Webinar Series 2015 RE & Peacemaking Education

1. Webinar Series 2015 RE & Peacemaking Education How to use peacemaking education to support the delivery of RE, Citizenship, PSHE & SMSC; build conflict resolution skills in your pupils & respond to the new Ofsted judgment on ‘Personal development, Behaviour and Welfare’ provision in your school 4.00pm - 4.45pm Thursday 24th September 2015 http://www.interfaithexplorers.com/webinars

2. www.interfaithexplorers.com • Supported by UNESCO • Helps pupils understand the world around them & respect cultural and religious diversity • Offers high quality cross-curricula resources to use with pupils at Key Stage 2 and those embarking on their Key Stage 3 transition • Supports core personal and social skills development as well as self-directed, exploratory learning • Promotes universal core values & the development of ethical thinking • Designed to compliment RE and PSHE teaching, alongside citizenship education

3. Webinars • Support teachers in their work around interfaith dialogue and RE; as well as PSHE and Citizenship learning in schools • Offers a space for teachers to come together and think about issues arising from classroom practice in these areas

4. Webinar Presenter • Claire Clinton • An experienced teacher within EYFS, Primary and Secondary education • She has over 20 years of classroom experience, and 16 years of advisory work at a national and local level • For the past 9-years has been the Religious Education Advisor for the London Borough of Newham

5. Session objectives • Show how peacemaking education can contribute to the school’s provision of the new Ofsted graded judgment on ‘Personal development, Behaviour and Welfare’; • Explain how peacemaking education can enhance the delivery of RE, Citizenship, PSHE and SMSC in schools; • Understand the key principals for embedding peacemaking values in your school; • Provide practical ideas that you can use to promote peacemaking in your classroom; • Demonstrate how peacemaking activities support interfaith work between pupils.

6. What does peace mean? Image taken from YMCA Peace Week website: http://www.ymca.ca/en/global-initiatives/ymca-peace-week.aspx

7. What is peacemaking education? • Peacemaking is a  practical conflict transformation tool used to establish equitable power relationships that are robust enough to prevent future conflict within a community that had previously engaged in violent responses to conflict; • Peacemaking seeks to achieve full reconciliation among adversaries and new mutual understanding among parties and stakeholders. • In education, it is a methodology used to provoke group dialogue and social problem solving, alongside conflict resolution and mediation skills in pupils • It is linked to Peace Education, which aims to foster changes to make the world a better and more humane place

8. Why relevant to teachers? (1) • The new Ofsted Inspection framework, which comes into force in September 2015, introduces a new graded judgment on the ‘Personal development, Behaviour and Welfare’ provision in schools; • Ofsted will grade a school as ‘outstanding’ in this area if they can demonstrate, amongst other things, that: • Pupils discuss and debate issues in a considered way, showing respect for others’ ideas and points of view; • Pupils’ impeccable conduct reflects the school’s effective strategies to promote high standards of behaviour. Pupils are self-disciplined. Incidences of low-level disruption are extremely rare; • Pupils work hard with the school to prevent all forms of bullying, including online bullying and prejudice-based bullying; • Staff and pupils deal effectively with the very rare instances of bullying behaviour and/or use of derogatory or aggressive language; • Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development equips them to be thoughtful, caring and active citizens in school and in wider society. • Peacemaking education can help support this through the delivery of RE, Citizenship and PSHE!

9. Why relevant to teachers? (2) • Also enables teachers to teach conflict resolution skills and peacemaking values & tie them to international events: • @UN #PeaceDay: 21st September 2015 • International UN Peace Day is an annual day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples. • The theme of this year’s is ‘Partnerships for Peace – Dignity for All’ which aims to highlight the importance of all segments of society to work together to strive for peace. • Linked to www.peaceoneday.org • YMCA Peace Week: 14th – 21st November 2015 • Geneva Peace Week: 16th – 20th November 2015

10. What is Conflict resolution? • Conflict resolution is a way for two or more parties to find a peaceful solution to a disagreement among them. The disagreement may be personal, financial, political, or emotional.

11. 7 steps to resolving conflict • Successfully negotiating and resolving a conflict requires: • Understanding competing interests driving conflict • Communicating with the person/s you are in conflict with • Brainstorming possible resolutions • Choosing the best resolution • Using a third party mediator • Exploring alternatives • Coping with stressful situations and pressure tactics

12. Understanding ‘interests’ • In any conflict people easily get themselves into unhelpful bargaining positions, which can become entrenched and hinder resolution; • It is important for children and adults alike to understand their interests and the interests of others in any situation; • For example: you want a new more ethnically diverse book used at school…but…

13. Tips for productive talking 1 • Listen: • Their opinions are important to you, because their opinions are the source of your conflict; • If something is important to them, you need to recognize this; • Recognizing does not mean agreeing, of course! • Whoever wants to participate – let them: • People who participate will have a stake in a resolution; • They will want to find a good compromise. • Talk about your strong emotions: • Let the other side let off steam.

14. Tips for productive talking 2 • Don’t react to emotional outbursts! • Try an apology instead of yelling back; • Apologising is not costly, and is often a rewarding technique. • Be an active listener: • Rephrase what you're hearing as a question: "Let me see if I'm following you. You're saying that... Have I got that right?" • You can still be firm when you're listening. • Speak about yourself, not the other party: • In the textbook example, you might say, "I feel angry to know that my children are reading this old-fashioned textbook," rather than, "How could you choose such a racist book?"

15. Tips for productive talking 3 • Be concrete, but flexible: • Speak about your interests, not about your position. • Avoid early judgments: • Keep asking questions and gathering information. • Don't tell the ‘opposition’: • "It's up to you to solve your problems." • Work to find a solution for everyone. • Find a way to make their decision easy: • Try to find a way for them to take your position without looking weak; • but don't call it a way for them to "save face." Egos are important in negotiations!

16. www.interfaithexplorers.comresources to support you (1) • See ‘Enquiring with respect’ sheet: • http://interfaithexplorers.com/for-teachers/classroom-and-teaching-resources/enquiring-with-respect • Access via registration / sign-up! • Provides examples of questions children can ask when discussing difficult issues in the classroom • See ‘House of Peace’ pdf: • http://interfaithexplorers.com/for-teachers/classroom-and-teaching-resources/the-house-of-peace • Access via registration / sign-up! • Create a task for your class from this: for example, can they create a physical space in the classroom for pupils from different religions to come and talk in?

17. www.interfaithexplorers.comresources to support you (2) • See ‘Circle of Peace’ artwork: • http://interfaithexplorers.com/circle-of-peace • Access via registration / sign-up! • Get your pupils to unpick what is in the image and speculate why the artist has chosen this colours, words and shapes • Discuss this Maimonides Interfaith Foundation quote: “We believe that dialogue is the only positive means of living in harmony in a multi-religious and multi-cultural society.” • What do your pupils think about this statement? • Is it always true?

18. Useful web based resources • www.interfaithexplorers.com • Primary school support materials for lessons • www.peaceoneday.org • Primary and secondary support materials for lessons • www.ymca.ca/en/global-initiatives/ymca-peace-week • lots of good ideas of activities you can do in your local community • http://old.quaker.org.uk/teach-peace-pack • Primary school support materials for lessons

19. Wrap up Any questions?

20. Contact us For further information about the webinar series and how Interfaith Explorers can support you visit: www.interfaithexplorers.com or contact Rokhsana Fiaz OBE Chief Executive Maimonides Interfaith Foundation rokhsana@maimonides-foundation.org