THE PROJECT
"Cre@T1ve Conflict Resolution and Peer-to-Peer School Mediation" is a project which will last two years (2019-2021) and comprises schools from Greece, Poland, Italy : Crema, Italy : Bari, Malta and Portugal with students from 15 to 19 years old. The direct target group is made of 30 students and 18 teachers, but the range of the project is going to influence wider groups on local, regional, national and european levels. We have planned 4 International meetings within the two years and 3 joint staff training events, one at the beginning, one in middle period and one at the end.
This project seeks to address the problem of conflicts (e.g. bullying, racist attacks) that frequently occur among students in contemporary schools leading to negative/destructive results. Creative conflict resolution skills, tools and techniques such as mediation are an effective response to different kinds of conflicts and tensions at school. Additionally, conflict resolution skills are crucial for young citizens who live in an extremely complex society full of challenges and conflicts.
The overall objective of the proposed project is to contribute to the development of responsible and active citizens of tomorrow who will build a peaceful and tolerant society where all people grow and thrive. The specific objective is to enhance analytical and creative conflict resolution skills and techniques in the partner school communities and beyond to European Union school community. Particular attention will be given to mediation as a method of peaceful and creative conflict resolution. The project results are expected to be the following:
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Improved knowledge and skills of teachers to support their students in handling conflicts in a peaceful and creative way.
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Improved knowledge of our students in how to use conflicts and tensions as opportunities for growth and personal development.
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Mediation skills in particular developed and practised by both students and teachers.
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Our schools to become communities of improved communication, mutual understanding and cooperation.
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Improved understanding of diversity as a source for cooperation and not conflict. Additionally, participants in the project activities will also feel that they are part of a European community which is based on productive dialogue, rich culture, critical thinking and democratic values.
Furthermore, the project will motivate students who have no interest or show low performance at school through team work and collaborative/co-operative learning method activities; students will enhance their skills in research and their ICT skills; English language teaching will become more appealing for the students as they will participate in creative conflict resolution workshops and chatrooms with friends from other countries, a valuable learning experience that will also teach them how to resolve interpersonal problems constructively.
The project methodology is innovative, combining theory and praxis of conflict resolution, bringing teachers and students closer as members of a team who share experiences and develop key life skills for their school and their community. Additionally, during all meetings and activities interactive methodologies are applied and creativity is boosted.
Not only will it be the students who participate in the project who will work and collaborate together, but also the entire school communities will take part and will be involved in it - through the different activities, also including the host families.
Teachers will collaborate, investigating innovative ways of learning and teaching in terms of creative problem-solving through mediation and creative solution of crucial problems in our modern societies such as diversity, gender equality, (cyber)bullying, etc. They will develop appropriate teaching materials, share them with their students and colleagues and spread the interactive teaching methods to other schools too. The outputs of our project will be the following:
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Mediation groups established in each partner school which will keep operating after the end of the project.
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Online good practices guide with cases of successfully mediated / resolved conflicts, collected by the students with the support of their teachers.
Tools used to release information about our project will be: the project and school website, social media, EU platforms, chatrooms, a project blog, photos, videos, press releases, e-book case study, e-newsletter, a good practices guide, different kinds of performances (e.g. role play, dancing performance, performance of previously-composed project's song, and more music), and face-to-face debates among the pupils of the participating schools.
The background of this project is mainly based on sociological context which is inseparably related to school environment where many problems and conflicts appear nowadays. The mediation method seems to be the perfect response to deal with all sorts of school problems in the contemporary schools.