger and illusion. Most of the inner conflicts arise out of the lack of self-understanding.

Types of Meditations for Children:

0 Take the class out to an open air or a quiet place. Let them sit quietly and listen to the sounds in the environment. This helps to develop awareness towards the surroundings. Making children sit quietly and to repeat in mind “I am a peaceful soul.” Watching a tree with a silent mind. Sitting quietly and concentrating on breathing in and out. Looking at a flower and concentrating the mind on it. Imagining a beautiful natural scene. Imagining a trip in a strange land or garden. Sitting quietly and experiencing the feeling of a noble human quality, such as kindness, and joy.

Apart from experiencing inner calm and beauty of imagination, meditation opens the door to understanding one’s own thought process. It is this self-knowledge that brings emotional maturity in us. As educators we have to find effective methods of helping children to understand themselves better.

Intended Behaviour

Discipline in mind

0 Control of emotion l Enjoying being calm l Tolerance 0 Self-management

Discipline in physical behaviour

l Correct body postures 0 Calm manners l Reduction of boisterous behaviour and over activeness

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Discipline in speech

l Abstaining from trivial and meaningless speech l Increased listening l Pleasant words l Soft speech

Increased awareness in action

l Mindful behaviour 0 Precociousness l Realistic orientation

Con ten ted Living

l Joyfulness 0 Contentment 0 Simplicity l Enjoying beingness in life

Hints for peace culture-building in schools

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Respect students’ friendship. Facilitate them in appropriate ways such as allowing friends to sit together. Encourage students to organize birthday celebrations, class get-together parties and entertainment activities. However they should be conducted in a simple and inexpensive manner in line with the school tradition. Such socializing events create a happy and pleasant atmosphere in the classroom.

Promote courteous behaviour in the classroom and school, e.g. greeting, thanking, decent conduct, self-discipline, pleasant words, etc.

Encourage students to organize welfare activities for themselves.

Provide opportunities for group interaction in the course of subject learning.

Respect and encourage honest expression of students’ opinions, needs and feelings.

Integrate aesthetic activities, like singing, role-plays, playlets into lessons so that learning will be fun.

Tell stories that bring insight and wisdom.

As a teacher be sensitive to the level of happiness in the class. If it is low bring back happiness through humour, playing active games and other means.

Organize community development projects, e.g. building a house for a poor family, cleaning the village well, planting trees in the village, organizing a medical clinic for the villagers.

.O. Organize religious talks on inner peace in school.

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LEARNING ACTIVITIES


1. Walking Meditation

This is an activity about awareness, attention and soothing the mind

Level: Upper primary and secondary.

Curriculum concern: Religion/ when you want to do a stress-releasing exercise.

Objectives: 1. Learning the art of soothing the mind. 2. Learning to live with awareness and attention 3. Expanding consciousness 4. Experiencing inner joy of peace

Activity:

Take children out to an undisturbed place and let them walk up and down freely keeping a distance from others. Tell them:

1. Do not talk or look at others. 2. Feel you are alone by yourself. 3. Relax and be quiet and serene in mind. 4. Walk very slowly. (5 minutes)

Instruct: As you walk be completely aware of all your body movements. For instance: As you lift your foot in walking be aware that you .are lifting the foot, when keeping the foot be aware that you are keeping the foot on the ground and so on. As you are moving forward, be aware that you are moving forward. In this manner be aware of all your body movements however subtle they are. (10 minutes)

Discussion - Guide Questions

* Did you learn anything from the activity? * What do you we mean by being aware? * Did this walking make your mind quiet? * What are the uses of being mindful and collected?

(Try this walking meditation whenever you can and see it helps you to develop awareness.)

2. Watching with Silent Mind

This is an activity about awareness, attention and soothing the mind

Level: Upper primary and secondary.


Curriculum concern: Religion/ when you want to do a stress-releasing exercise

Objectives:

1. Developing a spiritual relationship with nature,

2. Learning to observe with silent mind.

Activity:

Step 1.

Take the children out to a silent natural surrounding and ask them to select an object of nature such as a tree, plant, or part of the ground or even the sky or a cloud.

Instruct: Leave the group and go to the object you have selected. Observe it with a silent mind. Don’t bring in thoughts. Just watch with full awareness. Observe the colours, shape, liveliness of the tree or whatever objects you have selected.

Be alone with nature. Listen to the songs of the birds. Feel the freshness of the breeze. Enjoy the warmth of the sunlight. Awaken your love for the earth, trees, plants, and the sky, Feel that you are a part of the whole universe.

(10 minutes)

Step 2: Discussion: Guide Questions .

After the activity discuss in class.

1. Did you enjoy the activity? 2. Is there a difference between observing with a chattering mind and observing

with a silent mind? 3. What did you learn from the activity?

4. How can you enrich your daily life from what you have just learnt?

3. Learning to Relax

This activity is a stress-releasing stress.

Level: Upper primary to upward

Curriculum concern: Religion/ Classroom management/ When you find children restless and bored, the exercise helps them to regain normalcy.

Instruct: Sit on a chair or lie on the floor. Find the most comfortable position. Do not move. Stay calm and still.. . . . .

When you feel well settled and relaxed, close your eyes. Focus your attention to the whole body. Stay for sometime. . . . . .

Say in mind: I am relaxing my body.. . . relaxing.. . relaxing.. deeply relaxing.....


Start relaxing the body from your toes. Focus attention on the toes and tighten and tense them.. ..Then at once relax and let go the tension.. . . . .

Focus on the muscles of the legs.. . .Tighten . . .Relax.. . . . . .

Focus on the muscles of the abdomen , . . Tighten.. . . Relax.. . .

Focus on the muscles of the hand and chest.. . Tighten ..Relax.. .

Focus on the muscles of the neck and face.. ..Tighten . . . ..Relax.. .

Focus on the muscles inside the brain.. . . . Tighten . . . ..Relax.. .

Focus on the muscles of the whole body.. . . Tighten and tense.. . At once drop relaxed. . . .

Say in mind: I am relaxing, relaxing deeply relaxing.. . . . .

Be completely aware and sensitive to the sensation and feelings of the whole body.. .Stay calm and relaxed for some time (5 to 10 minutes)

4. Experiencing Inner Peace

This activity is about concentration of mind and turning the attention inward.


Curriculum concern: Religion/ Classroom management/ when you want children to quieten down and feel peace within.

Objectives:

1. Learning to turn attention inward. 2. Understanding the process of soothing one’s mind. 3. Discovering the joy within.

Activity:

Sit comfortably on your chairs. Don’t lean against them. Keep your back straight and well composed. Relax in body and mind. Calm down.

Let your body settle down gradually in stillness and silence. Close your eyes.

Focus your attention and awareness on the whole body. Feel all the sensations arising from the body.

Now, slowly focus your awareness on the breathing. Let breathing take place naturally, effortlessly. Concentrate on breathing in and out. Do not allow your mind to be distracted with other thoughts and memories. Stay in concentrated on the breathing in and out. Concentrate on the start, middle and the end of each breath.

If you find it difficult to concentrate at the beginning, you can start counting breathing in and out up to 20 and go back. When the mind is tamed, then come back to concentration.


Practise concentration for at least 10 minutes and then open your eyes and stay relaxed for another few minutes..

Discussion - Guide Questions:

* How do you feel about the activity? * Did you feel a sense of peace within? * Was it easy to concentrate on breathing? * Why do some find it difficult to concentrate? * What did you learn about your self through the activity?

Note: Instruct students to practise this mind soothing exercise, daily in the morning soon after getting up and in the evening so that they experience inner peace and develop awareness and concentration.

5. Letting Go

This is an activity about stress-releasing.


Curriculum concern: When you want children to introduce a method of stress- releasing.

Instruct:

Sit on a chair or lie on the floor comfortably. Relax deeply for some time.

Once you feel relaxed say in mind: I am letting go the entire burden on my mind.

Recall all the worries, problems, fears and anxieties you have in mind one after the other. Feel it. Accept it. Stay with it briefly and then say: I let go this worry completely and the mind is now released and free. Do it until your mind is completely empty and free. Enjoy and experience the sense of release and the freshness.

6. Instant Peace of Mind

This is an instant meditation you can use to bring back your mind to peace when you find yourself disturbed or enraged with anger.

Level: Upper primary and upward.

Curriculum concern: Religion/Whenever you feel that children are in an emotionally disturbed and confused state of mind.

Objective: Coming back to one’s peace of mind.

Instruct: Concentrate on breathing in and out and repeat mentally:


Breathing in I calm. Breathing out I smile Dwelling in the present moment I know this is a wonderful moment

Thich Nhat Hang

7. Meditation on the Present Moment

This is an activity about living in the present moment.

Level: Secondary

Curriculum concern: Religion/ when you want children to settle down before starting a lesson.

Objective: Discover the joy of living in the present.

Activity.

Sit comfortably. Relax and calm down

Realize that (by repeating the following sentences mentally)

l This is the present. I focus my whole attention on the present moment. Living is always in the present

l This moment is new andfresh. It never comes again. Therefore it is precious. l Living in the present is so good. There is great beauty in living in the present

moment. l Living in this present moment is joyous. This is a moment of happiness,

contentment and peace.

When you have come into complete touch with the present moment stop repeating. Enjoy living in the present moment. You can practise this meditation sitting in the classroom, travelling in a vehicle or while relaxing on a chair

8. Meditation on Goodness

This activity is about discovering goodness.


Curriculum concern: Religion/ Classroom management/ when you want children to quieten down and feel good within.

Objective: Experiencing inner goodness.

Activity.

You may practise this meditation while sitting or walking. You can do it lying down on bed just as soon as being awake in the morning or before sleeping at night.

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Repeat calmly in mind until you really feel good.

l Living is good! l Nature is good. l Everybody is good at heart. l Everywhere is good! a Every moment is good! l Every day is in eternity! l I love life; I love all beings; I love the whole universe.

9. Meditation on Sharing

This activity is about feeling for human brotherhood.

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Curriculum concern: Religion/ Classroom management/ when you want children to feel empathy with the whole of mankind.

Level: Upper Primary and Secondary

Objectives: Experiencing empathy

Activity:

Learn the following verse by heart and repeat it with loving kindness to all.

Share in the suffering qf others. Delight in the joy of others. Delight in the goodfortune of others. View the losses of others as your own loss.

Lin Ying Chang

10. Meditation on Being Awake

This activity is about sharing.


Curriculum concern: Religion/ when you are discussing compassion

Objective: Helping to start the day with compassion.

Activity:

Learn the following verse by heart and repeat it with loving-kindness soon after you awake in the morning.

Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four new hours are before me.


I vow to live fully in each moment and To look at all beings with eyes of compassion.

Nich Nhat Hang

11. Controlling Your Anger

This activity is about controlling anger..


Curriculum concern: Religion/ /When you are discussing the need for controlling anger

Activity.

Learn the following verse by heart and repeat it when you find you are angry until it goes away.

Breathing in, I know that anger makes me ugly Breathing out I do not want to be contorted by anger Breathing in I know I must take care qf myself Breathing out I know loving kindness is the only answer.

Nich Nhat Hang

Find the evaluation instrument on the next page.

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Period from to .__ ._. . . Teacher’s Self-Evaluation: Core Value: Discover Inner Peace

Media of Integration Effect on Children’s Positive Change

behaviours attempted Subject

o develop Language Social Physi- Arts Science Other Co-curri Class Teaching Perspect- VT Effective Not so

Studies cal Edu- Subjects Activity Mgt. Activity ive Effective Effective cation

I. Disciplined in f f f f f f mind f f f f f f

2. Disciplined in f f f f, f f speech f f f f f f

3. Disciplined in f f f f f f behaviour f f f f f f

4. Increased f f f f f f awareness f f f f f f

5.Enjoys inner peace

Marking = Discussed

x = Discussed with Activities No. of times (Frequency)

Comments.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _. _. . .

Suggestions for professional development ..................................................................................................................

Suggestions for the improvement of the Guide .............................................................................................................

Supervisor

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13

LEARN TO LIVE TOGETHER

Peace is to live together.

Objectives

l Prefers to co-operate rather than compete l Develops processes within the group l Shares resources within the group l Participates constructively in group decision-making a Abides by group decisions, norms, standards and responsibility.

Core Values

0 Co-operation l Group building

Content

l Understanding the concept l Working in groups l Characteristics of effective groups l Group builders l The need for learning co-operation l Intended outcome 0 Classroom practices l Hints for peace culture-building

Learning Activities

4.1 My gift to the class 4.2 Mirroring 4.3 Constructing lines 4.4 Co-operative designing 4.5 Machine building 4.6 Birthday line 4.7 Making bonds


4.8 Number puzzle 4.9 Group race 4.10 Group tangrams


This theme basically presents the values of co-operation, coexistence, sharing and solidarity in a world that is being pulled apart, by ethnic, religious, individualistic and other separate forces. Learning to live together has been recognized and declared as one of the four pillars of education in the Doler report on education for the 21st century. Today ethnic, religious and other divisive ideologies justify violence against man. Perhaps we inherit the divisive mentality from our tribalistic instincts. Division leads to conflicts and ultimately to war and destruction.

Obviously, the world is shrinking into a global village due to the technical advancements, which facilitate travelling, communication and transaction. Yet our present mindsets are unable to accommodate the global unity of mankind. What we really need is to enlarge our minds when the world is becoming small. Only then can we capture the global human brotherhood. Unless we overcome the tribalistic mentality of divisive tendency, we are as a species, doomed to extinction, through destroying each other. By learning to live together we broaden our vision, gradually move from self-centredness, to community, to nation and from there to the global family. It also means to learn to co-operate and share with each other and accept diversity and live in harmony.

Working in groups

A large part of our life is spent in groups. Inability to work in groups can make one’s life a failure at every level. Harmonious working in a good group is satisfying, empowering and leading to growth, not only to the individual but also to the others in the group.

Effective groups do not just happen. They are products of many internal factors. Understanding how effective groups draw their strengths from internal dynamics such as democratic process, co-operation and morale is interesting and also helpful.

How groups are formed

Mere coming together of individuals do not make a group. For a group to emerge, the individuals should have a common goal. Then they should link together in such a way as to achieve the goals.

When a number of individuals gather and form a group, they usually undergo a phase of uneasiness, until they establish who should do what. This phase is called the storming. However as they slowly establish norms, structures and procedures the storming subsides and they start performing. A group is bound by three basic

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Learn to Live Together 121

forces. They are the goals, and the task. The process includes the way of decision- making, organizing, i.e. assigning roles and structuring communication. The task is the challenge of the group. In fact a group is a tool, a set of individuals have formed by linking together to perform a task.

Characteristics of effective groups

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is useful to know the characteristics of effective groups. They are

Cohesiveness: Members like each other. They are bound together in agreement. There is mutual support or co-operation.

Goal orientation: Goals are clear and the group is confident of themselves of the possibility of achieving them.

Standards and norms: They have established common standards and ways of behaviour, participation and quality of products..

Affirmation: Acceptance, respect and expression of appreciation

Demarcate process. Decisions are made in participation of all the members. There is equality of all the members. Members feel responsible to carry out the decisions made in the group. They meet regularly, to discuss plans and evaluate progress.

Regulation: There is consensus on policies and regulations. They feel obliged to observe the rules and regulations of the processes.

Climate: The social atmosphere is healthy and conducive to productivity and co-operation. They feel at ease to express their views, opinions and feelings.

Leadership: Leaders are group or process-centred.

Pressure: A group performs effectively under a certain degree of pressure. It may come from the circumstantial demands, constraints of time, standards and expectations. However the pressure should be reasonably bearable. Creating such positive pressure is a function of the leader.

Group builders

As the group is gradually formed various roles emerge, by natural demands of circumstances. Then the members tend to take up roles that suit them most. Such roles are given below.

l Encourager reinforces productive behaviour. l Process builder is concerned with the order of the procedures. l Critic points out the weaknesses of procedures, people’s attitudes, behaviours

and the decisions of the group. l Tense releaser eases tension by humour and by expressing ‘Take it easy’,

attitudes.


l Compromiser attempts to bring harmony by resolving differences and conflicts arising within the group.

l Evaluator measures the accomplishments, effectiveness of the procedures and suggests improvements.

The need for learning co-operation

Learning co-operation is gaining significance in the world of today for several reasons. There is growing individualistic, ethnocentric and other divisive forces, which threaten the solidarity of mankind. Peace is living together. Teachers are increasingly complaining of students’ selfish tendencies. Selfishness is to be concerned exclusively with oneself by depriving others of their rights. An act of a student who borrows the only available book recommended by the teacher from the school library and keeping it extended for his exclusive reference typically exhibits selfishness. Because in doing this he deprives the other students from using the book. Unhealthy individualistic behaviours are increasing in school as a result of social influence. Name-calling, put down, and bullying are examples of such behaviours.

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As children learn co-operation a warm and friendly climate emerges in the classroom. Conflict and quarrelling are reduced. Co-operation in groups leads to greater sense of equality of all. It also develops interdependence within the group in place of egoistic independent tendencies. Today the world is getting interlinked at all levels and increasingly becoming interdependent. Nations are realizing the fact that they cannot stay isolated from the rest of the world. In the past nations thought they could live independently in a complete state of self-sufficiency. That notion is getting away in performance to interdependence of nations. All these mean that mankind is entering into an age of common future. Learning co-operations will bring about a generation who can contribute to the process of building the common future for mankind.

A teacher has the responsibility to transform the class into a community, the highest level of achievement of a group. Those who have positive experience of co-operation within groups gradually extend the attitude towards the world they live in. As mentioned earlier that the classroom will not naturally evolve into a community. The teacher has to raise the community consciousness providing the class experiences in co-operation and the understanding that the class is not a mere collection of individuals, but a group linked together where everyone’s conduct affects a!l.

Here the question arises, about the use of competition in the school. In learning co-operation individualistic competition is not encouraged, where one attempts to win, by defeating another. Healthy competition is competing against one’s own standards, time-constraints, lack of resources and difficult circumstances.


Intended outcome

Group building behaviours

- co-operation - process developing in the group - sharing - group decision-making - abiding by group decisions, norms, and standards.

Classroom practices

1. Discourage individualistic behaviour 2. Value co-operation 3. Develop group responsibility. 4. Evaluate group performance as well in the output./ Prefer to praise the group

rather than the individual

Hints for peace culture-building

1. Adopt democratic practices in managing the school and classroom so that they serve as models for students in community building.

2. Form a student’s council where they can voice their needs and problems to school management. The management can consult the student council and work in collaboration, in developing policies affecting students.

3. Introduces co-operative learning methods in the class through staff development. Encourage teachers to invent such methods.

4. Assign students additional responsibilities in organizing co-curricular activities for the school, e.g. annual sport meet, art exhibitions. Such entrustment provides them with experiences to develop skills in leading, organizing, public relations, etc.


LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Learn to Live Together

1. My gift to the class

This is an activity about building a peaceful climate in the class. Level: Secondary

Curriculum concern: Classroom management: When you begin a new class at the beginning of the year.

Objectives:

1. Understanding one’s own responsibility towards building a good social climate in the class.

2. Deciding one’s best way of contribution to it.

Materials: A blackboard

o Three or four Bristol boards

0 Platinum pens

Activity:

Say 1. “This is our classroom. We can all make it nice and pleasant. How are you going to do it? Let’s talk.”

2. “We make it a happy place by good qualities we bring in, through OUI behaviour and speech within the classroom.”

3. Use your imagination. Think of the good qualities that our class should have State one best quality you desire to have in the class. Let’s make a list or the blackboard, e.g.

- Unity - Cleanliness - Friendliness - Caring for others

4. “Now select from the list the quality you like to undertake to bring into the class. Come forward and mark your name next to it on the blackboard.”

5. Copy the list of qualities with names neatly on the Bristol boards and paste or fix them on the wall so that they remind you of your promise, e.g. 0

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3. Discuss:

How to translate your selected quality into behaviour and way of speech.

Note: From time to time remind and get feedback from the class as to progress of the climate building. Appreciate and reinforce students’ contributions.

2. Mirroring

This is an activity about discovering oneself through social interaction and learning to be co-operative.

Level: Primary and secondary

Curriculum concern: Dancing/ Physical education: When you want do develop refined body moments.

Objective:

* Expressing inner feelings through body movements. * Encouraging the discovery of oneself through mutual interactions.. * Emphatic understanding.

Activity:

The children stand in pairs keeping their distance from others enough to make free body moments. The pair stands facing each other. One takes the role of a mirror image and the other that of a person who makes interesting movements in front of a mirror. The mirror image imitates all the movements. Examples for movements:

- Combing hair - Powdering face - Stepping forward - Stepping backward - Making a turn round - Cleaning a mirror - Appreciating a new dress - Making different faces - Miming - Dancing I swaying /sliding

The roles reverse after a turn of five minutes alternately once a pair has completed performance, they can disperse and form new pairs.


Note:

l Create interest by saying that the children are going to do an amusing and _ entertaining activity.

l Encourage the children to discover creative movements and move freely. This activity has a cathartic effect in expressing one’s emotions, moods and fantasies.

l Music would naturally facilitate children’s rhythmic movements and heighten their creative mood.

Discussion: Guiding questions/ instructions

* Did you enjoy the activity?

* Did you learn anything by doing this activity? If so, what is it?

* What did you learn while doing the activity?

* What work qualities and attitudes are necessary to work co-operatively with another person?

3. Constructing Lines

This is an activity about experiencing the spirit of co-operation.

Level: Upper primary to upwards

Curriculum concern: Physical Education/when you want to give an enjoyable group game.

Objective: Learning co-operation

Activity:

Take children into open air and divide them into two big groups. Ask each group to construct a line using whatever materials they have in person. But they are not allowed to get any materials outside. Nobody can go out of the group to collect materials. The group that makes the longest line wins.


l Did you enjoy the activity? l How did your group feel at the beginning? l As your line kept on getting long how did you feel? l What did you learn from the activity?

Note: At the beginning children may feel perplexed as to how to construct lines with materials without getting them from outside. However as they discuss in groups they begin to realize that they can construct lines with their personal possessions at hand like handkerchiefs, belts, shoelaces, etc.

Learn to Live Together 127.

4. Co-operative designing

This is an activity about co-operation.

Level: Upper primary and lower secondary.

Curriculum concern: Arts/when you want to develop creative imagination in children.

Objective: Leaning to work in groups.

Materials: A large paper for each group to draw and pastels

Activity:

Class is divided into five groups. They are asked to design a small town with all the facilities. Then the group decides what kind of town they should design. They draw it co-operatively. On completion the group presents their design to the whole class.

Discussion:

l How did you work in-group? (Ask each group) l Were there any members who did not contribute? If there were, what was

the reason? l Do you argue for or against the following statement: ‘A group can work

better than an individual.’ Have a small debate in the class. l What did you learn from the activity?

Alternative topics for group drawing.

l Draw an unusual vehicle. l Draw a monster. l Visualize the meaning of a motto

5. Machine building

This is an activity about enjoying the spirit of co-operation within the group.


Curriculum concern: Physical Education/when you want to give an enjoyable co- operative activity

Objective: Valuing co-operation

Activity

Divide children into groups of six. Each group has to make a machine with each one playing a part of it. The parts should work as a whole. It can be a real machine like a train engine, a clock, a crane or an imaginary machine. Let the group decide it by discussion. -Then they demonstrate it. You can release groups one by one to observe other machines.


Discussion

l What was the machine you built? l Did the machine function well? l How did you feel working together?

6. Birthday line

This is an activity about group problem-solving

Level: secondary:

Curriculum concern: Physical education/When you want to give an interesting group activity.

Concepts: Co-operation and problem-solving.

Objective: Encouraging co-operative problem-solving

Activity

Ask the class to form a line, where each one stands according to their birth months and days. Children born in January stand at the starting point and those who are born in December stand at the end. They have to discover their right month group and stand in order of the sequence of birthdays. However the challenge is that they are not allowed to speak or whisper. They have to communicate non- verbally, e.g. by finger movements.

After everyone has found the place in the line the teacher checks verbally whether they are in the proper places.

Discussion; Guide questions.

l How did you find your place? l What was the most difficult part of the activity? l How did you manage to communicate?

7. Making bonds

This is an activity about unity and fun

Level: All Grades

Curriculum concern: When you want to build a feeling of unity in the class

Objective: Experiencing group coherence.

Activity

Divide the class into groups of 15 and let them stand in a circle, so as to touch each others’ shoulders.


Ask children to discover at least 15 ways of making bonds as a whole group by linking hands in various manners, e.g. making a circle by

- Joining hands - Linking hands over others’ shoulders - Putting hands around the waists - Putting one’s hand under the armpits of those who stand beside one and

joining one’s own hands with them.

Activity 2.

Help children to make a human bond by joining hands in the following manner. Let each child put his hand under the armpits of those who stand beside him. The child, with his left hand holds the right hand of the one who stands on his right side. Then he, with his right hand holds the left hand of the one who stands on his right side. Having made this ‘human bond’ let the children enjoy it for some time. Discussion (while they are in the knot)

l How do you feel now? l Do you perceive your friends in the same way before or do you perceive

them differently? l What did you learn by engaging in this activity?

8. Number puzzle

This is an activity about co-operative problem-solving.

Level. Upper primary and lower secondary

Curriculum concern: Mathematics/when you want to improve skills in addition.

Objective: Experiencing working in groups

Activity.

Write above the number puzzle on the board.


Divide the class into groups of six. The sixth one becomes the observer. The other five in the group have to solve the puzzle by dividing the square into four parts, each containing numbers totalling 15.The observer makes notes on each one’s behaviour in the group.

On completion find out how each group has done it. Ask the observer to present his/ her study of the group behaviour.

Discussion:

l Did everyone participate? l Did you enjoy working together? l What did we learn from the group work?

The solution

2 4 ‘3 2. ; 3. ----- .-----

3 2 1 1 4 3 -I-L11---

112 12 ---.- I I

22 4,3;2 ---_-------mm-.

41 1 ‘2 ‘3

Note: You can make the puzzle easy or complicated depending on the children.

9. Group race

This is an activity about co-operative and creative problem-solving.


Curriculum concern: Physical education/ when you want to play an enjoyable group game.


Materials: Large newspaper double sheets for each group.

Activity:

Divide the class into groups of six and give three newspaper sheets to each group. You need an empty open hall. Mark a starting line at one end and a winning line on the other end for a race. Ask each group to stand on the starting line one after the other. They have to start the race by placing one sheet on the floor and all getting on to it. To move forward they have to place the sheets on the floor and all getting on to it. The group that comes first to the winning line wins. Tell them that they can find out other ways of walking on the sheets.


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Discussion: Guide questions:

l How do you feel about the activity? l Did your group perform well? l How can you improve the group performance further?

10. Group tangrams

This is an activity about co-operative problem-solving.


Curriculum concern: Drawing/Mathamatics/When you want children to familiarize themselves with geometrical forms.

Materials: One set of tans for each group [A tan is a part of a silhouette, which may take the form of an animal, man, tree, vehicle, etc. You can cut out tans from cardboard. A tangram has more than one solution]


Activity:

Introduce the puzzle. A group has put together the tans and make a meaningful shape. The activity is similar to solving jigsaw puzzles.

Divide the class into groups of six. One of them takes the role of the observer of the group performance. Give each group a set of tangrams. The group that completes first wins.


l What are the observations made on the group performance? 0 How can you improve group performance?

Instruction to prepare tans

Cut a cardboard into a square. Then cut into small pieces as shown in the diagram. With these tans you can make different tangrams [See the overleaf].

Examples of Tangrams

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Period from . . . . . . . . . to . . . . . . . Teacher’s Self-Evaluation: Core Value: Learn to Live Together

Media of Positive Effect on Children’s Integration Integration change Changes

Ittempted Sub.ject

o develop Language Social Physi- Arts Science Other Co-curri. Class Teaching Perspect- Very Effective Not so

Studies cal Edu- Subjects Activities Mgt. methods ive Effective Effective cation

1 .Concem for f f f f f f f f f environment f f f f f f f f f

2. Affection for f f f f f f f f f Nature f f f f f f f f f

3. Preserves natural f f f f f f f f f resources f f f f f f f f f

4. Values f f f f f f f f f simple life f f f f f f f f f

Marking = Discussed


Comments... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ... ... ...

Suggestions for professional development.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Suggestions for the improvement of the Guide.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._. _. . . . . . _. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Supervisor

14

RESPECT FOR HUMAN DIGNITY

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“What man has done to man has no limit. He has tortured him, he has burned him, he has killed him, he has exploited him in every possible way-religious, political, economic. This has been the story of man to

man; the clever exploit the stupid, the ignorant.”

J.Krishnamurti

Objectives

l Concerns for others’ rights l Tolerant behaviour towards diversity of views, culture, and beliefs. l Responsible performance of one’s social roles l Translates human rights into social reality

Core Values

l Non-violence l Kindness l Empathy l Equanimity

Content

l Understanding the concept l Education for human rights l Intended outcome 0 Classroom practices l Hints for peace culture

Learning Activities

1. Identifying my responsibilities 2. Building a new society 3. He is my brother 4. Why do I love my family? 5. Trust walk 6. Exclusion

134

7. Exploring stereotypes 8. Children against toy weapons 9; Understanding gender roles 10. Understanding the Declaration of Human Rights


The tradition of human rights concepts is as old as human civilization. Every society had varying norms to protect human life and dignity. Great religions strengthened the traditions.

Human rights can be broadly defined as those rights which human beings are entitled to which no one can deprive them of. They are a set of guarantees that ensure not only living but also those basic conditions to live with dignity as a human being. They are designed to protect individuals from the threat to life and human dignity With the growth of the power of states, complexity and stratification of the society, such a set Oi guarantees was necessary.

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The Declaration of the Universal Human Rights by the United Nations Organization is a moral victory of mankind as a whole in recent times. It is the culmination of the moral values that all religions advocated from the beginning of history. Now for the first time in history the whole wcvld has accepted a set of rights applied to every human being, irrespective of nationality, religion, sex, social status, occupation, wealth, property, or any other differentiating ethnic, cultural, or social characteristic. The declaration begins with the article;

“All human beings ure born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should uct towaids one another in a spirit of brotherhood. ”

The purpose of the declaration is obviously to provide a global foundation to protect human dignity. It subsequently initiated various States to adopt and enlarge the principles of human rights in the Constitutions. Many codes of rights, like Arrican Charter on Human and People’s Rights, European Convention on Human Rights and American Declaration of Rights and Duties of Man sprang up following it. The declaration also led to include principles of human rights into various sections of public laws, such as race equality, sex discrimination, and court procedures.

The declaration covers right to life, liberty, and security of person. Slavery, torture, cruel punishment, arbitrary arrest and detention, and invasion of privacy and family are banned. Due process of law is guaranteed using such principles as “innocent until proved guilty.” Freedom of thought and speech, conscience and religious beliefare accepted. Private ownership of property, freedom of movement, right to employment, health and education are also guaranteed. The Declaration covers such major areas like survival, dignity, political action, culture, and economic

Respect for Human Dignity 135

and social rights. However the convention in the present form may not be perfect according to certain cultural perspectives because of the strong Western cultural influence in their make. At least, it has got to be accepted as a set of minimum moral standards required by all cultures.

Developing consciousness of rights is important in that they are strong factors in peace. Most of the conflicts arise from violation of human rights.

Mere acceptance of the rights nationally or internationally alone is not sufficient. The political, cultural and economic diversities of the globe are so complex and therefore there is a need to have determined action to make human rights a reality in the societies. It is the responsibility of every citizen, government and civil organization to secure them.

Education of Human Rights

Schools have the responsibility to educate the next generation on human rights and inculcate the basic values imbedded in there. Although many curricula have it as a unit generally it is taught only at the cognitive level. Such academic learning has little impact on the actual behaviour. Merely memorizing the articles in the convention does not go far. What is necessary is to help learning them in a manner that the respect for human dignity is internalized and be a part of one’s character. We have yet to search for effective methods of teaching human rights.

One of the critiques of the present approach to teaching rights is that it ignores the responsibility side. In the West we see the overstress for the rights has led to imbalance of civic consciousness and human relationships. Campaigns that propagate human rights rarely speak about duties that go with them. Therefore the message that people get is “Fight for your rights; neglect your duties.” In the Orient the emphasis is always given to one’s duties before rights. There is an interesting Buddhist discourse called Sigalowada Sutta, which reflects the Oriental attitude to rights. Therein the Buddha explains that parents are bound to do their rightful to children when children perform their duties to parents. Masters are bound to do their rightful to workers when they perfarm their duties to masters. One has to earn one’s rights by performing the duties. They are inseparable as the two sides of the same coin.

Children, especially in primary grades may find it difficult to grasp the concepts involved in human rights, Their ability to understand abstract concepts like rights, freedom is yet to develop. Learning human rights should begin with understanding them in daily experiences of the personal life of children. For instance:

l Standing in a queue for one’s turn l Keeping promises l Returning a debt in time

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l Helping the injured and sick l Keeping the public places clean l Not encroaching on others’ property

Sharing experiences of such familiar situations are helpful.

Individual introspection under such circumstances is encouraged. The teacher opens up students to discuss, share their feelings and thoughts. The experiences are interpreted and judged by the principles of human rights, equality and justice. The basic approach adopted here is to develop sensitivity to deep suffering experienced by human beings in situations where their natural rights are deprived of. For instance, the feelings of being socially rejected are recognized. Along with the development of affective feelings of deprivation students begin to broaden their consciousness and change their attitudes towards the necessity of respecting and protecting human dignity. Building on that issue of the rights of women, children, minorities, religious sects, refugees and various other social groups could be discussed. The notion of rights needs to be extended to the animals and from there to Nature as well. Peace recognizes and respects life in every form.

As you move forward, you begin to see every right arises from a basic human need. For example, the right to education has that education is a need in man. Thus denying him an education is violating a right. All violations of human rights are violent acts, because they involve depriving a person from fulfilling his need.

Taken as whole all the rights as expressed in the articles provide the foundation for democracy. In short, democracy is the governance that ensures human rights. Democracy is the process of ensuring and securing human rights. It is basically a conflict resolution process. Peace arises from the proper functioning of democracy. In other words, peace in a country is the product of democracy.

Intended outcome

Concern for equality id justice

o Respect for others’ rights l Concern for others’ feelings and needs. l Respectful and decent behaviour to people even under provocative situations,

e.g conflict.

Democratic conduct

l Tolerance and respect for diversity, in views, culture, and beliefs. l Identifying the types of human rights’ violations in social issues/situations.

Responsible beltnviour

l Responsible performance of one’s social roles Ability to apply and translate human rights into social realities

Respect, for Human Digniry

Classroom practices

137

Use examples of characters and incidents found in the texts to discuss the issues of human rights. Collect cases of violation of various types of rights from the current news report. Use them as case studies. Let children identify a current violation of a human right in their community. Facilitate a discussion to analyse it, and decide what actions could be taken to rectify it. Use the human rights’ perspective in a different subject context wherever relevant, e.g. in analysing a historical event, in appreciating prose, a biography of a great person, or a drama. Use human rights values and principles in dealing with problems in classroom management. Broaden the views of human brotherhood in discussing diversities of human cultures. Encourage seeing the global interlink in the world in our daily life, e.g. the food we eat, clothes we wear, etc.

Hints for peace culture-building

l Initiate a tradition of respecting children and their rights. Eliminate practices of physical punishment. Adopt positive disciplinary methods such as methods of reinforcements.


LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Respect Human Dignity

1. Identifying my responsibilities and rights

This is an activity that helps to understand one’s responsibilities and rights.

Curriculum Concern: Social studies/ when you discuss rights

Objective: Understanding one’s responsibilities and rights in different situations.

Activity:

Discuss the need to know one’s rights and responsibilities in various situations.

Take a situation for study, e.g. going on an education tour.

Brainstorm responsibilities and rights you have as a student in a school education assigned to me. List the responses from the class, e.g.

Responsibilities

* To perform duties assigned.

* Not to disturb others rest.

* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Rights

* To renrind others in my group of their duties when necessary.

* Not to be disturbed by others.

* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Develop the list as much as possible


l What can we recommend from our analysis? l How rights are related to responsibilities.

2. Building a new society

This is an activity about understanding the need of human rights for a society.


Curriculum concern: Social Studies/ when you want to introduce the concept of human rights.

Objective: Understanding that human rights lay the foundation for a democratic society.

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Activity:

Present the following imaginary situation:

A country is having a protracted internal war. The community life is increasingly affected and the country is reduced to a lawless land. People have no protection.

There is a small fertile island two honeyed kilometres away from the mainland. A large group of people leave the country and go to settle down in the island with the intention of living in peace.

These people as soon as they settle gather at a meeting to establish a government. They work out a constitution for a new government. They appoint a commission to prepare the constitution for a peaceful and just society, where people can live in dignity and freedom.

Now you are that people. Appoint a commission of three persons. Others present their vision and dreams of their new government.

Step 1: Students appoint a commission. Others divide into groups of five. Each group decides on making five proposals and presenting them to the committee. The chairman conducts the interview with each group with the help of the other two. They question the principles, values, rights and viability of the proposals. The third person in the committee plays the role of devil’s advocate, i.e. as a person who argues against the proposals. The groups have to argue for their case.

This activity can be continued for several sessions.

Discussion :

1. What were the human rights proposed by the groups? 2. Tell us one thing you learnt from the activity. 3. “A demarcated society is based on human rights.” Comment.

3. He is my brother.

This is an activity about human brotherhood.

Level: Lower primary/primary.

Curriculum concern: Environmental Studies/ when you want to discuss and focus on people in different countries.

Objectives Valuing human brotherhood.

Activity : Narrate the following story.

Once upon a time, a teacher asked his pupils. How do we know in a night that morning has dawned?

The students thought for a while.


“When I can see a tree,” said one.

“When I can see a road,” said the other.

“When I can see an animal,” another replied.

The teacher was not happy with any of the answers. Finally he said, “I’ll tell you. We know that morning has dawned, when you can see another human being as your own brother.”


l What is the moral of the story? l Why people in different countries look different in their colour, language

and ways of behaviours? l Why should we respect all human beings, in spite of their colour, social

status, nationality, religions and other differences? l How should we behave towards other people?

4. Why do I love my family?

This is an activity, about the rights of family.

Level : Upper primary

Curriculum concern: Environmental Studies/ when you discuss that the basic unit of society is family.

Objectives: 1. Valuing human family.

2. Understanding the significance of family.

Activity :

Step 1. Draw students’ attention to the importance of family.

Discuss the benefits they enjoy within the family.

Identify the significance of the family in relation to society.

Step 2. Students work in groups and prepare a list of suggestions of how society should protect families. They present their suggestions.

Discussion: Build on children’s suggestions.. Bring into attention, any aspect they haven’t considered.

5. Trust Walk

This is an activity about building trust and experiencing dependency

Level: Upper primary to upward.


Curriculum concern: Physical education / Social studies/when you discuss privileges.

Materials: Big handkerchiefs big enough to blindfold. One for each student.

Objectives: Building trust Experiencing dependency.

Activity:

Take children outdoors to a safe place. Let them pair with one another. One child is blindfolded. The other child leads him around, without touching. He/ she takes the other through exciting experiences allowing to touch, smell and guess various objects in the surroundings. The leader has to take care of the blindfolded,, avoiding falling on and collision against objects.

Then they exchange roles.

Discussion: Guide questions.

l How did you feel when walking blindfolded? l When do people experience such feelings in life? l How did you feel when leading the partner? l What were your responsibilities in leading the blindfolded?

6. Exclusion

This is an activity about understanding the nature of being excluded.

Level: Secondary.

Curriculum concern: Exploring the nature of social exclusion.

Activity:

Students sit in a circle on chairs. A group of five students are asked to go out for a while. In their absence, their chairs are removed and the class starts singing a song. Those who went out are asked to come back while the class is singing.

Purposely the rest of the students do not pay attention to them. They are made to feel excluded.


l What happened here? (Tell the five students the exclusion was done purposely to provide a learning experience).

l How did you feel being excluded? (Question everyone, students excluded) l Have you experienced exclusion before? If so when? Relate your experience. l What are the situations where people feel excluded? l Complete the sentence. ‘Ifeel excluded in school when . . . . . . . . . . . ...’ (Every

student fills the blank).


7. Exploring stereotypes

This is an activity about sexism.

Level : Upper secondary.

Curriculum concern: Social Studies/ when you discuss gender issues.

Objective: Understanding sexism.

Activity:

Explain the meaning of stereotype: “It means an over simplified fixed generalization or image constructed about people.”

Examples for stereotypes of sex roles.

l Sons are more important than daughters. l Boys need more independence than girls. l Boys are more intelligent than girls. l Parents’ property should go to the sons. l Girls should get married as early as possible.

Explore the sex role stereotype thinking about boys and girls found in your society.

Discussion : Guide Questions

l Are the assumptions about girls true? l Are the assumptions about boys true? l Why girls are discriminated against traditionally? l Should women be subordinated to men? 0 “The purpose of discrimination of women is to exploit and repress them.”

Discuss. l How are women exploited and repressed in traditional societies? l How do we get rid of sexism?

8. Children against toy weapons

This is an activity of developing a children’s movement against gun culture.

Level: Lower secondary

Materials: A few toy weapons.

Objectives: Creating attitudes against use of weapons.

Activity:

Step 1.

Draw children’s attention to the destruction of wars. List them as extensively as possible.


Then show a few toy guns briefly and ask the class how they affect their minds.

(Expected responses)

l You learn to enjoy shooting. l You begin to thinking shooting is an heroic act, l I begin to love weapons.

Conclude from the responses that the use of toys develop aggressive attitudes in children.

Discuss what Jesus Christ said about weapons.

i.e. : Those who take weapons are destroyed by weapons.

Explore new ways of saying the same message.

Step 2.

Let children form a movement Children Against Toy Weapons (CATW). They appoint office bearers and a committee. They draw a constitution for the movement; identify objectives and a course of action.

Examples for activities.

a Awareness raising against toy weapons within the school and community through posters, meetings, lectures and pamphlets.

l Organizing children’s rallies. l Linking with other schools. l Symbolic destruction of toy weapons by public demonstration. l Appealing to shopowners not to sell toy weapons. l Appealing to parents not to buy toy weapons for their children.

9. Understanding gender roles

This is an activity about gender relationships.

Level: Upper secondary.

Curriculum concern: Social studies / when you discuss gender problems in society.

Objective: Reflecting upon one’s gender roles.

Activity:

The class is divided into single sex groups, e.g. three girls’ groups and three boys’ groups.

They go to the groups and discuss their responses to the following questions (Questions can be written on the board)

1. How do we feel like being girls / boys?

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2. What experiences make us happy as girls/ boys? 3. What experiences make us sad as girls / boys? 4. What are the types of behaviour we appreciate in the opposite sex? 5. What are the types of behaviour we do not appreciate in the opposite sex? 6. How can we build good relations as girls and boys?

The responses of the groups are presented in the plenary group. The good points in the presentation are appreciated and valued at the follow-up discussion

10. Understanding the Declaration on Human Rights

Activity

After the basic study of the Convention on the Human Rights, write the following five categories on the board.

1. Right to life 2. Right to equality 3. Right against servitude, and torture 4. Right to education 5. Right to culture 6. Right to political decision-making

Divide the class into six groups and assign each group one topic. They have to find articles that fall under the topic.

On the completion of the activity they present their findings followed by discussions.

This activity can be continued with other types of categories of rights.

Find the evaluation instrument in the following page.

Period from . . . . . . . to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Teacher’s Self-Evaluation: Core Value: Respect Human Dignity Core Value : Care for the planet

Media of Positive Effect on Children’s Integration integration change Changes

Utempted Subject

Language Social Physi- Arts Science Other Co-curri Class o develop

Teaching Perspect- Very Effective Not so Studies cal Edu- Subjects Activities Mgt. methods ive Effective Effective

cation

I. Concern for others’ f f f f f f f f f rights

2. Tolerant behaviour f f f f f f f f f of diversity

3. Responsible social f f f f f f f f f roles

4. Applies to Human f f f f f f f f f Rights

To practical situations f f f f f f f f f

Marking = Discussed


Comments.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _..

Suggestions for professional development.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Suggestions for the improvement of the Guide.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Supervisor

15

BE YOUR TRUE SELF

‘To be that self which one trdy is’ Soren Kierkegaard

Objectives

l Stands for one’s rights l Stands for justice l Acts with emotionally maturity l Goal-oriented behaviour l Self-disciplined behaviour

Core Values

l Assertiveness 0 Will l Self-Understanding

Content

l Understanding the concept l Assertiveness l Know your personal rights 0 Learn effective ways of asserting yourself. 0 Classroom practices l Intended outcome l Hints for peace culture-building

Learning Activities

1. Discovering myself 2. Understanding my fears 3. My greatest fears 4. Myself in animals 5. To compete or co-operate 6. Characteristics of submissiveness 7. Ccnsequences of being aggressive

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8. I am O.K. You are O.K. 9. Practising assertive skills 10. Learning to respond assertively 11. Speaking out 12. Learning self-discipline

Understanding the concept

This theme is primarily concerned about the self-development of students. To live successfully they have to be unique persons. Education should help children to build themselves as persons through such self-empowering processes such as guidance, inspiration for higher life, self-understanding, and skill training. Though the school personnel reiterate the importance of individual differences yet at the practical level they stress the uniformity. The examination of subject orientation teaching has very little self-developmental value in children expect broadening of perception in the frontiers of knowledge

The meaning of self-development can be defined broadly as the continuous conscious process of discovering, awakening and improving one’s inner potentials related to the achievement of self-actualization. In short, it is an attempt to be an authentic person.

Under this theme many important aspects and concepts of the personality can be discussed in relation to education. Examples for such topics are:

l Assertiveness l Nature of human will l Self-understanding l Mental health l Leadership l Communication skills This unit discusses the first three topics as models.

Assertiveness

Assertiveness means standing for yourself in difficult situations, through honest and direct communication of your needs, feelings, concerns and positions. Examples for such situations are when you are:

* pressed to give into another unfairly * treated unfairly * being put down by another * being criticized unfairly * being subjected to manipulation against your conscience

Be Your True Self 149

or when you want

* to deal with the anger of a person * to give criticism

Assertive skills are essential in effective conflict resolution. When a person lacks such personality skills obviously he or she loses self-respect, gives in as a loser and admits defeat. In developing skills of being assertive, one has to follow the procedure given below:

Identify situations appropriate to be assertive

An example: Suppose you are travelling in a long distance train. You want to visit the toilet and you keep a handkerchief on the seat and leave. On return you find a stranger sitting there. Now how do you respond to the situation?

The impulsive drive is either to react aggressively or feel self-defeated and passively accept the situation. In being aggressive one tends to put up a fight, threaten or manhandle the person. Assertive behaviour in that situation will be to act as an adult in a mature way. For instance, you can approach him and say, “Sir, this is my seat and I kept a handkerchief on it and left for the toilet. Now I want it back.” (Of course if that person is sick or fainting or having a special need the case is different!) In asserting you speak in a non-threatening and decent manner with respect to the person concerned.

As well as identifying the appropriate situations one needs to identify the appropriate degree according to the sensitivity of the person or situation. Because over assertiveness may be experienced as being rude.

Learn your personal rights

In essence being assertive is the courage to be your true self. This is an exercise in building yourself as an authentic person. In this regard it is useful to know one’s personal rights. As a person you have the right to

1. Do anything, which does not violate the rights of others. 2. To be assertive on non-assertive. 3. To make choices. 4. To ask questions. 5. To change your opinions or convictions. 6. To control your body, time and possessions. 7. To express your opinions, beliefs and feelings, including anger. 8. To think well of yourself. 9. To make requests. 10. To have needs and desires. 11. To get information.


12. To have goods or services to your satisfaction for the money you have paid. 13. To say ‘no’ without feeling guilty or selfish. 14. To be treated with respect and consideration. 15. To make mistakes. 16. To be independent.

You can think of many other rights to add to the list. The above listed personal rights have evolved in the West. Personal rights may differ according to the cultural outlooks. And therefore your personal rights have to be identified in the light of the cultural context of your society. It is necessary to keep in mind that every right implies a responsibility too, and you have to respect the assertive rights of the other person as well.

Learn effective ways of asserting yourself

One practical way of learning to be assertive is to follow a successful person’s living example. Every group or organization has such personalities. To reiterate to be assertive is to be able to express yourself clearly, directly and appropriately so that the other person understands your needs, feelings, and concern with regard to the issues at conflict. The strength of character arises when you become who you are, not when you try to be who you are not.

For being assertive one needs to develop a special body language, e.g. by the way one stands, sits, walks and so on. People create an impression on us first of all from our physical appearance, i.e. posture, eye contact, facial expression, gestures, and voice. For instance, suppose you go into a party. You don’t know most of the people and you feel alone. You tell yourself that no one is interested in talking to you, that no one finds you interesting. Now you convey this feeling of self- defeatedness through your body language, through your whole way of being. The result is self-predicting and naturally others tend to distance themselves away from you. Submissive people seem to think that others take it upon themselves to look after your needs and protect them. The affection others have for a submissive person soon wears out.

In the face of difficult situations, especially in a conflict, being assertive involves the following process.

* Preparing the appropriate message briefly, unreproachfully, and effectively * Speaking out one’s genuine needs and feelings in a manner conducive to

resolution * Observing silence (being silent allows the other person to think about what

you said or think of a solution.) * Reflective listening to others’ defensive response * Reasserting the message without emotionally reacting or debating * Observing silence

Be Your True Serf 151

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* Keep to the issue * Negotiating the appropriate solution and work out a solution

An effective method of assertion is ‘I’ message. It simply means to state the problem as the speaker sees it and how he or she feels about it, e.g.

* I cannot agree to that suggestion. * I feel hurt when you let me down in that manner. * In principle I cannot agree with you. * I like to see you now in your seat. * When you put on the radio so loud I cannot do my studies here.

The last form adds more weight if it also can include your suggestion as what to do. Take for instance the following situation. In a public vehicle a commuter sits next to you and smokes. It is prohibited but he does. You can say:

l Sir, you are smoking sitting next to me (Objectively stating what he is doing)

I feel inconvenient and find travelling difficult (‘I’ Message where you state the issue from your side)

I would appreciate it if you could stop smoking in the bus (your suggestion)

There is no blaming or accusation involved in such expressions. It clearly expresses one’s need. Learning to express one’s need is a part of assertion.

Assertive techniques are useful in expressions of refusal and disagreement in many social interactions. Study the following instances.

Direct rqfusal. Say “No” “I don’t want” “I cannot” directly, e.g.

1. A: Buy a ticket B: No I don’t want one.

A: Could you lend me your bicycle? B: Sorry. I never lend that to anyone.

To protect and preserve your personal freedom you have say “No” to many requests. To protect “Yes” you have to say “No”. If you want to say, “Yes” to examination you have to say “No” to time wasters.

Reasoned refusal: Say “No” and give a very succinct explanation of your reason,

e-g 1. A: Could you come with me?

B: No. Not now. I have do some important work right now.

A: Show me your answer (in a class test) B: No, I can’t. It is wrong in a test.

h


Kind refusal: Respect the other person’s request, listen to him with empathy and then say “No”.

1. A: Please buy a ticket for the drama. B: I appreciate your organizing this drama in town. But I don’t feel like

going to a drama just now. Thank you.

2. A: Have a smoke. Take this cigarette. Don’t refuse my request. B: Thank you for offering. As a principle, I don’t smoke. Don’t push me.

Playing the broken record: Repeat your statement of position and maintain your refusal. This technique is effective when the other person is not acknowledging your refusal. He keeps persisting with his demand.

A: You must join our organization, B: Yes I see that you want me to be a member in your organization, Thank you.

But I am not inclined. No. I don’t want to.

A: No you must. B: No I don’t want to.

A: No you have to. We want you. B: Please I told you that I don’t want to.

Assertiveness encourages forwardness in social interactions. Hesitancy and shyness indicate lack of self-confidence. An assertive person can start social conversations with strangers with an air of ease and even face embarrassments with adult maturity.

Certain situations demand self-disclosure. Since an assertive person is genuine and open in his transactions, he or she can frankly disclose self-appropriately. Self- disclosure is best when it is:

* To the right person * To the right degree * For the right reason * At the right time * In the right place

For genuine expression of affection, warmth, friendship, love and appreciation one needs assertive capacity. They do not flatter. Their appreciation is honest and true to heart. Learning to express affection is an important social skill and should be part of language training as well, e.g.

* You are a wonderful person. * I feel appreciated because... * I am so happy with the new tie you bought me. * I am so touched that you came to see me in the hospital.


Naturally such affective expressions build self-esteem, foster and reinforce behaviours we appreciate in others. They also strengthen good relationships.

A question may arise here as to the connection between being assertive and being peaceful. Peaceful living never meant to be “Letting others to wash their hands on your head” as it says in a Singhalese folk idiom. Obviously a peace-loving person is not submitting himself to unfair demands of others. Nor does he allow himself to be manipulated by others. To live peacefully you need to have the strength of character to say “No” when necessary.

Submissiveness is as bad as aggressiveness. In fact it is the other side of being aggressive. A very interesting observation has been made on the connection between these two extremes. You may observe that many criminals have submissive characters. But inwardly they are aggressive. Submissiveness serves as a mask to cover the aggressive nature within. Since submissive persons are potential aggressors, they cannot be trusted.

Another character that we need to identify here is the manipulator. He uses others shrewdly for his own benefits. He hides his true feelings with vicious motives. In this respect being assertive is a healthy attitude which expresses openly one’s feelings, especially in saying “no “, “I can’t,” I don’t want to,” etc. Such honest behaviour is helpful for conflict resolution. And balances human relationships.

Will

Will is generally thought of as a stern determination built by a person to achieve his personal goals. Accordingly such a will is stubborn and forbidding thought that represses a subtle and sensitive aspect of life. However on a closer investigation the picture changes and broadens.

Then we begin to see will as an intrinsic potential power lying in our depth of consciousness. Roberto Assagioli( 1988)says that the development of will follows three phases:

1. Recognition that will exists. 2. Realization of having a will. 3. Being a will.

Most of us live without realizing the immense power lying within us. As frequently seen people discover their will under a threat of impending danger. The will may be discovered by the insights of self-understanding in meditation. At present our true will is covered by a veil of the easy-going attitudes we have created through dependence on others. Unfortunately, we have identified ourselves with that mentality. We allow our life to be led away by it.

When the true will is awakened it provides impetus to action to achieve the desired goal. Will also provides insight into the strategic and creative problem-

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solving. Will activates all the strengths within us necessary for the achievement of the goal. Assagioli says will is intrinsically good. Will is there in us to progress in the right direction in life. If it is directed in the wrong path, for example as Hitler did, then the will loses its intrinsic wisdom, making the person a brute leading himself to destruction along with others. Man is naturally endowed with a positive direction.

Will has many positive qualities worthy of inclusion into the process of self- development of children. Consider the following qualities

Strength of character Self-discipline Attention Determination Decisiveness Persistence, endurance, patience Courage Organizing and managing

Will also has a spiritual dimension as evident in great spiritual persons and philanthropists. They draw energy to work tirelessly to help mankind from the spiritual dimension.

On a practical level will drives us to plan, organize, lead, control, and co- ordinate in order to achieve our goals. Children should develop such skills as well. A person of will lives within a well-defined conscious life programme. He also retains his determination through all the stages of the operation, however complex or tempting they are.

Self-Understanding

One of the significant functions of the human intelligence is to look within and understand one’s own process of mind. If not for this special ability man would have been a slave of his own blind instinctual drives and impulses. Self-understanding is to look within and observe, probe, examine, inquire the conditions and processes that dictate our behaviour. Such understanding builds self-knowledge, that guides us to wise action. In other words, self-knowledge produces wisdom. Wisdom flashes in us as insights. Self-knowledge also fosters our inward growth and it leads to the discovery of the true self.

Reductionist and materialistic views predominated at the beginning of the 20th century looked down and held in contempt introspection as unscientific. However as the psychology expanded its frontiers, the narrow materialistic views are losing ground rapidly today.

How can self-understanding help, facilitate and improve children’s personality development and effective learning? First of all the child’s intelligence is distorted


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by self-centredness. According to J. Piaget, self-centredness is the inability to discern reality from imagination. As the children develop in self-knowledge, their self-centredness diminishes.

The child needs to be helped to grow emotionally. One of the serious problems in human interaction is people’s emotional immaturity. The emphasis on intellectuality in academic learning represses emotions within. Peace education tries to bring in emotional or affective learning and cognitive learning together in harmony. When children’s positive emotions are tapped the impetus for learning is increased in many forms such as participation, creativity, interest, and commitment. Emotion has its own intelligence, which is still to be properly understood by educationists. In fact as educators we shy away from students’ emotions, because we do not know how to deal with them. The more a child understands her emotions the more she develops mentally.

Self-understanding leads to inward growth of children, by shedding light into their subconscious blocks, which inhibit flowering of their potentials in creativity, imagination and insight, ability to learn. Self-understanding releases blocked energies within us.

Classroom practices

A teacher can help children to understand themselves better by way of adopting such methods as given below.

1. Constantly ask questions leading to self-reflection

l Did you enjoy the activity? l When you hear the word.. . what are the immediate thoughts, feelings

coming to your mind? l How do you feel about this? l What have your learnt from this? l How can what we have learnt be applied in our daily life?

2. Give assignments, exercises, and activities which provide insight into self, e-g l Draw your family in the form of any animals, birds or fish you like most. l Make a list of fears you get when you think of the future. l What is the nature of desire?

3. Provide tools for self-evolution, e.g.

l Do I care for my parents? l Do I keep my room clean and tidy? (often, generally, seldom)

4. Encourage mindfulness or awareness in daily behaviour.

5. Ask values clarification questions, e.g.


l Can’t it be otherwise? l Are you sure of yourself! l What do you mean by (e.g.) ‘kindness’ here? l How did you get this idea? l What happens if everyone in the class begins behaving this way?

(Values clarification questions are aimed towards self-reflection, self-inquiry, and instant insight on an issue at hand. A reply is not expected always)

Intended outcome

Assertiveness

1. Standing for one’s rights

l speaking for oneself l honest disagreement l not being submissive in conflict situations

2. Standing for justice and one k rights

l respecting and accepting others’ rights l demanding justice

3. Emotionally mature behaviour

l acting with a sense of reality l accepting truth and willingness to change one’s position l ability to face criticism constructively

4. Goal-oriented behaviour

0 time management 0 self-management 0 resourcefulness l displaying one’s courage and perseverance in difficult and challenging

situations 0 ability to organize

5. Self-discipline

0 clarity of vision

Hints for Peace Culture-Building

l Persuade children to express their honest feelings and opinions in the classroom.

l Encourage questioning in the classroom. l Respect the uniqueness of each child. l Reinforce children’s healthy assertive behaviour by appreciation.


LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Discover Your True Self

1. Discovering myself

This is an activity about empathy, mutual understanding and self-discovery.


Curriculum concern:: Language/ When you want to develop skills in listening and speaking

Objectives:

1. Improving skills in empathetic listening. 2. Understanding one’s self. 3. Sharing others’ life experiences empathetically.

Activity:

Divide the class into groups of six. Give each group one topic selected from the following:

* My biggest achievement in life * My biggest failure in life * What additional talents I would like to have. * Something I have done for which I regret ever since * Something I have done which makes me happy to think about it.

Let children disclose themselves on the given topic taking only 5 minutes. Others should listen without disturbing. When everybody has completed convene the class and conduct a discussion.

Discussion. Guide Questions

1. Did you enjoy the activity? 2. Did everybody in the group participate in the group? If not, so what was

the difficulty? 3. What did you feel when you were talking? 4. Tell us one thing you have learnt from the activity. 5. What are the ways of understanding oneself?

2. Understanding my fears

This is an activity about self-discovery.

Level: Upper Primary


Curriculum concern: Language/ Religion/ Group counselling

Objective: Understanding one’s fears.

Activity:

Ask each student to identify one of his fears in mind and write it anonymously on a strip of paper and roll. Collect the rolls and take each one and analyse it in participation with the class. Discuss ways of getting rid of fear.

3. My greatest fears


Level: Upper Primary

Curriculum concern: Language/ Religion/ Group counselling

Objective: Understanding one’s fears.

Activity:

Divide the class into groups of six. Give a topic/area where children might have fears.

e.g. Darkness of night, walking through a forest, getting lost in a town/village, heavy rain

Let the group use their imagination and identify the worst things that can happen to them in that area, and write them down.

Then each group should present the list to the class..

Discussion: Guide questions:

l What is the nature of fear? l How can fear distort our behaviour? l How should we free our mind from fear? Suggest ways.

4. Myself in Animals


Curriculum concern: Language/ Religion/

Level: Lower primary

Objective: Helping children to discover their self-identity

Subject context: Art/ Drawing


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Activity

Instruct the children to select an animal, bird, insect, fish or reptile that represents him or her and draw it.

Discussion:

l Show your picture to the class and explain why and how the particular creature reflects you.

l Write the good qualities that the creature has on your drawing. l Display your drawings.

5. To compete or to co-operate?

This is an activity about co-operative problem-solving

Level: Secondary

Curriculum concern: Language/ Speech practice/Drama/when you want to introduce co-operation to the class.

Objectives:

1. Speaking for oneself. 2. Adopting co-operative problem-solving rather than individual competition. 3. Creative problem-solving

Activity: Step 1.. Preparation

Ask children what they would like to be when they grow up. (e.g. teacher, doctor, lawyer, engineer, businessman)

Break the class into several groups of five, which consist of five different professionals.

Explain the activity and ask each group to nominate The Drama

Five different professionals swim to a tiny island to save their lives after a shipwreck. While they stay helpless in the island they happen to see a man is passing by rowing a small wooden boat. They eagerly call him. They explain their predicament and plead for help. The boatman says, ‘Yes. I like to help you. But you see my boat can take only one of you. The mainland is far away. I have to select the most deserving person among you to take ashore.’

Now everyone speak up for yourself.

Then everyone claims his right upon the profession he practises.(The group has to do it)

When everyone has put forward his claims the confused boatman says, ‘No.1 cannot make a judgment for myself. Discuss among yourselves, and propose to me someone to take ashore.’ (The group discuss who should be sent out)


Discussion: Guide Questions:

l What did you learn by doing the activity? l Review the statement: “One must learn to speak up for oneself when it is

necessary. ” l Are you satisfied with the way you have spoken up for yourself in the

activity? l How did the group of professionals finally reach a consensus? l How many alternative solutions can you think of in such a situation? l How can such a problem be solved co-operatively as a group, rather than

fighting?

6. Characteristics of submissiveness

This is an activity about co-operative problem-solving

Level: Secondary

Curriculum concern: Language/ Speech Practice/ When you want to guide the self- development of the student.

Objective: Understanding that submissiveness leads to self-defeat.

Activity: A drama.

Scene 1

Invite two students and instruct them to act out the following episode.

Kumaru is a shrewd boy He visits his friend Jaleel and asks for a loan of Rs. 200 saying he has an urgent need.

Jaleel, a submissive and weak character says that he has Rs. 200, which his father has given him to pay for his examination as fee. He has to pay it tomorrow being the last day. But Kumara insists on him, usingpattery, to give that money as the loan. He promises to return the money before 12 noon the following day so that Jaleel can pay the fee at the post of$ce. The post office counter closes at 12 o ’ clock. On trusting Kumar, Jaleel gives the money.

Scene 2 :

On the following day, Jaleel waits impatiently for Kumar ‘s return but he doesn ‘t come. Ultimately poor Jaleel has to visit Kumar s house. He tups on the door Kumara comes out and apologizes saying that he is not in a position to return the money Jaleel is very upset. He says that he needs the money urgently to pay the fee before the post office counters close. Kumara usks him tfthe money was so urgent why he gave it away.


Jaleel goes away broken down. He lost the opportunity of applyingfor the examination. He has to wait for another long year to apply for the examination.

Discuss: (After the role-play).

l Was it right for Jaleel to give the loan? l What kind of person was Kumar? l Can it be called generosity to help another while you suffer a loss? l Why was Jaleel tempted to give the money when it was so necessary to

him? (Correct reply: Because he did not have the strength of character to say ‘No’.

l How did Kumar manage to obtain money? (Correct reply: By flattering, promising, and pleading )

Activity 2:

Ask the same students to act out the drama again. This time let Jaleel be assertive and say firmly ‘No.’

Discuss :

l Why it is important to learn how to say ‘No’? l How to say ‘No’ or ‘I can’t’ firmly. l What are the situations that demand you to say ‘No’?

(Note: One can say ‘No’ decently without being be rude.)

7. Consequences of being aggressive

This’is an activity about the consequence of being aggressive.

Level: Secondary

Curriculum concern: Religion/ when you want to guide the self-development of a student.

Objective: Understanding that being aggressive is a weakness of character.

Activity:

1. Tell the class an incident from a newspaper report where a person led to assault or kill another out of sheer anger.

2. Invite children to relate such incidents they have heard.

3. Select a typical incident and ask a pair or group of children to simulate it.

Discuss: l Why do some people behave aggressively? What are the perceived benefits?

(If there are any)


l What are the possible consequences of behaving aggressively? l How to replace your anger by assertive behaviour (Discuss a case and

simulate it)

8. Practising assertive skills

This is an activity about character building.

Level: Secondary

Curriculum concern: Language/ Speech Practice/ When you want to guide the self- development of a student.

Objective: Improving assertiveness through practice. Discovering various manners of refusing and disagreeing.

Activity:

Instruct students to stand in pairs, facing each other as A and B.

l A. makes an impertinent request: e.g. (“Smoke this cigarette”. .

“I’m going to assault X. Could you join with me?” “Lets steal fruit in the neighbour’s garden”.)

B. Rejects the request assertively in various manners. e.g. “No.1 won’t do that as a policy”,

“No. I don’t want to do that kind of thing”. (Discover more ways of expressions)

Discussion:.

l What did you do in pairs? l Did you practise saying ‘no’? l Now do you feel confident enough to say “No” to an impertinent request

made by others? l What are the situations, which demand saying ‘no’?

9. I am O.K. You are O.K.

This is an activity about healthy human relationships and a ‘win- win’ approach.

Level: Secondary

Curriculum concern: Language/ Speech Practice/ When you want to guide the self- development of a student.

Objective: Understanding the need to be fair in dealing with others

Activities: Introduction

In our daily life we deal with others for various matters. Our relationship with

Be lbur True Self 163

others should be healthy. We have to be concerned about the other person’s state of mind in dealing with them. They should feel O.K. with us.

In certain circumstances you feel ‘ 1 am O.K.‘, in other circumstances you feel ‘I am not O.K.’

These possibilities can be shown in the following categories.

1. I am O.K. - You are not O.K. (Good for me -not good for you.) 2. I am not O.K.- You are O.K. (Not good for me -good for you) 3. I am not O.K.- You are not O.K. (Good for me -not good for you)

4. 1 am O.K. - You are O.K. (Good for me -good for you)

‘Good for me’ connotes it is advantageous/ profitable/ satisfactory/ for me. “Not good for you” means just the opposite for the other person. Note that every human interaction falls into one of the above four conditions.

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Step 2: Case studies.

Study the fallowing 4 cases and identify the conditions of relationships, as given below.

1. It was a school holiday Ali woke up early in the morning and decided to spend the whole day on his studies. He was falling behind in his studies. At 10 a.m. in the morning his friend Khan visited him and invited him to join in a trip to someplace. Ali joined the trip unwillingly. On coming back home, he regretted that he had wasted the whole day.

2. No teacher came to the class in the last period. Sanath suggested to Gopal to run away.fiom the school. Secretly they managed to run away from the school. However they could not walk far The Deputy Principal saw them and called them. He produced them to the principal.

3. Sham lost his umbrella. On the following morning he leji home for school .under rain without an umbrella. On the way to the bus stand he got fully wet. In the bus he sat down with a person who had an umbrella with him. Half the way the person pulled the bell and walked to the door to get down, leaving the umbrella on the seat. Shun wanted to call him and return the umbrella. But on second thoughts he let the person go. Shan took the umbrella and alighted near the school.

4: Purnima was about to open her packet of lunch for herself Then she found her colleague Tharuna had not brought her lunch. So, she shared her meal with her


l Take each case: Who was Q.K. and who was not O.K.? Give reasons for your judgement.


l Share with the class some experiences of your recent past where you felt O.K. or not O.K.

l Take an event where you were O.K. and the other person was not O.K. and suggest a way of making the other also feel O.K.

l You helped someone in good faith but suffered a loss in return. However you are happy you could help him. To which category of relationship does the incident fall?

10. Learning assertive responses

This is an activity about healthy relationships and ‘win-win’ approach.

Level: Secondary

Curriculum concern: Language/ Speech Practice/ When you want to guide self- development of students.

Objective: Learning to be assertive in different situations

Activity:

The class sit in a circle and a student is invited to describe a situation, where he would like to have been assertive but could not.

e.g. Once I bought a pen from a shop. But on the following day I found it was faulty. I went to the vendor and asked him to take it back and give me another one. But he refused saying that I could have broken it.

Having presented the case, each student is invited to offer an assertive response suitable to the situation. Students generate a whole variety of assertive responses.

Discussions: Guide questions

1. Did you enjoy the activity? Give reasons for your judgement? 2. Are you confident in your ability to respond assertively in demanding

situations? 3. Let us prepare a guide to being assertive. Each one of you offer an instruction

to the list.

11. Effective communication

This is an activity about effective communication.

Level: Secondary

Curriculum concern: Language/ When you want to encourage effective speech.

Objectives: Improving skills in straightforward speaking.

Activity:

List social situations from brainstorming, where people are hesitant to speak out or express themselves freely, e.g.:

Be Your True SeIf 165

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l Introducing oneself to a stranger at a party and start talking. l Explain one’s complication to a doctor. l Where a police officer questions you on suspicion for stealing, which you

haven’t done. l To a neighbour who plays music too loud so as to disturb the houses around.

Having prepared the list from students’ responses, take one instance and invite students to come one by one and speak straightforwardly using assertive skills. Give a few minutes for preparation. As they speak in given roles, appreciate their effort.


l What did you learn from the acting? l Did you improve the skill of straightforward speaking? l What makes people hesitant or withdrawn from speaking out in such

situations?

12. Learning self-discipline

This is an activity about developing will.

Level: secondary

Curriculum concern

Objectives:

Activates: Introduction: Points to explain:

Step: 1. Having a strong will is useful in achieving objectives in life. 2 . We have to develop our will , through daily practices. 3. What are the advantages of having a strong will?

(Make a list on the blackboard)

Step 2. Close your eyes, relax for a few minutes. Then picture yourself having a strong will and feel the power of it. See yourself facing challenges, difficulties and threats with courage and determination.

Step 3. Invite students to express their feelings they had during imagination.

Discussion: Guide Questions

l What are the characteristics of a person with strong will? l Can you relate an event in your life, where you won over a challenge by

your will? l In what areas do you think that you need to develop will? l Make a list of words and phases in your own language, that express will.

(synonyms and phrases)

Find the evaluation instrument on the next page

Period from . . . . . to ._. . . . . . . . . Teacher’s Self-Evaluation: Core Value: Be Your True Self

Media of Positive Effect on Children’s Integration Integration change Changes

Attempted Subject

to develop Language Social Physi- Arts Science Other Co-curri chss Teaching Perspect- Very Effective Not so

Studies cal Edu- Subjects Activities Mgt. methods ive Effective Effective cation

1. Stands for one’s f f f f f f f f f rights

2. Stands for f f f f f f f f f justice

3. Goal-oriented f f f f f f f f f behaviour

4. Self-discipline f f f f f f f f f

Marking = Discussed


Comments.,. . . . ,..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... ...

Suggestions for professional development... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Suggestions for the improvement of the Guide... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Supervisor

16

THINK CRITICALLY

To silence criticism is to silence freedom. Sidney Hook (American philosopher)

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Objectives

l Defines critical thinking l Describes critical activities and attitudes l Develop skills in questioning and probing into issues 0 Practises self-reflective values clarification l Uses basic tools for analysis of issues l Develops concern for truth l Uses basic tools in responsible decision-making l Exercises judicious moral judgement l Practises thinking skills and organizes ideas in appropriate order in

compositions, answers and presentations

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Core Values

l Critical thinking l Unbiased inquiry l Responsible decision-making l Moral judgement

Guide to Content

l Understanding the concept 0 Critical activities l Critical attitudes l Barriers to critical thinking l Decision-making l Moral judgement l Concluding thoughts 0 Classroom practices l Hints for peace culture-building in school

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Learning Activities

7.1 Stereotype thinking 7.2 Practising critical thinking 7.3 A tool for inquiry 7.4 Values clarification 7.5. Analysing advertisements 7.6 Idea mapping 7.7 Restating problems 7.8 Force field analysis 7.9 Cause-effect analysis 7.10 Quick decisions 7.11 Looking for pros and cons

Understanding the concept

Critical thinking is a basic function of human intelligence primarily necessary to distinguish truth from falsehood. This faculty of our intelligence helps us to choose the right course of action in every sphere of life. Primarily critical thinking along with creativity is geared to the advancement of our civilization. How does critical thinking relate to peace?

Obviously democracy demands that people exercise their capacities of critical thinking. History tells us how undemocratic leaders suppressed critical thinking in their people. It was considered a threat to their position.

Peaceful living needs to exercise this capacity for moral judgement, responsible decision-making and right choice of action. In controversial issues, it is much easier for people to succumb to one side, than remaining impartial and open. The latter demands that you seek for information, inquire, analyse them critically and arrive at judgement.

Critical Activities

Critical thinking denotes as mentioned before inquiring into the truth of the matter presented. It functions through a number of intellectual activities. The most important activities are briefly discussed below.

Doubting is the first step in critical thinking. It is healthy for any thinking person to feel uncertain about a supposition presented to him. The state of uncertainty activates the intelligence to inquire the truth of the matter. In the process of doubting, you raise questions such as: Is it true? Can’t it be otherwise? How do we know it? Why is the person saying this? Though doubting creates discord and uneasiness, it is necessary to proceed further with the investigation. Now here we should not confuse critical thinking with the thinking in order to seek for confirmation.

Think Critically 169

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Inquiring is proceeding ahead searching for information and evidence for and against the case. Inquiring is basically questioning the truth of the premises on which the conclusion is built.

Analysing is the process of breaking down an issue into its basic units and in order to find out the truth of each unit. Analysing a supposition can be done in many lvays. Looking at it through various perspectives or points of view, tracing the development of the idea, comparing and contradicting it with other suppositions, categorizing, and identifying consequences are some of the methods used for. analysis.

Reality testing is attempting to judge its usefulness, or truth by applying it to existing situations or problems in the real world.

Whether verifying is finding out evidence is valid and consistent.

Concluding is arriving at a judgement whether the supposition is true or false, valid or not valid, right or wrong.

Critical Attitudes

A good critic needs a set of correct attitudes to healthy exercising of his capacity. Unbiased attitude is the foundation. He constantly watches his inner motivation, questioning:

l Am I biased? If so, what is the bias? l How has this bias been built in me? l Are there any hidden or subconscious motives at work within me, leading

me to take a particular side? l Am I emotionally involved here?

The second attitude is that of fairness and impartiality to all aspects of the issue. The critic needs to question:

l What are the hindering forces and constraints within me and outside against being fair on this issue?

l Am I investigating information and evidences from all aspects of the issue? l Am I intellectually honest? l Have I adequately studied all the views or aspects related to the issue?

Thirdly one needs to be concerned with the constructiveness of his criticism. A criticism should be useful to those who are concerned and affected by the issue. He should question his criticism asking

l Is it providing the right direction? l Is it throwing light on the understanding of the problem? l Does it provide inspiration for constructive action? l Is it friendly? l Is the tone positive?

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Barriers to Critical Thinking

Free Inquiry

0, Kalamas, It is proper for you to doubt; to feel uncertain. Your uncertainty has arisen in what is doubtful. Do not accept anything merely by, What you hear repeatedly. What has been handed down by tradition, Rumour, Surmise, Axiom, Attractive reasoning, Apparent logical inference or speculation, Appealing model, form or appearance Agreeable beliefs, Another S seeming abili&, Nor by out of respect for the teacher

The Buddha’s Charter of Free Inquiry (Kalama Sutta)

The above guide for inquiry given by the Buddha is still valid as it was 2,500 years ago. He approved the liberty of inquiry as a fundamental human right even in the field of religion.

Present day inquiry is based on the scientific method, the steps of which could be simplified as:

1. Identify the problem specifically 2. Study the problem by observing, analysing, etc 3. Propose a hypothesis 4. Test the hypothesis by empirical experiment 5. Conclude

In the field of science students need to be trained in scientific inquiry, beginning from the primary level. In our schools, teachers often complain that students are passive in questioning. Such passivity is obviously a consequence of teacher- centred education.

Decision-Making

We tend to think that decision-making is a simple act. But on a closer look, it may reveal itself to be a complex act, involving many dimensions such as ethical, social, organizational, legal, political and so on. Our decisions affect our families,

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organizations and those people who are involved with the issue. Obviously, it is a highly intellectual, personal and socially responsible act. Education should help students to be skilful decision-makers.

A classroom activity

Discuss the significance of the following instructions for decision-making.

1. Identify the issue. 2. Collect information on all aspects and sides of the issue. 3: Consult people. Test your assumptions with them. 4. Do not go by others’ pressures. 5. Do not go by your own emotional tendencies, likes and dislikes,

prejudices, and preconceived notions. 6. Be foresighted.

Generally our decisions fall into three types. They are routine decisions, impulsive decisions and responsible decisions. Routine decisions are made mechanically by habit. Impulsive decisions are made by pressure of emotions such as desire, anger, attraction, contempt and so on.

A decision-making can be simply stated as

l Where am I going? l What should I do now? Where do I really want to go? l What should I do now to go where I want to go?

The process of responsible decision-making undergoes six stages:

1. Recognize, analyse and define the problem. 2. Collect information as much as possible. 3. Generate alternatives 4. Evaluate each alternative considering its viability, benefits and consequences 5. Select the best alternative and implement. 6. Appraise the success. (If the problem is not successfully resolved, then go

back to Step 1)

Different conditions under which we have to make decisions are also important to know. There are three such basic conditions:

Certainty exists when the decision-maker can assure the expected outcome. Under this condition decision-making is easy. Routine decisions are mostly made under certainty.


Uncertainty exists under conditions where the decision-maker finds it hard to get information or working knowledge to deal with problems. Even the problem is not clear. There is a high degree of risk involved.

Conflict is when the decision-maker faces a competitive situation with one or several parties where the parties tend to defeat one another in order to gain.

Moral Judgement

Being moral is defined as (1) concerning principles of right and wrong behaviour, (2) ethical (3) (Attribute) based on people’s sense of what is right and just not on legal rights and obligations (4) following standards of right behaviour, good and virtuous (Oxford Dictionary, 1989) In this context it is very important for teachers to understand the stages of moral development of children. For instance, Jean Piaget the well-known researcher on children’s cognitive development postulates four stages of moral development. To present the stages in a nutshell, in the earliest stage the child is self-centred where he thinks, “What is good for me, is good.” As he develops further, he begins to think “What is good for my elders is good for me.” This is a stage where the child seeks discipline by imitating and seeking for conformation with adults’ standards of behaviour. Most of the children in lower primary are at this stage.

Thirdly they develop into thinking that “What is good for my peers is good for me.” In this period they are highly attracted to peer groups.

With the dawn of puberty the youth attains the capacity for abstract and independent moral judgement based on ethical principles. With the new capacities he thinks, “What is universally good and fair is good.” This independent and principle-based stage of moral development is the highest attainment according to Piaget.

Concluding Thoughts

Critical thinking is an essential intellectual capacity students need to acquire through education. It helps first and foremost right decision- making and moral judgement. It is useful for teachers to work with children knowing their stages of moral development.

Intended Outcome

Inquiry

Questioning, analysing Self-reflective clarification of one’s values and bias

Rational thinking

Logical argument


Identifying irrational elements

Concern for truth

Probing into the fact of the matter Acceptance of truth

Effective moral judgement

Principles based judgement of right behaviour

Effective decision-making

Defining the issue Collecting information generating alternatives Select the best alternative Consulting and testing Implementing

Classroom Practices

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Adopt a critical approach in presenting lessons. Always consider the other sides of the issues under discussion, Don’t judge issues as right and wrong / true and false for the students. Arrive at conclusions from a rational basis. Encourage questioning in the classroom. When controversies arise in lessons have short debates, or discussions on them. Encourage new perspectives. In helping to learn values provide activities to simulate and role-play moral situations. Use events in stories to introduce skills in decision-making.


l Encourage debating on important contemporary social issues in students’ associations.

l Organize seminars and lectures of intellectual interest in history, science, social studies, etc.


LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Think Critically

1. Stereotypes

This is an activity about inquiring into a basic barrier to critical inquiry.

Level: Secondary

Curriculum Concern: /Language/Literature/After relating a story about a fox or a serpent or discussing a stereotype

Objective: Identifying stereotypes in our thinking.

Activity: Step 1,

Write the word ‘ Serpent’ on the blackboard, and ask the class what kind of thoughts, feelings and ideas occur to them when they hear the word. (Children might say, for example;

- evil - poisonous - dangerous - It will bite.)

Write their responses on the board and proceed to the next word. ‘Fox’ (Children might say the fox is:

- cunning - shrewd. - intelligent.)

Write down the responses on the board.

Discuss the responses.

l How true are your responses? l Are all the serpents poisonous? l Are all the serpents dangerous? l Can you tell us the names of some innocent serpents, which don’t bite you?

Make students understand, calling serpents poisonous is a fixed conclusion or notion that it not true to all serpents.

Discuss the responses to the word ‘fox’.

l Is the fox a cunning creature? [In fact, the fox is just like any other animal. Only the story makers have portrayed them as ‘cunning’ and ‘shrewd’. It is not really true.


A stereotype is an idea that we have picked up from somebody, group, tradition, or propaganda, without critically analysing it. We generally do not question them. We accept them to be true because everybody seems to accept them.

Step 2.

Write the following words on the blackboard.

- Enemy - A white man. - A black man - Other religions - My country.

Take each word and inquire the kinds of fixed thoughts and feelings we have in responses to them. Such responses are stereotypes.

Step 3.

To develop critical thinking, we have to keep watch on the stereotyped responses that arise in our minds when on hearing certain words, on seeing certain objects, pictures, and people.

Step 4.

Explore the stereotypes we have in our mind about various things, people, events, etc. Make a list on the blackboard.


l What did you learn from the activity? l Are you prepared to question your fixed acceptances? l Do people like to question their beliefs and values? If not, what are their

fears? l What are the benefits of identifying our stereotyped ideas and responses?

2. Practising Critical Inquiry

This is an activity about a basic method of inquiring.

Level : Upper Primary / Lower Secondary.

Curriculum Concern: Language / speech/When you want to encourage students on inquiring a given issue

Objective: Enabling questioning into an issue.

Activity:

Write on the board the following ‘six’ words


* what * why * how * when * where * who.

Explain: the following points

1. Constantly people press us to accept or believe what they tell us 2. By accepting others’ ideas without inquiry, we may go wrong.

Now let us learn practising critical inquiry, using the words given on the board.

Let one of you make a simple statement like, ‘ I saw a car’. The class should ask him questions using those words, e.g. What kind of car was it? Why did you look at it? When did you see the car? Where was it? Who were in the car?

Examples for such statements.

l I don’t like travelling by bus. l The moon affects the earth. l Crimes are daily reported in the town. l The police are on the watch for lawbreakers. l Astrologers say: Planets influence our life. Encourage creative questions on these statements.


a What did you learn from the activity? l What was your difficulty, if you had any? l How are you going to use critical inquiry in your daily life?

3. A tool for inquiry

This is an activity about guiding students’ on how to organize their compositions and descriptive answers.

Curriculum Concern: When you are discussing how to organize contents matter in your answers.

Objective: Providing a tool and basis for inquiry.

Activity:

Write down the following model of the board.

Tell the class that they can use the model for inquiry in organizing their descriptive answers, essays, etc.

To demonstrate your statement take the topic. “The food we eat,” You can develop the theme in the following manner.


What

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Where

I When

How

What:

What kind of food do we eat? What kind of food do people eat in different countries? What are the basic foods? (Carbohydrates, fats, etc.) What are the good habits of eating?

Why:

Why do we eat? Why we should choose right food?

How:

How is food produced? How can we select right food? How much should we eat? How can food get unsuitable to eat?

Where:

Where do we get our food?

When* -* When should we eat during the day? When do we need to eat, different basic foods. More?

Who are the people involved in producing and preparing food?

Step 2 : Give a topic for analysis, e.g. Environmental Pollution

Ask students to organize their description using the six types of questions, working in groups.

Discussion :

l Review their presentations. 0 Suggest improvements.

178 Learning the way of Peace

4. Values Clarification

This is an activity about questioning one’s own value judgements.

Level: Secondary

Cui-ricuIum Concern: Language / Religion / When you want to help students to critically reflect on their values.

Objective: Enabling students to view their values

Activity:

(For this activity you need an empty hall, where children can move freely. Open air is also suitable)

Step 1.

Define the meaning of value judgement [When you say something is good/ bad or right / wrong/ or fair/ unfair, it is a statement of value judgement]. Get examples from the class.

Request students to gather together in a line along face forward. To begin the activity you announce a statement of value judgement, e.g.

- Eating flesh of animal is immoral. - You can’t gain good results from a bad man. - People can live without conflicts. - I believe that there are ghosts. - Capital punishment should be abolished.

Tell the class that those who do not agree with the statement should go to the opposite corner/side. Thus the class is divided into two groups with regard to the issue. Then, conduct a brief debate on the issue between the two groups. One participant may take only 3 minutes. Each participant gives one reason for his / her position.

Continue the debate at least with five value statements.


- What did you learn from the activity? - What was the most interesting instance in the activity? - Who raised interesting questions? - Did you enjoy the activity? If so why?

5. Analysing Advertisements.

This is an activity about practising skills in critical analysis.


Level : Upper Secondary

Curriculum Concern: Language /Religion / When you want children to practise critical thinking

Objective: Developing critical thinking:

Materials: At least 5 very attractive commercial advertisements, cut out from magazines.

Activity:

Stepl: Explain the following points:

1. We are highly influenced by commercial / and other types of advertisements all around us.

2. Commercial institutes do so in order to make people buy their products more and earn big profits.

3. There are other types of propaganda as well, e.g. political, religious, organisational.

4. Those who make advertisements use subtle psychological principles (tricks) to make them effective.

Step 2: Show an advertisement and identify the psychological principle (trick) they have used, e.g.

- Making it appealing to youth. - Using attractive human figures. - Using children’s pictures. - Showing an eye attractive thing and then connect it to their product.

Step 3: Divide the class into several groups. Provide an advertisement to each group. They have to identify the psychological strategy used in it.

Discussion: (After the presentation)

- Now are you able to identify the tricks in advertisement? - Why should we be critical about all kinds of propaganda?

6. Idea Mapping

This is an activity, which provides a tool for generating ideas in a given theme. It is useful for generating and organizing ideas. It is also useful in planning speeches, compositions and answers.

Curriculum Concern: Social studies/ language / When you want to instruct students to organize their ideas in writing

Objective: 1. Generating ideas 2. Organizing ideas into a composition or answer

180 Learning lhe Way of Peace

Activity:

Introduction: Idea mapping is helpful in thinking out and generating ideas in any given problem, in an organized form. You can use it for writing speeches. This is an activity, which provides a tool for generating ideas in a given theme, thinking along a line, probing into selected topics. It is useful for generating and organizing ideas. It is also useful in planning out speeches, compositions and answers.

Steps in idea mapping.

1. Write the issue of concern in the centre of the paper and box it. 2. Draw lines branching out from the centre indicating the major ideas. 3. Branch out the major idea lines to show specific ideas coming under each

of them. 4. Cover all the major aspects of the concern.

Demonstrate how to prepare an idea map, taking a social problem, in participation with the class.

7. Restating Problems

This is an activity about practising looking at an issue from a different perspective.


Curriculum Concern: Social studies/ When you discuss a social problem.

Objective: Improving critical thinking.

Activity:

Step 1.:

Explain that a problem is our interpretation of an existing situation. Therefore different people may perceive the same problem in different ways. Example: The problem of students overcrowding in public schools could be perceived or interpreted as a problem of

l the need of expanding our school systems. l the need of having good school architects. l the need of making double session schools. l the need of limiting school education. l the need of teacher recruitment.

It is useful to restate a problem by looking at it through various perspectives.

Instructions for restating problems.

1. Look at the issue from a different perspective. 2. Shift the focus of the issue to something else.


3. Look at it as problems of a larger issue.

Step 2.

Divide the class into groups and give each one a different problem, e.g.

0 Over population l Environmental protection. l Depletion of natural resources l Employment problem l Towns getting large

Discussion: After the presentation, discover more methods of restating problems.

Why restating a problem is useful?

8. Force Field Analysis.

This is an activity about situational analysis.


Curriculum Concern: Social studies / history /When you want students to analyse a contemporary social issue and find solutions.

Objective:

Practising a tool of analysis of social issues

Activity:

Step 1:

Take a social issue/situation /problems for analysis. Identify the goal or solution. Secondly identify the hindering forces to reach the goal. There may be blocks, limitations, and constraints or threats to reach the goal. Thirdly identify the helping forces to reach the goal, e.g. support groups, facilities, etc. Increasing helping forces can weaken hindering forces. The above three factors could be represented in the following model.

Helping Forces

Force Field Analysis

Step 2

Give a social problem that needs to find a solution. Let students work in groups and identify goals, hinder forces, and helping forces as much as possible. Based on the analysis they should recommend the way of solving the problem.

T -----


An example for a situation to analyse.

Suppose people in your community are gradually leaving the village and emigrate to the near city. As a result, the development work of the village is getting neglected. Suggest ways of stopping or reducing the exodus, taking the existing factors into consideration.

9. Cause - Effect Analysis

This is an activity, which introduces a tool for analysis of problems.

Level: Upper Secondary.

Curriculum Concern: Social studies / When you want students to find out causes and effects of an issue.

Objective: Developing analytical skills.

Activity:

Discuss the points: 1. A problem originates from a single or several causes. 2. Problem is the product of effects of the causes. 3. When the cause is removed, the problem ceases to exist.

Select al issue for analysis of cause and effect.

Example

Causes Problem Effects

Poverty Drugs and liquor Unemployment Lack of education Social learning Inefficient Police

Insecurity of life and property Declining human values Loss of innocent lives Social unrest Corruption Lack of law and order

Recommendations derived jkom the analysis

1. Improve living standard by poverty eliminating development projects. 2. Solve the problem of employment. 3. Improve the quality of education. Provide education for all. 4. Reduce social learning of aggression. Educate media personnel. 5. Improve and reorganize the present police service. Introduce new technologies

for crime detection.

Note: Each major cause has several sub causes. So are major effects. They could be arranged as branching out from the main cause or effect.

Think Criticully 183

Provide a social problem to groups for analyses.


1. What are the uses of identifying causes and effects of a problem? 2. What is a subcause?

10. Quick Decisions

This is an activity about quick decision-making.

Level : Secondary

Curriculum Concern: Physical Education/ Classroom management/ When you want to do a socializing activity to break the monotony in the class.

Objective. 1. Fun 2. Improving quick decision-making skills 3. Team-building

Activity. Step 1

Divide the class into groups of five. Introduce the activity in the following way:

“Now, I am going to give you a challenging imaginary situation where you have to make a quick decision in groups.”

Give them such a situation. They have to make decisions in-group within two minutes.

Examples for challenging urgent situation.

1. You are a member of a class team who collected a voluntary fund to buy a stock of books for the school library. You handed over Rs.3000 to Jagath, a member of your team, to return the money on the following day. However, Jagath is absent in school. Several days pass and he does not attend school. Your team decides to visit his home to see what has happened. There Jagath says that he has lost the money while coming home in the crowded bus. He is so upset that he does not know what to do. Now, as a group what are you going to do?

2. You are going alone to a nearby town for some purpose. You do not know anyone there. After getting down from the bus you find your purse missing. What are you going to do?

Provide at least five such situations.

Discussion:

Let a member from each group announce their decision after all the groups have finished. You list them on the board. Then take each one and discuss their viability, strengths and weaknesses. Finally select the best decision.

184 Learning /he Way of Peace

11. Looking for Pros and Cons

This is an activity about making intelligent decisions.

Curriculum Concern: Classroom management/When you are discussing self- development in the class.

Objective: Improving skills in decision-making

Activity.

Step 1 Introduction:

Discuss the importance of good decision-making. Explore with students types of decisions we make. (e.g. routine decisions, impulsive decisions and thoughtful decisions) Say that we are going to find a way of making thoughtful decisions.

Let’s find DOS and Don ‘Is in decision-making. Divide students into several groups and ask them to prepare a list of dos and don ‘ts in decision- making, e.g.

DOS

l Understand the situation/problem l Seek information l Discuss with people look at both sides of the problem, etc

Don %s

l Don’t go by emotions l Don’t decide when you are confused or angry

When they have completed let them present the lists to the class. Appreciate good points.

Step 2. Emphasize the need of looking at both sides of an issue in making a decision.

Present the following case:

Toduy is Suturduy. Early in the morning CI j?iend in the neighbourhood comes home and usks you to join a picnic with u group of his friends. You have decided whether to go or stay at home.

Suggest the following technique;

Take a piece of paper. Divide it into two. Write the topic Benefits on the left side and Losses on the right side. Evaluate each alternative by identifying all the benefits and losses of it.


Example 1 Alternative one: Going on the trip

Benefits Losses

I. I can enjoy myself. I. I have to spend money. 2 Get to know new friends. 2. I miss study at home for the test. 2. Visit that special place. 3. My parents don’t like me going. 3. Enjoy freedom with friends. 4. The place is not really interesting

to me. 4. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Alternative two : Stuying at home

Benefits

1. I can study for the test.

Losses

1. The day will not be interesting. anyway.

2. I can wash my clothes. 3. I need a good rest.

2. I will miss visiting that place. 3. My friend will not like me.

Instructions

1. In getting the right information discuss with people. 2. Identify many consequences as far as possible. 3. Mark important benefits and losses with a tick.


1. ‘Making good decisions are of little importance, unless one does not implement them.’

Comment.

2. How can you use this technique in your daily life?

-..- - .. -I-.---‘-

Period from . . . to ._. _. Teacher’s Self-Evaluation: Core Value: Resolve Conflict Non-Violently

Media of Posilive Effect on Children’s Integration Integration change Change

Attempted Subject

to develop Language Social Physi- Al-h Science Other Co-curri Class Teaching Perspect- Very Effective Not so

Studies cal Edu- Sub.jects Activities Mgt. methods ive Effective Etlective cation

I.Ability to analyse conflicts f I- f f f f f f f To understand f f f f f f f f f needs and fears

2.(iencrating creative f f f f f f f f f solutions f f f t f f f f f

3. Skills in f f f I- f f f f f negotiation f f f f f f f f f

4. Ability to mediate f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f

5. Control of anger f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f

Marking = Discussed

s = Discussed with Activities No. of times (Frequency)

Comments... . ._. . . . . . _.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..__._......................................................................... . . . . . .

Suggestions for professional development... . . . . . . . ___. . .._ ,.. . . . . . . __. _: . . . __. ___ ,.. ._. . . . .., .__ ._. . . . _.. . ,.

Suggestions for the improvement of the Guide . . . . . ..__ _.. . .._ ____.. . . . . . . . . . . .._ _..... ._. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Supervisor

RESOLVE CONFLICT NON-VIOLENTLY

Being willing to resolve a problem does not mean you aren’t right. It means you give up making the other person wrong, by wiping the slate clean and

make a fresh start with each other. Helena Cornelius and Shoshana Faire

Objectives

0 Defines conflict l Analyses a conflict in terms of the needs of the parties 0 Values constructive conflict resolution l Explains the steps of effective conflict resolution l Describes methods of anger control l Develops skills in mediation

Core Values

0 Co-operative conflict resolution l Non-violence l Understanding others’ needs l Mediation

Content

l Understanding the concept l Definition 0 Causes 0 Can conflict be constructive? 0 Steps in conflict resolution l Intended outcome l Children’s world of conflict 0 Classroom practices l Hints to peace culture-building in school.

Learning Activities

1. What is a conflict? 2. Count squares

_--.. ---7--


3. The story of the two donkeys 4. Conflict over an orange 5. Whose mango tree is it? 6. Controlling anger 7. How to deal with an angry person 8. Power struggle 9. Constructive conflict resolution 10. Mediation


Conflict is everywhere. It is a part of life. In fact it is on the increase in our time. This is because of the increasing individual differences and diversification of the society. On the other hand, competition in economic, political and other fields is intensifying. With the increasing population physical space and resources are getting restricted. In such a background, we have to learn how to live amidst conflict, handle and resolve them constructively. This theme concentrates on educating children in conflict resolution. We can begin the discussion by attempting to understand its nature.

Definition

How do you respond to the question “What is a conflict?” You might say it is a

- a difference of opinion - a clash of wants - a situation that arises from a disagreement between two persons or several

persons - a broken relationship - a vicious competition against one another

It is true to say that conflict arises from a difference of opinion. Inability to resolve conflict at the beginning, leads to complication and intensification. In the process of escalation of conflict your friend, colleague or neighbour with whom you have the disagreement, turns gradually to be your rival, opponent, antagonist and finally the enemy. The initial open and friendly situation that was there, at the beginning, becomes gradually tense and hostile.

Causes

Why do people get into conflicts? It is because of the other person’s way of behaviour. When two or more people are at conflict their interests may be concerned with,

- commodities at stake, e.g. object, land, money.

Resolve Conflict Non- l4olently 189

h

- opportunities at stake, e.g. opportunity for gain, privileges - principles and values at stake, e.g. religious beliefs, ideologies, cultural

valves - territory at stake, e.g. house, land, physical space, road, status - relationship at stake, e.g. trust, promise, personality clashes

You can take any conflict you know and identify the interest perceived at stake by the parties. It may be one interest or combination of several interests. Ross Stinger (1967) defines conflict as “a situation in which two or more human beings desire goals, to which they perceive as being obtainable by one or the other but not both.” According to the definition a conflict is made of three components. They are:

- Situation where the conflicting parties view each other as competitors, or having mutually competitive interests or wants.

- Attitudes, e.g. leading to hostility and frustration.

- Behaviour, e.g. threatening, destructive, egoistic, opposing, withdrawing acts.

This model of conflict is simple and useful in analysing a conflict. (See: Michell 1981)

Can conflicts be constructive?

As we said earlier, experiencing a conflict is unpleasant because of the tense feelings it produces. Intensive conflicts are associated with a flood of anxiety, confusion, suffering and negative emotions. However, this state of mind can be transformed into a positive state with a sense of challenge, efficiency and strength. It depends on the way you look at the conflict. If you look at it from a constructive attitude, then you feel positive. To have a positive attitude towards a conflict is to take it as a challenge and opportunity for development and self-correction. Next time you are confronted with a conflict, ask yourself, “What are the opportunities it can bring for me? How can I develop myself through this situation? What is the learning it brings for me?”

Conflicts become destructive simply because of the lack of skills in handling them. If they are handled properly towards positive results, it will bring growth, and renewed relationship, sense of fun and self-confidence. Recall a conflict you have resolved constructively. Destructive conhict occurs when the value of the conflict is not understood and when you react with negative emotions to it.

In a constructive approach to conflict resolution. yo!-I:

0 Control your negative emotions. 0 Listen actively.

P

Learning the Way of Peace

Speak efficiently. Deal with the other, as a person with a problem, need and human reaction. Face the issue directly and precisely. Separate the problem from the person and adopt a problem-solving approach. Show understanding and be understood. Be willing to change your position in face of facts and reason. Use a sense of humour. Generate alternatives acceptable to both you and the other person. Speak to the point. Use interpersonal shills. Be persistent.

Steps in Conflict Resolution

Our general tendency when confronted with a conflict is to attempt to win, by defeating the other. This pushes the other person also to adopt the same approach. As a consequence a destructive competition emerges out of the situation.

There are four possible solutions to any conflict. Let’s name the two parties in a conflict as A and B. The possibilities are.

A B

1. Win Defeat 2. Defeat Win 3. Defeat Defeat 4. Win Win

It is easy to understand possibilities of (1) and (2) when one person wins, by defeating the other. In the third possibility both parties are defeated. An example for it would be a situation in an organization where two officers assault each other and as a result both of them get sacked. The ideal solution is the fourth possibility where both parties win. That means they resolve the problem in such a way, that both are satisfied. But that does not necessarily mean you win on your own the predetermined wishful way. In the course of negotiation for solving the problem each party has to give up certain things in order to gain other things. Only then can they arrive at common ground. The conflicting parties should co-operate with each other by adjusting their positions to reach a solution, satisfactory for both of them.

In a conflict the solution in reached through undergoing three basic stages:

1. Confrontation 2. Negotiation 3. Implementation.

Resolve Conflict Non- fiolently 191

Let us see the way to work towards a satisfactory solution through the three stages.

Confrontation is the stage when the difference surfaces. As a consequence, the parties feel disturbed and even threatened in their position. However it is easy to discuss the problem openly at this initial stage. In this stage they can:

1. Define the problem in terms of needs of the people involved

In this context, it is important to know the meaning of the word ‘need’. At the core of any conflict lie the needs of the conflicting parties. In faet a conflict is a two or more sets of needs pulling in different directions. Whenever a person finds his need is threatened, the natural reaction is to be defensive. Fear is inbuilt in defence. Thus need and fear go together.

One day I burst into anger with the stationmaster; when he announced that the train was delayed. It was the$rst day of my examination. Instantlyfear arose in me that the delay of the train might lead to faiiure in the examination.

Every need generates a fear of possible loss. To understand a conflict, you have to identify the underlying needs and fears of the others as well as your own. However people’s needs are mostly covered up by their wants. A want is different from a need. A want is born out of desire. In other words, a want is a wishful intention, whereas a need is real, in the sense that you can’t survive without it. For instance:

1%~ are thirsty, and you get angry with the village shopkeeper for not having your particular brand of sweetened drink. In this instance what is your need? In fact, your real need is water to quench thirst.

In the above situation you have confused want with need. The implication for conflict resolution here is not to get upset by people’s demands or their wants. See through their wants and identify the needs underlying them. Each person in conflict has to identify one’s own needs as well as the other’s needs. For this you have to avoid blaming and use such expressions like: “What I need here is . . . . . . . ...” “1 feel upset when you behave this way, because . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . “. “Tell me what is your real need?”

2. Agree with the definition of the problem with the other party

A conflict cannot be resolved unless the parties come to a common definition of their problem. For instance, they should agree to what the exact problem is. For example, in a conflict with someone, I say one thing and the other says another thing as to what the conflict is. Then we cannot solve it. This situation is obvious in any ongoing conflict around you.


Negotiation is the process of reaching a common and fair agreement on a solution to a problem affecting two or more parties. In negotiating you ask questions for getting to know the problem from the other’s side, and trying to explain your side. Having thus established the understanding both of you try to find a win-win solution. In negotiating you ask questions to steer the negotiation on the right track. You may seek specific clarifications on the issues and the needs of the other person.

Active listening is an important skill in negotiation. Active listening involves in giving your full attention to what the other person is saying, feeding back, encouraging deeper probing, supporting the other person’s attempt to find solutions, and summarizing what is said.

3. Brainstorm possible solutions for both

Find with the other, the alternative solutions extensively to the problem. Don’t get fixed to your position demanding the only way you want to solve the conflict. Take away the other person also from his fixed position by exploration of alternatives solutions, which are agreeable to both parties.

4. Select the best solution for both

Taking the alternative solutions one by one the parts can evaluate them eliminating the unacceptable ones to them. The evaluation of alternatives goes until they come to one alternative most agreeable to both.

Implementation is the final stage.

5. Implement solution

Means planning, setting agreed time target, and act according to agreed term of the solution.

6. Evaluate implementation

Find out how it works in practice and how people feel about the solution. Perhaps the parties may need some adjustments as the implementation takes place and the original problem might change. However, if the parties are not satisfied as things go they can restart negotiation.

In the procedure of conflict resolution, you need skills in active listening, assertiveness, conflict analysis and negotiation. Though the above sequence of steps seems formal, in a practical situation they may be mixed. However, to reach a solution in this manner both parties need to be honest, respectful to each other on an equal power basis. They must be willing to arrive at a consensus and co-operate with each other in finding a satisfactory solution.

Resolve Conflict Non- Violently 193

Intended outcome

C

- Defining conflict - Analysing a given conflict by the needs of the parties involved - Valuing constructive resolution - Effective resolution skills - Ability to mediate.

Children’s world of conflict

Children are not free from conflict. A teacher needs to know the nature and types of conflicts that children have. In helping them to learn conflict resolution the teacher can take examples and cases from their conflicts.

Conflicts at homes

- Jealousies among the brothers and sisters, by comparing with each other on what they get from parents.

- Problems of equal treatment, privileges and personal rights. - Problems arising from carrying out their responsibilities. - Inability to deal with parents’ anger, negative comments and violence - Deprivation of freedom to play, meet friends and express oneself. - Deprivation of parents’ love. - Deprivation of physiological needs, e.g. food, proper shelter, owing to low

income. - Problems with elder brothers or bigger kids in the neighbourhood. - Drunkenness of father disturbing peace at home. - Instance of child abuse, e.g. severe punishment. - Separation of parents. - False accusations.

Conflict in school

- Name calling - Being snubbed / being teased. - False accusations. - Fear of being unprepared, e.g. not having a pencil, not ready with homework,

not having read the lesson. - Misunderstanding by teachers. - Negative remarks by teachers. - Being cheated by a peer. - Being deprived of opportunity to participation in activities that the child

likes.


- Inability to buy things that the school requests. - Physiological problems, e.g. hunger, low energy, - Exclusion by peers. - Adolescent growth problems.

The classroom should have open sessions where children can freely discuss and express their conflicts and problems. Unfortunately the traditional school is too busy to take into consideration this lively aspect of children’s growth.

Classroom Practices

1. Find opportunities during the lessons in subjects like literature, history and social studies, to discuss concepts and methods of conflict resolution. Some events in the text provide good case studies for identifying the needs and fears of the conflicting parties, how they failed to reach agreement, their short-sightedness, and the ways they could have found a solution.

2. Appoint one or several classroom mediator/s or peace maker/s in order to help students to resolve their conflicts. This will give them an opportunity to practise conflicts resolution in actual situations. (See School Practices)

3. Organize special sessions/workshops for students on developing skills in active listening, concept analysis, negotiation and problem-solving.

4. Whenever you find vicious conflicts in students, get them to meet you, and do counselling in privacy helping them to understand each others’ feelings, explore into their own consciousness to discover the deep cause for such behaviour and their inner unresolved problems. Get them to discuss and resolve their problems, by speaking out, listening to each other, proposing alternatives and finally agree upon a situation.

Hints to peace culture-building in school

1. Provide an opportunity for children to discuss their problems openly in the class.

2. Conduct staff development sessions on ways of improving relationships with the teaching staff and students.

3. Conduct session for parents, to draw their attention to children’s problems.

Resolve Conflict Non- fiolently

LEARNING ACTIVITIES

195

Resolve Conflict Non-Violently

l.What is a conflict?

This activity discusses the basic nature of conflict.

Level: Secondary.

Curriculum Concern: Social Studies/ history / When you want to discuss in history or literature.

Objective: Understanding conflict

Activity : Introduction.

Conflict is a part of our life. Although we do not like conflict, we have to face them in life.

Step 1.

Lets find synonyms for conflict, e.g. quarrel, fight.

Ask each student to write down on a piece of paper the immediate feelings, reactions, memory, or thoughts that come to his or her mind when they hear the word ‘conflict’ (Expected responses: anger, assault, violent behaviour, harsh words, etc.)

Step 2.

l Ask them to write a definition of conflict. And read it out to the class. Putting together the best concepts, in their definitions find a comprehensive definition. Write it on the board.

e.g.. Conflict is a situation between two parties over a disagreement on an issue in which they have a common interest.

Step 3.

Divide the class into five groups. Give them five minutes to select a type of conflict and rehearse role-playing it.

Each group present their role-play to the class. Every presentation is followed by a discussion with a view to understand the nature of the conflict.


l What did you learn about conflicts? l What are the basic types of conflicts? l Why do people have conflicts?

Build a summary of the discussion on the board.

C


2. Count Squares

This is an activity that helps to understand that individuals have different perspectives.


Curriculum concern: Social studies / When you want to give a brainteaser to create interest in solving problems.

Objective: Understanding that people differ in their perspectives.

Activity. Step 1

Draw the following square on the board.

How many squares are there here?

Give five minutes to count the squares individually and write down the count on a piece of paper.

Step 2:

Let students show their counts to others. Group the students according to their counts. Then the groups are requested to prove that their number is correct.

Discussion: Guide question

1. Why the counts are so different in the class? 2. What can we learn from this experience? (Let children come out with the following responses.)

a People see the same thing differently. l To say I am right and you are wrong is misleading. l We can look at an issue either narrowly or broadly. People who look

at it narrowly may say that there is only one square. People who look at the above puzzle broadly may see many squares.

Resolve Conflict Non-Eolently 197

l When we ‘look at something broadly, we begin to see new aspects or components.

l Conflicts arise from a difference of perspectives between parties. l By discussing the, differences we can arrive at agreeable positions.

3. The story of the two donkeys

This is on activity about co-operation problem-solving Level: Primary

Curriculum concern: Language / Story time.

Objectives: Understanding that conflicting parties can resolve their problems through mutual discussion.

Activity: Narrate the following story

There were two donkeys tethered at either end of a short rope around their necks in a stall. On one corner of the stall there was a heap of grass, and stack of straw in the opposite corner One donkey eats only grass, while the other one eats only straw.

The first one tried to reach the heap of grass. At the same time, the second one also tried to reach the stalk of straw, In this way the poor donkeys were caught to a tag war The harder they tried, the more they cut their necks by the rope. Their struggle was desperate.

Step 2.

Ask the student how they would suggest resolving this conflict between the two donkeys. Note their suggestions on the board until you get the correct one.

Explain how they resolved the solution:

The two donkeys at last realized that it was pointless to struggle against each other TheJirst donkey said to the other, “Friend by competing against each other neither you nor I will win. We only get our necks cut. Let us co- operate. When I reach the heap of grass you come with me and wait until I eat it. Then I will.follow you to the stack of straw. I will wait until you finish eating. ”

They agreed on the solution. Instead of competing with each other in this way, they were able to resolve the problem through mutual co-operation, amicably. Such settlements are called win- win solutions, because bothpar- ties feel they have won or gained.


Step 3.

Divide the students into five groups and ask them to draw the five stages of the two donkeys’ problems. On completion display their drawing.

4. Conflict over an orange

This is an activity about understanding people’s needs in conflicts.

Level: Secondary

Curriculum concern: Social studies/ when you discuss causes of war / conflicts.

Objective:

Enabling to identify the needs of parties in conflicts.

Activity: Present the following case study.

Sita was getting ready to leave for her school. She went to the orange tree andplucked the only ripe orange that was in the tree.

On seeing it, Kamal, her elder brothel; came and snatched away the orange from her saying that it belonged to him. They began quarrelling.

Hearing the quarrel, their father came to them and tried to settle the conflict. He said, “Cut the orange into two halves, and have your half”

“No: I don ‘t want half” said both in disagreement. Both wanted the full orange. It was out of season and there were no oranges in the market to buy

Step 2.

Having presented the case, ask the students to propose solutions, on behalf of the father.

Explain the following points during the discussion.

Underlying people’s conflict they have strong needs. Conflict is a situation where two or more needs pull in different directions.

People accept solutions to their conflicts only if they satisfy their needs.

Now let’s see how Sita’s and Kamal’s conflicts were resolved finally.

Sita said that she would not go to school tf she didn ‘t get the full orange. Both of them wanted the single orange. Finally father asked Kamal, ” Why do you want this orange? ”

“I want to have a glass of orange juice, with a halfI can ‘t have it, ” Kamal rep1 ied.

Resolve Conflict Non- I/Tolently 199

Then father asked Situ the same question.

She said : “I have our home science lesson today. Last week Ipromised my teacher to bring an orange to make marmalade. We need some orange peels to make marmalade. ”

After listening to their needs father peeled the orange and gave the orange flesh to Kamal andpeels to Situ. They were satisfied about the solution and ended the conflict.


l What kind of solution was it? (Win-lose or win-win) l Why did they agree to the solution?

Comment: Since a problem arises from both the parties, it is the responsibility of both parties to resolve it co-operatively.

Do you agree with the following attitudes about conflicts?

l Let him win and I will lose. l If I do not win, I will never allow him to win, too. l I can’t allow him to win in any case. l Let us discuss the problem and find an agreeable solution. l We must find a fair solution. l The only way for me to win is to defeat the other.

5. Whose mango tree is it?

This is an activity, about win-win solutions.

Level: Secondary.

Curriculum Concern: Social studies / when you want to discuss justice/ being fair/ co-operation.

Objectives: 1. Understanding the types of solutions in conflict 2. Valuing win-win solution.

Activity. Step 1.

Present the following case study.

A mango plant that grew on the fence in between your land and the neighbours land. It started bearing fruits in this season. One day your neighbour comes and tells you that the mango tree belongs to him. You tell him it is yours. In fact nobody knows who planted the tree on the fence.


Step 2.

Let us see various types of solutions available to this conflict. The possible solutions are:

Discuss. First possibility is that you win and the other loses.

Under this solution, you own the tree by use of force, threatening him or else you pluck the fruit in his absence.

The second possibility is that you lose and the other wins.

Under this possibility he owns the tree in the same ways given above.

The third possibility is that you lose and the other loses, i.e. both parties lose. It can happen here if one of you cut down the tree.

The fourth possibility is that you win and the other also wins. This is called a win -win solution where, both parties feel they have gained. Here several alternatives are available.

For instance, both of you can share the fruit equally or you can have the yield in one season and the other in the next season.

Step 2: Role-play.

The class is divided into four groups. Each group is assigned to select two participants and role-play the dialogues of one of four possible solutions. They practise for some time and stage it in the class.

6. Controlling anger

This is an activity about discovering the ways of controlling anger.

Level: Secondary.

Curriculum concern: Religion /when you have reconciled a conflict in the class.

Objective: Understanding the need and the ways of controlling anger.

Activity: Step 1

Present the following case.

Kumar was waiting in a long queue at the bus stand to get into a bus.

He was impatient and the bus was late. Then he saw a person comingfrom somewhere outside and stood in front of the queue. It was unfair: Kumar went to him and demanded to go and stand at the end of the queue. That person said, “No I won ‘t do that. Do whatever you can. ” Kumar could not control his anger. He assaulted the person in a fit of anger

_ . I - . “ . - ~ - “ “ . “ . . .

Resolve Conjlict Non- Kolently 201

On seeing that a policeman came and took both of them to the police station, where they had to spend the whole morning. Finally they had to apologise to each other and come out. Kumar was advised by the police to refrain from assaulting people.

Discussion Step 2.

1. What made Kumar assault the person?

(Let a student come forward and speak as Kamal to explain what went on in his mind)

2. Can you narrate an incident you know, where people committed destructive acts under the impulse of anger?

Step 3.

Students are asked to work in groups and make a list of instructions about ways of controlling anger. They present the methods. Do a follow up discussion with each presentation. Include the following methods of anger control if they are missing.

l Do not act or take decisions under the impulse of anger. Postpone action. l Know and accept yourself, that you are angry. l If you happen to explode in anger, be silent, show that you feel sorry and

apologise. l In a conflict never react to the other person’s words or deeds in anger. l Instead of being harsh, speak to the person, assertively, e.g. “When you

speak like that I feel hurt.” l If your angry feelings are boiling inside after the incident, release them

physically through acts such as swimming, kicking a ball or working hard in the garden.

7. How to deal with an angry person

This is an activity about some assertive ways of dealing with angry persons.

Level : Secondary.

Curriculum concern: Classroom management / When you have reconciled a conflict in the class.

Objective: Exploring ways of dealing with angry persons.

Activity: Introduction.

1. Have you ever seen how an angry person shouts and threatens the others?

Have you been subjected to such a situation? What is the right way of behaving when a person explodes in anger with you?


2. In such situations, some people will become submissive, silent and passive. Some other people will be aggressive by reacting, abusing, threatening and assaulting. However being submissive as well as aggressive is not helpful. Often they lead to further aggravating or exacerbating the problem.

Step 2:

Let students go to groups and propose a list of instructions on the right way of dealing with an angry person.

Step 3:

Following each presentation bring about the following effective ways of dealing with angry persons.

A guide to deal with angry people

l Be assertive and avoid being submissive or aggressive. l Listen to the person empathetically, showing your understanding. l Do not react. l Show your understanding using such expressions, as “I can understand

your anger here.” l Show acceptance whenever you can agree with some of his points, e.g.

“There I am with you. There you are right.” l If you were wrong accept it, e.g. “Yes. I do accept it.” l If you are right, then tell him stating gently, “Look so far I listened to

you, now would you listen to what I have to say?” l Try to bring the other person to a problem-solving discussion.

8. Power struggle

This is an activity to understand the nature of power struggle in conflicts.

Level: Secondary.

Curriculum concern: Social studies / When you want to step into a lesson about a war or conflict in history.

Objectives: 1. Understanding that power struggle leads to violence 2. Understanding the effectiveness of non-violent response to power

struggle.

Resolve Conflict Non- fiolently 203

Activity.

Step 1.

Take students to an open space. Ask students to pair with a partner. Name the two lines as A and B.

Request the pair to stand face to face, to raise their palms to shoulder level, and keep them on each other’s palms, in a position ready to push.

Then give a command to line A: “When I count 1,2,3, at the point of 3 push your palms against the palms of the other one standing in front of you.

Give the command.

Step 2.

Let the students sit in a circle for the discussion.

You invite a student to come to the middle to do a demonstration of the previous act with you. The student stands against you in the pushing position. You say, “Start”. When the student pushes against your palms allow him to fall towards you, by not pressing against him. As he falls towards you, embrace him.


l Stand up those who pushed back. l Hands up those who did not push back? l Remind that you commanded only those who were in line A line to push.

You never ask those in line B to push back. Why did they push back?

Discuss our tendency to resist violence by violence.

e.g To react to name calling by name calling. To react to anger by anger. To react to assault by assault. To react to hate by hate.

l Turn the attention of the class to what you did (You did not push back. It led the opponent to fall. You embraced him. The struggle ended in friendship.)

l What does my way of behaviour represent? Get students’ responses: (Expected responses) - Not to resist evil by evil. - To react to bad by good. - To react to hatred by compassion. - To react to violence by non-violence.

9. Constructive conflict resolution

This is an activity, about constructive conflict resolution.


Level: Secondary

Curriculum concern: Class room management /When you want to introduce peaceful ways of conflict resolution among students.

1. Conflict is a part of life. 2. Though it is unpleasant, yet it can be resolved constructively and end

happily. 3. Recall a conflict, and tell us how you experienced it.


1. Shock 2. Anger 3. Suffering 4. Frustration 5. Restlessness

Step 1.

1. We have to identify conflict in its early stages. Conflict is easy to resolve at the beginning.

2. Conflict needs to be handled well so that it does not turn out to be destructive. 3. Let us brainstorm, how people behave destructively in conflict.


o Blaming the other o Threatening o Challenging o Destroying property o Impulsive behaviour

4. How can such conflict end? (Expected responses)

1. Turning the other into an enemy. 2. Escalation of conflict. 3. Resentment.

5. When people resolve conflicts constructively how do they end? (Expected responses).

o With mutual satisfaction. o Renewed relationship o Improvement of self-confidence o Self-development 0 Learning

Resolve Conflict Non- Kolently 205

Step 3.

Students get into groups and identify the characteristics of handling conflict destructively and constructively. They complete the following chart.

Destructive Approach Constructive Approach

e.g. 1, Emotional behaviour 1. Mature behaviour 2. Anger 2. Patience 3. Aggression 3. Assertion 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 . . . . ..*........

Step 4

Discussion

Appreciate and elaborate good points in students’ charts.

1. Use the following guide to enrich the discussion.

Conflict Resolution

Destructive Approach Constructive Approach

1. Emotional behaviour 1. Mature behaviour / Emotional control 2. Anger 2. Patience 3. Aggression 3. Assertion 4. Short-sighted 4. Long-sighted 5. Blunting the person 5. Separating the person from the problem 6. Threatening 6. Inviting discussion 7. Not listening 7. Active listening 8. Demanding the fixed solution 8. Searching for alternative solution 9. Egocentric 9. Problem-centred 10. Closed / non negotiable 10. Open/negotiable

10. Mediation

This is an activity, about understanding the mediation process.

Level: Secondary.

Curriculum concern: Classroom management / when you want to inform the students about mediation.

Objectives: Learning mediation Developing basic skills in mediation.


Activity : Introduction

1. When two parties in a conflict, which they find difficult to resolve by themselves, a third person can intervene between them and help to settle disrupter. This process is called mediation.

2. Mediation is stepping in between two conflicting parties to help resolve their problem.

3. The mediator should be an impartial person acceptable to both parties. 4. You can be a mediator when your friends are in conflict, and when they

need someone to step in.

The Steps of Mediation:

1. Introduce yourself as a mediator. 2. Listen to both the parties. 3. Get them to discuss their problem and suggest solutions. 4. Help them to select the most agreeable solution and settle the conflict.

Let us have a closer look at the steps :

Step I. Introducing yourself as a mediator.

Ask the parties, whether they like you to help them to come to a settlement.

Take them to a quiet place.

Step 2: Listening to both the parties.

Ask party A to explain what has happened. Party B should listen, without interruption.

Secondly, ask party B to explain what has happened. Party A should listen without interruption.

You ask them more questions, get the matter clarified, to other parties and you as well.

Step 3: Get them to discuss.

Ask them to discuss how to resolve their problem.

Let each party suggest alternative solutions.

Encourage them to explore good solutions.

Step 4: Help them to select the most agreeable solution.

They have to come out with suggestions until they find the most agreeable one.

Once they find the agreeable solution, help them to plan the implementation of the agreed solution. How not to restart it after the settlement. What they should do and shouldn’t do with regard to the problem.

Resolve Conflict Non- Violently 207

Congratulate both parties for their co-operation given to mediation.

Precept the following case study to the class.

Prem and Janak are studying in the same class. Prem complains Janak is nicknaming him. It is really hurting him. Prem has requested him several times to stop it. But he didn ‘t care. This prompted Prem also to retaliate by nicknaming Janak. As a consequence they had a heated argument and even- tually they started fighting. The resentment is continuing.

Invite three students to come to the front and role-play the three characters. Prem Janak and a mediator.

As a facilitator guide them through the four steps of mediation described above.


l What is mediation? Explain it in your own words.

l Why should a mediator be impartial?

l What are the difficult situations, a mediator can face in helping to settle conflicts?

l What are the skills necessary to mediate conflict?

0 “A mediator is only a helper. He does not force his solution on the parties. The parties in conflict should come out with the solution.” Comment on the statement.

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Period from . . . . . . . . . . . to . . . . . . . . . . Teacher’s Self-Evaluation: Core Value: Care for the Planet

4ttempted to develop

1. Ability to analyse conflicts To understand needs and fears

2. Generating creative solutions

3. Skills in negotiation

4. Ability to mediate

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Supervisor

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18

BUILD PEACE IN THE COMMUNITY

We can make the new world if we want We can make the new world if we all try

What we do is to make it show And the old world’s got to go

We can make the new world and we will

From a song by P.J. Hoffman

Objectives

l Studies and discusses contemporary social issues l Acts with civic responsibility l Demonstrates healthy patriotism l Participates in community development activities l Adopts democratic principles

Core Values

l Concern for community building l Civic responsibility l Citizenship

Content

l Understanding the concept 0 Social exposure programmes l Citizenship attitude building l Intended outcome l Hints for peace culture-building

Learning Activities

l Exemplary activities from l Arts l Social Studies l Language



This theme aims at developing children’s knowledge, attitudes and skills for active and responsible citizenship. Education is accountable to produce good citizens for both the country and the world. Schools can easily forget this obligation in their competition for examination results or daily organizational maintenance efforts. Are schools genuinely concerned for developing students’ citizenship? Does that concern reflect in the behaviour of our youth? We often hear people saying, that the present youth, lack interest in issues of their own country. The general immaturity into social problems is reflected by their values’ system. In some countries terrorism grows fertilely on this lack of informed citizenship of the youth. School has a heavy responsibility to develop their students’ civic attitudes. For this, first of all schools should set examples in being interested in the contemporary social issues, in preference to keeping up with the long prevailing tradition distancing themselves from the social reality. Schools teach children the past as history but are blind to the present.

Social exposure programmes

We have to rediscover how schools can work in developing citizens for the country as well as the globe. Obviously occasional references and discussions into social issues are insufficient in creating a strong civic consciousness. One effective method for it will be the social exposure programmes in schools. Such a programme has six steps.

1. Expose students to socid reality

Exposing children to the social reality means letting them see what is going on outside the walls of the school, how people live, what their problems are and what we can do about them. In addition to visits, we can discuss current issues in the classroom, school assembly and seminars. Generally primary children are not exposed to negative situations. However primary children will be benefited in being exposed to good things in the society that build hope for them. To them negative realities could be presented indirectly. If we look deeper into good fairy tales we can see that they represent the struggle between the good and bad. Children who listen to them may not understand the inner message at once but as they grow they will slowly begin to realize it. Many children’s stories speak in symbolic language. From the secondary grades children could be slowly exposed to social realities like poverty, drug addiction, environmental issues like pollution, and scarcity of drinking water and current heath problems. Exposure to social reality broadens children’s vision of the world. They develop right attitudes. Exposures need not always be negative to social conditions. Children can visit successful community development project sites as well. Among others are important historical sites, mines, harbours, preserved natural parks museums and educational institutes.

Build Peace in the Community 211

Institutions such as courts, drug rehabilitation centres, observatories and prisons can also provide insights to children. The insights developed through such exposures have to be backed up by classroom activities.

A teacher reports: ( in Sri Lanka )

The school organized a peace education workshopfor perfects. A few days later prefects held a meeting to plan their annual prefect day Instead of having a gala celebration as they used to have in the past, they decided to go to a war-threatened disadvantaged area and donate basic essential items to children in a school. They collected a heavy load of such items from the community and with the support of the other students organized a trip with some members of the staff They performed a cultural educators ’ show in that school which was a heart moving get-together of children.

On the way back as we were coming, I asked an enthusiastic student how he felt. He observed, “ I was really moved to see the condition of poverty I decided to dedicate my ltfe to the welfare of the poor people in our society. ”

Evaluate

Act problem

Exposure to social reality

Identify a problem

Study the

Decide a course of action

A model of community peace-building project

2. Identifv a community problem

With the facilitation of the teacher, children select a problem to act upon according to their own capacity level.

Examples of problems.

l Environmental destruction / Pollution in the surroundings l A health hazard, e.g. smoking 0 Illiteracy


0 Poverty l A current issue of child right / human right / violation l Lack of a particular citizenship attitude in the community l Vandalism on public property a Waste of water

3. Study the problem

This phase involves collecting information gathered from reading, interviewing people, studying case histories and consulting. In fact these studies could easily be built into the subject lessons (See the examples at the end)

4. Decide the course of action

The approach adopted here is purely problem-solving where children take the lead to study and find solutions. The discussions are headed by themselves These studies and discussions can be accommodated in the co-curricular activities. (See examples at the end of the chapter) The studies of the problems and their presentation can be academic exercises using graphs, charts, photographs, drawings, written reports, and maps studying an analysis of the problem that leads to deciding a course of action, preparation of a plan and organization for implementation.

5. Act

Among the action children can take with regard to social problems are raising public awareness, writing to authorities, educating the-people, and engaging in shramadana (free labour donation). They can engage in public awareness raising activities such as

l Exhibitions 0 Processions l Street drama l Putting up posters and banners l Wearing symbolic badges

How children saved trees.

In a rural area of Sri Lanka a certain Provincial Council decided to cut down the old trees besides the public road. The trees provided shade to the public road and added to the beauty of the environment. On hearing the news a group of children in a neighbourhood school organized a’rally against the decision. They went on a rally covering every tree by a strip of white cloth with the sentence written on each tree saying, ‘Please don ‘t cut me. Iprovide you shade. ’

The rally created public opinion .As a result finally the Council gave up their decision.


6. Evaluate

All the activities need to be reflected upon by the students with the participation of a teacher. In reflective discussion they evaluate their experience in the light of strengths and weakness. It needs to be mentioned here that community peace building activities should not necessarily be engaged always in public campaigns as such. They could be done within the school through curricular and co-curricular activities. The nature of the activities widely differs according to the age level of the children.

Community building

The word community is defined as “the people living in one place, district or country considered as a whole.‘[Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary] A community is linked together by many common factors and as a result they affect each other, Community building is a process that needs to go on continuously in a society or a country. It happens at various levels such as social restructure, educational reforms, cultural reawakening, conflict reconciliation, reemphasis of morality and value system. The movement may cease once the community starts getting disintegrated and disoriented. Especially after a war or a social catastrophe we find the community falls apart. Then it has to be rebuilt through special efforts.

Citizenship attitude building

Being a citizen involves understanding one’s role as a member of the community or nation and acting with responsibility. A social role is built upon a certain set of attitudes. Attitudes are predispositions to behaviour.

Education is accountable to the society to produce good citizens. The word citizen is basically a political term. It is the politics in the global context. Thus a good citizen thinks globally and acts locally. Citizenship need not always be interpreted in a parochial narrow sense as blind obedience to the immediate political forces.

In promoting citizenship a school needs a clear model of it both in terms of local and global needs. With that picture in mind they have to draw education programmes within the curriculum. Peace education basically attempts developing peaceful attitudes in the future citizen. Good citizenship is built upon the following attitudes anywhere in the world.

1. Patriotism is the ground on which citizenship and democracy is based. A person is obliged to perform his duties because of his love for the community and country. It is a basic attachment to nation beyond the present interest of the government in power. In it there is general willingness to co-operate with the nation’s effort for advancement.


2. Productivity is the degree of contribution a citizen makes towards the development of one’s society. A good citizen does not want to be a burden on his people. He or she thinks in terms of “What can I give to the country?” not in terms of “What can I get from the country?”

3. Civic responsibility is the consciousness of one’s duties towards the society in day-to-day life as well in long-term perspective, e.g. being informed about the current political and other issues, abstaining from disturbing the peace of the neighbourhood, protection of public property, participation in community building activities.

4. Interest in contemporary community, national and global issues. A citizen takes interest to seek information on the issues affecting his or her society at every level. Today there is a global tendency developing towards individualism. One of the seeming dysfunctions of this tendency is selfishness, which drives people to pay less care or no care to social issues and duties. Elders often criticize the youth as being increasingly disinterested in the problems of their society.

5. Active participation in community building: A citizen is bound by duty to participate actively in community building according to his or her best capacities. The Convention on the Rights of the Child lays great stress on the need of recognizing children’s right to participate in community life and development through seeking information, expressing views and opinions through equal access to opportunity for personal development and cultural activities and education. Active participation in community building and environmental protection is the most effective way of developing children’s attitudes and interests on responsible citizenship.

6. Cultural enricI.ment: A good citizen is a cultured person in that he is disciplined by the rich qualities of his culture as well as the global culture. Educationally speaking, children at the beginning need to be nurtured and disciplined by their own cultures. As they grow up they should be exposed to other cultures as well so that they can appreciate and learn from them to be world citizens.

7. Obedience to law: A citizen is necessarily one who abides by the law of his country. Here by law we mean the established code of law. Justice is the source of rightful law. However a citizen tries to rectify laws when they happen to be unjust as it happens sometimes. Schools need to develop law consciousness in children. It is a striking fact that many school syllabi are silent about social justice and the civic laws.

8. National coherence: A citizen living in a multicultural society preserves the national unity by respecting and giving due recognition and rights to


all the sectors of people in spite of their differences of ethnicity, language, religion and class. Social diversity has to be viewed as an opportunity of social and cultural enrichment. Today many countries are becoming plural societies. Education is considered an effective means of promoting national harmony. To meet this need teachers have to be equipped to respond to ethnic and cultural diversities of students in schools. The curriculum has to be reconsidered in the light of multicultural needs.

9. Simple living: The need for simple living has never been felt in such a degree before as it is now. All the commercial forces press‘us to buy their products. They create ney needs. in us through their strong machinery of propaganda. The consequence is the ever-growing consumerist society that wastes natural resources in the production of unnecessary goods only to satisfy the greed of people. They pollute the environment both during the process of productions and after their use, as heaps of garbage. Thus simple living is nature-friendly in every way. To live simply is to lead a life,

.outwardly, poor but inwardly rich.

10. Democracy: is interpreted in different forms in different countries. However the basic features in democracy are freedom of speech, public participation in governance through representatives, tolerance of differences and respect for human rights. In addition, a democracy can be evaluated by the degree of public confidence, voluntary compliance with the law, party activism, voluntary organization, activism, and political discussion. In a country, democracy emerges essentially from the ways people adopt in their lifestyle and administration of social institutes. For instance, children learn democracy by the way home, school and classroom are managed.

Intended outcome

l Shows interest in studying and discussing contemporary, local, national and global issues.

l Sense of civic responsibility. l Participates in community welfare and development activities. l Patriotic attitudes. l Democratic behaviour.


* Develop the conviction that school is accountable for contributing to the welfare and development of the community.

* Show interest in contemporary local and global problems by providing an opportunity to discuss them.

* Plan and implement community-building projects where every student gets an opportunity to participate.


LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Examples: Activities in Community Building through Subjects

Primary:

Arts 1. Design a peace flag.

Group Work: 2. Draw posters in-group on a given peace concept. 3. Organize a class / school exhibition on peace. 4. Draw your dream of a peace land. 5. Draw a set of public posters on a current peace problem and exhibit

it in the school. 6. Make a model (of the map) of the community where you live.(You

can do it using sand, mud, cardboard or on a large sheet of paper using colour pencils / pastels)

Secondary: Select a peace motto and illustrate it by drawing.

Social Studies

Secondary:

1. In groups identify a set of responsibilities of citizens in connection to a current social issue in your community. Make a list and display it in the school.

2. Organize a classroom level or school level seminar on a contemporary social problem / world issue.

3. Conduct a survey of a community issue in the neighbourhood, e.g. how aged people are looked after and cared for in the community.

4. Select a social issue related to community building and conduct a community attitude or opinion survey through interviewing people. Present your findings at a seminar organized in the school.

5. Organize a public parade to raise awareness in the community about an important issue they should take action, e.g.

l Abstain from smoking. l Respect child rights

6. Prepare tables of statistical figures of important social problems in your community, e.g. Study crimes/ population growth/ employment/ through a survey and display the findings using charts in the classroom.

Language

1. Collect paper cuttings of good news and exhibit them on a board in the classroom.


2.

3. 4.

5.

6.

7. 8.

Conduct a simulation of a scene related to community peace building, e.g. a certain village where water from the stream for drinking now due to the neglect of the villagers living by the sides of the stream the water is increasingly getting polluted. The villagers hold a meeting to discuss the problem. Collect poems on peace themes. Write poems and songs on peace themes. Conduct an appreciation session in the class. Children are given a social issue and it is freely discussed. Then students are asked to find their solutions is groups and write them and present them in class by reading. Children write a letter to a minister drawing attention to an emerging community problem. Organize a debate on a controversial social issue. Write a short story portraying the feelings of a character victimized by a social majestic.

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Media of Positive Effect on Children’s Integration Integration change Change

4ttempted Subject

Science Other Co-curri .o develop

Language Social Physi- Arts Class Teaching Perspect- Very Effective Not so Studies cal Edu- Subjects Activities Mgt. methods ive Effective Effective

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Supervisor

19

CARE FOR THE PLANET

h

‘The earth does not belong to us; we belong to the earth’. Red Indian Chief Seattle

Objectives

l Develops an affection&e attitude towards the Earth and Nature l Explains the types of environmental crisis in our period l Describes how we contribute to the environmental crises l Refrains from polluting and destroying Nature * Values reusing, repairing and recycling natural resources 0 Participates in environmental saving activities 0 Values simple living l Take an interest in studying about the earth l Appreciate peace with Nature l Develops a spiritual relation with Nature

Core Values

l Peace with Nature l Preservation of Nature l Appreciation and admiration of natural environment 0 Valuing reuse, repair, recycling natural resources

Content

l Understanding the concept l Educating to care for the planet l Concluding thoughts l Intended outcome 0 Classroom practices l Hints for peace culture-building

Learning Activities

1. Saving water 2. Story of the piece of paper 3. Plato in a shop


4. A tree addresses us 5. Trees and animals 6. Silent watching 7. Drawing in life energy 8. Recreating nature 9. Weave us a garment 10. Peace with Nature


This theme aims at developing the sense of ‘touch’ with Nature in children. In fact, they are very sensitive to Nature. But as we gradually grow into adulthood in this artificial surrounding of the modern era, the ‘touch’ diminishes away from our life. Peace with nature is blissful, healing and fulfilling. It creates a deep spiritual sense of communion with Nature, which brings about contentment and peace. The ever-increasing restlessness in the modern society arises from the loss of touch with Nature.

In coming into touch with Nature, we develop what is called, the planet consciousness. Children need to have it to know how the ecosystem operates. Fortunately many curriculum designers have identified the needs. Subjects like science, geography, and social studies area in both primary and secondary amply provides knowledge about the planet. Peace education helps internalization of such knowledge, through bringing in the affective learning dimension into it.

Heartless Science Education

Once a science teacher told the writer the following story about his own science education.

“When I was studying in Grade 8, the science teacher explained the solar system to us. On hearing it I was overwhelmed and awestruck. When the teacher was leaving the class at the end I approached him and expressed my feelings. He stopped and looked at me sarcastically and said “You can ‘t learn science, ifyou get sentimentally involved like this” and went on his way Ifelt embarrassed. However as a child Ifelt that he was wrong. The secret of the success of my latter science education was the curiosity and sense of awe I had always to know Nature.

As a science teacher today the success of my career is the secret of converg- ing learning science with the sentiments of wonder; reverence, and admiration for Nature in students. I observe that my students find every lesson, not only an intellectual experience but also a spiritual andpersonal experience of self-discovery. ”

Our president era is crucially decisive about the future of mother earth. Mankind had been living on earth at least for the last six million years. They built many

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Care for the Planet 221

civilizations on various parts of the earth. The striking fact about the ancient civilizations was that they were never posed threats to the earth. But within the short existence of the modern civilization for the last twenty-seven decades, say from 1830 with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution up to the present, the earth has been threatened with damage, pollution and destruction as never before. Unless we stop this, the future of the earth is at great risk.

Educating to care for the planet

Children need to understand the consequences of damages we do to the earth because they are the future citizens. In fact children can be crusaders to save the earth. To quote only a few problems affecting the earth:

l Global warning l Ozone depletion l Ever increasing poverty l Population growth l Famines, cyclones 0 Loss of forest 0 Soil erosion l Extinction of species l Scarcity of drinking water l Chemical poisoning of fertile soil. l Toxic wastes l Over fishing l Air pollution

People accept the need to stop all this destruction. However, when it comes to action they are indifferent. The damaging is continuing as ever year-by-year.

Educationally, raising awareness in children should be reinforced through providing an opportunity to get into action. Participation in action-oriented projects strengthens attitudes. Schools have to organize environmental projects as co-curricular activities. Here we should not forget the fact that children are capable of changing the world in their own ways.

Children are capable

A teacher from a public school in Colombo reports:

“I did a small classroom activity on the caring earth. A few days later I heard how one of my students had stopped his destructive habit. The parents leave home to their offices with the child. On the way there is a preserved birds ’ sanctuary land. Many people bring their home garbage in bags, stop cars and throw them away to the preserved land. On the following morning the childprotested against this parents’ habit”.

222

Concluding Thoughts

Learning the Way ofPeace

The earth is at risk as a consequence of our mistreatment. Our life is so intrinsically connected with the earth. Mistreating earth is mistreating ourselves. In this context, it is so necessary to enhance children’s affection towards earth and Nature so that they develop concern for their living surroundings in every day life. Children have capacities to help Nature in their own ways. To involve children in persevering and protecting earth first they have to learn how the ecosystem operates, identify crises and then involve in action

Intended outcome

Concern for En vironnten t

l Takes an interest in studying environmental issues l Prevents polluting and destroying Nature

Affection for Nature

l Can enjoy peace with Nature l Appreciate the beauty in Nature

Preserves natural resources

l Values reusing, repairing and recycling natural resources 0 Participates in environmental cleaning activities

Values Shpte Living

l Prefers to use environment friendly materials l Seeks for inner peace and contentment

Classroom Practices

Show a concern for environmental issues during your lessons. Allocate regular space in classroom wallpaper for environment. Beautify the classroom walls with pictures of nature and animals. At least once a term, take children on a short trip to a nature sites for study and enjoyment. Encourage children to run green projects Encourage students to produce a book We Love Earth using Nature photographs and other interesting information on Nature. In Arts let students draw sceneries of Nature, including animals, birds and trees. Have a classroom collection of quotations, songs and poems about Nature Introduce hobbies that develop positive attitudes to Nature, e.g. pressing flowers and leaves. Develop a culture of valuing reuse, repair and recycle things we use.


Earth is my garden, it k a beau@1 place For all living creatures, for the human race Helping Mother Earth we can roam We all deserve a place that we can call our home.

Lyric by Lorraine Bayes and Denis Westphall

Hints for peace culture building

Form a green club in school.

Organize a Green Day with such activities as lectures, seminars, video shows and an exhibition on environmental current issues.

Organize a community tree-planting project.

Design the school garden so as to reflect the Green Movement.

If your school has adequate land, plant a model botanical garden.

Cultivate a herb garden in order to let children come to know valuable and rare plants in the area.

Have a recycle project that the school can afford to run (e.g. compost fertilizer product, bio gas for school laboratory paper recycling)

Keep the school clean.


LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Care for the Planet

1. Saving Water:

This is an activity that helps to learn our civil responsibility for saving water.

Level: Upper Primary.

Curriculum concern: Elementary Science / When you are doing the unit on water

Objectives: 1. Valuing water 2. Discovering ways of saving water.

Activity:

1. Brainstorm the many uses of water. List them on the blackboard. 2. Students go into groups and discuss: Why we should save water? 3. They present the summaries to the class. Every presentation is followed

by a brief discussion. 4. They are asked: What are the ways of saving water?

1. At homes 2. At school

3. At farms 4. At community level.

They go back to the same groups and take one topic to discuss. They make a guide to save water in the given places.

5. Each group presents the guide they have prepared to the class. A brief discussion is followed with each presentation..

6. In conclusion each student verbally completes the following phases.

1. By saving water 1 help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. One way I can help saving water at home is.. . . . . . . .

2. Story of the Piece of Paper

This is an activity to understand how we contribute to the depletion of the natural resources in the world.

Level: Lower Secondary

Curriculum concern: Language: Writing / When you want to give a topic for writing an essay

Objective: Valuing trees and forests.


Activity:

1. Each child is requested to go out and bring a small piece of paper into the classroom.

2. The teacher explains the value of forests and trees to them. Each child is asked to tell the names of trees they know. The teacher tells them that paper is made of wood, by felling forests.

3. For our consumption of paper millions of trees are cut down annually. Children silently look at the piece of paper. Children imagine the story of the piece of paper and write it as an autobiographical narration.

4. Essays are read out and appreciated. 5. What are the other things we use that contribute to depletion of natural

resources? 6. How can we minimize the destruction of trees?

3. Plato in a shop

This activity helps to understand the difference between want and need.


Curriculum concern: Social studies /When you want to discuss

Objective: Understanding the difference between wants and needs.

Activity:

1. Narrate the following story to the class.

One day the greatphilosopher and teacher in ancient Greece, Plato was walking through a street of Athens. One of his students had a shop in the same street. On seeing the teacher passing by he ran after him, saluted and invited him to visit his shop.

Plato walked into the student’s shop. The student was delighted. He said to the teacher: ” Sir, Please take anything you want. ”

Plato looked round at all the attractive items and said, “I don P see anything that I need here. ”

1. Discuss the meaning of the story. Why did Plato say that? Get students’ responses. Lead the discussion to investigate into the question of the difference between ‘want’ and ‘need’? Build the discussion using the guide below.

Difference between want and need

l A want is a wishful thing, which you desire to have. There is no end to our desires and wants.


l A need is something without which you cannot survive, e.g. For our physical survival we need air, food, water, clothes, house and medicine. Then we have our professional needs. For instance, a writer needs a pen. A carpenter needs his tools. Fortunately our needs are few.

l When we want to buy anything we should question ourselves: “Do I want this ? Or do I need this?”

l By buying things we really do not need, we not only waste money, but also contribute to the exploitation of natural resources. Such things end as rubbish.

l Simple living means to live physically with less wants but with inward riches such as joy, contentment, beauty and wisdom.

l So often we confuse our needs with wants, e.g. When a person needs water for thirst, he buys his particular brand of artificial drink. When a lady needs cloth, she buys an elegant dress.(Get more examples from the class.)

Group assignment: Give ten instructions to be a wise buyer. Let children discuss in groups and draw the instructions on large sheets of paper and display them in the classroom. Be brief and build on their findings through a follow up discussion.

4. A Tree Addresses Us

This is an activity about the uses of trees.


Curriculum Concern: Environmental Studies/Elementary Science/ When you want to discuss the use of trees

Objective: Understanding how trees help the ecosystem.

Activity:

Step 1:

Have a brief discussion on the uses of trees and plants.

Put students into five groups and give each group one of the following topics.

(1) Furniture we make out of wood. (2) Kinds of fruits trees yield us. (3) Kinds of drinks we prepare from the fruits, leaves and nuts. (4) Kinds of grains.

They list the names under the topics and present them to the class.

Discussion: Clarify the following points during the discussion.


(1) How trees help to keep the upper layer of soil moist protecting it from evaporation. When trees are cut down the soil gets dry.

(2) Roots keep the soil tight together. Cutting trees leads to earth slides. (3) Trees breathe in carbon dioxide in the day and breathe out oxygen. (4) How trees help insects, birds and other creatures.

Step 3:

Having discussed the uses of trees the teacher gives the topic ‘A tree addresses us” to write an essay/ poem/ song.

Step 5 :

On completion, the writings are read out and appreciated.

5. Trees and animals

This is an activity about observing Nature.

Level: Lower primary.

Curriculum concern: Environmental studies/Observation skill development/When you are discussing plant life.

Objectives: Understanding how plant and animal life are linked.

Activity:

Take children out to the schoolyard. Briefly discuss the uses of trees. Make groups of four and ask each group to select a tree in the schoolyard. They have to observe the tree silently and identify various kinds of insects living on it. They also have to look for birds as well coming to the tree. When the time given is over, gather the children under a tree and let them share their observations and feelings.

6. Silent Watching

This activity helps developing affection towards Nature.

Level: Upper primary/ Secondary.

Curriculum Concern: Religion / Environmental studies/ When you discuss the value of environment on our life.

Objective: Experiencing peace with Nature.

Activity:

Take the class to pleasant and quiet natural surroundings. Instruct: “Now each of you leave the group and feel alone by yourself in this beautiful natural surrounding. Experience the silence for 5 minutes. Do not think. Let the mind quieten down.”


After letting children stay in silence, tell them: “Look around. Select a natural object such as a tree, plant, the sky, the earth, or a cloud. Look at it with complete silence and attention. Watch it with affectionate and friendly feeling in your heart. Enjoy the sunshine, freshness of the air, listen to the songs of birds. Listen to the silence within you and outside you.”

(10 minutes)

Discussion : Guide questions

Convene the class. Sit on the ground under a tree in the same surroundings and share the experience gained from the activity.

l Did you enjoy being alone with Nature? l How would you explain your experience? l What kind of insights did you get while watching Nature? l How are you going to use this learning to enrich your daily life? l How do you express your affection for Nature? Mention one statement to

express your affection.

7. Drawing in Life Energy

This is an energizing activity that creates a vibrant feeling of health within you.

Level: Secondary.

Curriculum concern: Physical Education/ Health Science/ When you want children to feel energized

Objectives:

(1) Introducing the use of auto-suggestion for feeling wholesome and positive.

(2) Producing a sense of well-being in children

Activity :

Take the children out to the grounds or a clean surrounding. Let them stand apart from each other keeping some distance between them.

Instruct:

l Life is energy. To live we need high energy. We draw energy from Nature, through what we eat, the air we breathe in, and sunshine.

l Now draw a long breath in. As you breathe in say to yourself mentally, “I am drawing in the life energy of the air.” As you retain the air in the lungs say mentally, “The energy of the air in my lungs now spreads out to all parts of my body. It energizes my whole body.”

l Now exhale slowly saying mentally,‘“All the toxin and poisonous elements in my body are going out with this breath. My body gets purified.”


l Do this breathing exercise for 5 minutes. At the end close your eyes and say to yourself, I feel highly energized. I am feeling radiantly healthy now.


1. Inquire how students did the exercise (in order to know whether they understood properly.)

2. Do you feel a difference after doing the breathing exercise? 3. Can you do this exercise early in the morning and in the evening on a daily

practice? (Adopted from Yoga ‘Pranayama’ exercise.)

8. Recreating Nature

This activity is about appreciating the wonders of Nature, through dancing and miming.

Level: Primary.

Curriculum Concern: Dancing/ Physical Education/ When you want to train children in basic forms of dancing or miming.

Objective:

1. Imitating Nature’s activities 2. Aesthetic appreciation.

Activity:

1. Show how flowers open keeping your fists together facing each other, and unfolding your fingers as petals. Do it rhythmically all together in the form of dance.

2. Show how the trees move, rhythmically with breeze. With the movements of your body arms stretched out.

3. Show how stars appear over the Eastern horizon and slowly rise high in the sky. Show how they twinkle with your fingers.

4. Show how a piece of cotton, floats lightly in the air, by moving your bodies. 5. Mime in rhythmic, body movements, expressing the meaning of the following

sentences in groups.

1. Sun rises over the horizon. Birds fry singing songs all over the sky. Flowers bloom open with sunshine.

2. Clouds are forming in the sky They float freely. 3. A wind is blowing over the trees. It gradually becomes faster and.faster.

Note : If you can provide rhythmic music to suit the movements children will enjoy the activity much better


Discussion:

l Did you enjoy the activity?

l What are the other movements you can mine?

9. Weave for us a garment

This is an activity of appreciating a prayer song of American Indians.

Level : Upper secondary.

Curriculum concern: Literature / When you want to select a poem for appreciation.

Concept: Gratitude to Nature.

Objective: Building affectionate and grateful attitudes towards Nature.

Activity:

Write the following prayer song of American Indians. They were the indigenous natives of America before the arrival of the Europeans. American Indians had a genuine affection for nature, as a traditional value in their culture.

Oh. Our Mother the earth. Oh. Our Father the sky

Your children are we. We bring you the gifr of Love

Weave for us a garment of brightness May the warp be the white light of morning May the weft be the red light of evening, May thejringes be thc.falling rain. May the border be the standing rainbow.

.Thus weavefor usagarmentof brightness That we may walk fittingly where birds sing, That we may walk,fittingly where grass is green. Oh Our Mother earth Oh. Our Father sky

Appreciation: Read the song aloud. Sing it. Appreciate the song, trying to understand the meaning.

Guide Questions:

1. Why do people call the Earth the Mother? 2. When the American Indians said the earth and sky their mother and father,

what could they have really meant? 3. What kind of garment do they pray for Nature to give them?

Care fbr the Planet 231

4. What is the garment made of?

Assignment:

Go into your group and make a similar poem or a prayer for Nature.

10. Peace with Nature

This activity helps children to understand and experience peace with Nature.

Level: Secondary

Concept: Peace with Nature

Objective: Enabling to appreciate peace in Nature.

Activity:

1. Take the class out to a pleasant natural surrounding let children sit in silence for 5 minutes calming down.

2. When the class is well settled, read the following prayer song. It is adapted from a Celtic blessing song. Children listen in deep attention.

Deep peace of the running wave to you! Deep peace of the flowing air to you! Deep peace qf the quiet earth to you! Deep peace of the shining stars to you! Deep peace of the whole universe to you!

3. Repeat the poem with the class several times. Let the class learn it by heart.

Ask children to imagine and feel the peace described in the lines?

Appreciation :

1. Did you feel the peace of the running water? (Discuss)

2. Did you feel the peace of flowing air/quiet earth/ shining stars/ universe? Discuss

3. What are the other places where there is deep peace in Nature?

e.g. Within deep sea bottom. On a solitary planet. In the space between two stars. Under an old Banyan tree.

Period from . . . . . . ____._ to .__ . Teacher‘s Self-Evaluation: Core Value: Care for the Planet

Effect on Children’s behaviour

Behaviours Subject

attempted to Language Social Physi- MS Science Other Co-curri Class Teaching Pcrspect- Very W’ective Not so

dewlop Studies cal Edu- Subjects Activities Mgt. methods ive Effective Effective

cation

1. Concern for I: environment I-

Z.Affection for F Nature

3. I’reseves natural resources

4. Values simple life

Marking V = Discussed x = Discussed with Activities I: = Frequency (No. of times)

Comments... ___ _.. . .., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._ _.. __.__.............._..........................,..,.................................,....... . . . .

Suggestions for teachers’ professional development... . . . .._ .._. _. . .,. . . . . . . . . . .,_ . ,.. . . . . . . . ._. _._ ,.. . . . . . . . . . ._

Suggestions for the improvement of the Guide... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .__._, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Super\ isor

20

EVALUATING PEACE LEARNING

L

,-

Have we come where we want to? How do we know we have come where we want to?

Where do we want to go from here?

Teachers need to know the worth of their effort. How far students are learning according to the plan of the lesson? Are the objectives of the lesson being achieved? If so, how far? Is there a gap between the levels of achievement and the intended goal? If so what is it ? These are the kinds of questions that come naturally to a teacher. To know and judge the effectiveness of her teaching she has to get feedback from the students.

Evaluation is generally done in three stages. At the beginning it is done to know the state of arts, i.e. to judge the initial standard of students, or popularly known as the entry behaviour, in relation to the intended programme. The achievement of an education programme is measured against the entry behaviour. It is the foundation to evaluate any progress taken place. Evaluation is also necessary while teaching and learninp is in progress. This is called formative evaluation. During the process of teaching naturally the teacher is watchful to find out whether students are really learning. Finally, evaluation is done at the end of the programme in order to judge its worth, to determine the degree of achievement and to revise or improve the next cycle of programme. The following diagram represents the process described above.

Teaching and - Learning

Evaluation t

Evaluation is an integral element in education. It provides feedback to revise or improve the process of teaching and learning in school. An evaluation process follows the steps given below.

234 Learning he Why qf Peace

1. Survey students’ entry behaviour

As explained earlier, entry behaviour is the present level conduct including both strengths and weaknesses. The needs are identified according to the entry behaviour.

2. Identify needs and set goals

Based on the survey or observation of the entry behaviour, set goals. Specify the goals in terms of expected behaviours. Examples for this have been given under each core value. They are the objectives to be achieved. To evaluate means, in simple terms to judge whether the objectives have been achieved. The expected behaviours serve as indicators for evaluation as well.

3. Select concepts that build the intended behaviours

Concept includes here core values and the attitudes and skills that come under them. To build a particular behaviour in children, as a teacher you work through a selected concept.

Example: you want to inculcate sharing and helping behaviours in your class. Obviously you try to build the concept of ‘co-operation’ by providing knowledge, attitudes and skills through using many methods.

4. Identify the peace concepts in the curriculum on which you could build the expected behaviours. Plan co-curricular, extracurricular activities.

Basically as a teacher you have to work through your subjects. But that does not prevent you from initiating activities at other levels in achieving your educational goals in school.

5. Implement the programme

The most important phase is implementation. This has been discussed in detail practically throughout this handbook.

6. Prepare tools of evaluation

You need to develop tools or instruments of evaluating the effectiveness of learning in the selected area. Generally they will be:

0 Short written/oral test l Attitude surveys l Observation tools such as checklists, tables. l Student assignments 0 Interviews l Problem-solving activities, l Activities or situations in which students express their genuine attitudes

Evaluating Peace Learning 235

Measurements can be done on three point scale (very satisfactory, satisfactory, not satisfactory) or live point scales. Judgements must be objective.

7. Evaluate

Conduct evaluation at all the three levels mentioned above. Especially evaluation at the process level or formative level is most important. In fact evaluation need not to be a special activity outside teaching and learning, Evaluation can be easily built into the process of teaching and learning.

Outcome of a particular learning is basically a changed behaviour. In peace or values education care is needed to judge students’ behaviour. Some consequent behaviours are indirect or delayed. Even abstaining from certain behaviour patterns or norms indicate a value judgement.

8. Use evaluation for feedback, feed forward and revision of the programme

Here feedback means to raise the level of the under-achievers, through implementing remedial activities. Feed forward is to develop the programme further to help the achievers go forward. Revision involves in improving the present quality of the programme.

Concluding Thoughts

Evaluation is an integral part in any educational programme. Evaluation is necessary to continuously improve and revise teaching and learning in school. It is necessary at the beginning, during the process and at the end. Peace education is evaluated by the expected behaviours decided at the beginning.

Things To Do

1. Identify a need in the area of peace education in your class. Select the peace concept that can build your expected behaviour in children.

2. Select a core peace value. Analyse the attitudes, sub values and behavioural skills that come under it.


Evaluation of Lessons School: Grade: Teacher’s Name (Instructions: J (Tick the appropriate Value Column) Subject:

Activity 1 2 3 4

1. Classroom Arrangement

1.1 Arranged to facilitate group work

1.2 There is a collection of learning materials

1.3 Charts, pictures, mottos, displayed

1.4 Students works exhibited on display board

1.5 Classroom code of conduct displayed

1.6 Student duties properly assigned

2. Progression of the Lesson Observed

2.1 Adapted child-centred/ experimental learning approach

2.2. Lesson developed progressively

2.3 Used interesting and creative learning activities

2.4 Used audio-visual aids.

2.5 Provided special attention to those who needed it

3. Peace Education Approach

3.1 Megrated peace values

3.2.Adopted peace perspective to the subject

3.3.Used peace learning activities

4.4.Adopted peace approach to classroom management

Activities Used 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 . .,..,..........*.....

Evaluating Peace Learning 237

Activity 1 2 3 4

1. Students’ Learning 1. Subject content is sufficient 2. Students developed positive attitudes 3. Students participated in learning 4. Students developed useful skills 5. Lesson contributed to self-development

Other important features observed 1. 2.

Total

Total out of 80 = . . . . . .(Percentage. . . ./80) X 100 = . . . . . . .

1. Supervisor’s comments.

2. Strengths of the lesson

;: C. d.

3. Areas that could be in future developed a. b. C. d.

4. Other Suggestions

Supervisor’s Name:

Signature

5. Teacher’s Comments


Evaluation of School Culture

Observations made 1 2 3 4

I. School premises are pleasant and clean 2. Classroom and halls are pleasant and well

arranged 3. Student participation in learning is high 4. Interaction of teachers and student are respectful

and friendly 5. Peace, moral values and citizenship are

emphasized 6. Students are happy and lively here 7. There is high moral in the staff 8. Self discipline is evident 9. There are several creative activities going on in

classroom 10. School has interestingly and activities

co-curricular projects I 1. Complains of quarrels, conflict and bullying are

rarely brought to teachers or principal 12. There is a programme for continued staff

development. 13. Creative ideas are welcome by management 14. Spirit of co-operative responsibility is evident 15. There is productive school community interaction

Total

Total out of 75 =(...... / 75) X 100 = Percentage . . . . . .

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