Anatomy of a Peace Educator: Her Work and Workplace

This article reports a case study that examined the peace education practice of a 5th and 6th grade teacher at an independent, non-profit school in the Mid-western United States. The study used Paulo Freire’s (1970) conception of dialogue as its conceptual framework. After describing the study’s context and methods, we present data focusing on the teacher’s background and development as a peace educator, her teaching practices, and her relationships with her students, school and local community. We discuss Michelle’s interdisciplinary approach to peace education linked with her personal background and her use of dialogue as dynamic, fluid, and relational. Our analyses also prompted emergent themes for which we used curriculum theory to capture forms of integration between the personal and political dimensions of peace education, based on which, we propose an “integrated peace education.”

Dialogue in Peace Education Theory and Practice1

This article reports a case study of a peace educator (Haley), an interventions program coordinator for a domestic violence shelter and rape crisis center, reaching thousands of youth in the Midwestern United States. The findings of the study raise implications for employing dialogue as a pedagogy for peace in formal schooling and infusing peace education throughout the school curriculum. In particular, the findings offer insights about the attributes of the peace educators who are able to implement dialogue effectively in their classrooms, and the vital characteristics necessary in the formal school setting to employ Freirean dialogue.

What Do Teachers Need to Become a Peace Educator?

In the recent era, the borders among countries have become more accessible. This fact makes cultural differences an important issue to be taken into consideration. It is a well-known fact that all of these differences can easily be seen in many communities. Thus, building and keeping peace are very important for any type of communities. In order to manage that, individuals should learn how to be peacemakers. This process is called peace education. This fact brings the importance of the factor of “teacher” to the forefront. Considering these, the qualities of teachers who are peace educators have become an important issue to be discussed. Thus, the aim of this chapter will be identifying what kind of characteristics a teacher should have during peace education process. The “White Pigeon Model” is presented for a peace educator's characteristics. This model includes knowledge, skills, and personal characteristics of a peace educator. They are discussed in detail.