GESPOSIT -
Positive Management of Conflits

LIDIA GRAVE-RESENDES,
MARIA SAO JOSE' CALDEIRA
ANTONIO FARINHA

ABSTRACT

Country:
Portugal

Language:
English

Lídia Grave-Resendes and Maria São José Caldeira - Universidade Aberta of Portugal

António Farinha - Associação Nacional para a Mediação Familiar - Portugal

This project consists a network of partners, in which six European countries representing twelve institutions from various fields (education, law, psychology, and psychiatry, just to name a few) involved in prevention of violence participate. The overall coordination is the responsibility of the Universidade Aberta of Portugal. The other institutions are: Associação Nacional para a Mediação Familiar - Portugal; Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Le Souffle and Cespen - Belgium; Institut Formation Apl. Technologies Communication, Association Amely, Université Catholique de Lyon and Glysi-CNRS/Université Lumiere de Lyon - France; Asociación Interdisciplinaria Española Estudios Familia - Spain; University of Dublin - Irland; and CERIUM - Italy.

Lack of security in schools is becoming a nightmare for school administrators, teachers, parents and students as well. School, in many cases, is no longer the safe place where the student who experiences neglect or abuse at home could find refuge for a few hours of the day in the school setting. Aggression, vandalism and violence are escalating in many schools. In North America the worst scenarios have emerged. In Europe schools are not immune to those scenarios and, unfortunately, have started to face situations of aggression and violence towards teachers, among students as well as property damage. Causes of violence are numerous and the blame emerges from all sides, but one thing that researchers in the educational field have shown is that violence can grow from lack of knowing how to handle conflicts which, per se, includes human interpersonal skills.

As Faconti (1987) states, violence, abuse, aggression and conflict become expected forms of personal interaction and habitual ingredients of motivation and response. The factors responsible for this situation are various, and it becomes a vicious cycle of blame within the school community, where the

Teachers blame the problem of violence on parents, and school administrators; administrators blame it on teachers, parents, and boards of education; boards of education blame it on society; Different segments of society blame it on the schools and the bad company that student rus around with; and the student blames it on the boring teachers and dull schools (pag. 26-27).

Schools, unfortunately, have become a place where violence is increasing affecting not only the teaching-learning process but also the whole school environment. In some cases schools have become places where well being does not prevail. Bonafet-Schmit (1996) hypothesis that crisis in schools is but an aspect of a generalized crisis in all sectors of social life.

More than ever, there is no doubt that if the educational system wishes to provide a quality education for its students, it needs to assure that schools are safe, are places where students enjoy to stay and learn. One cannot neglect the critical role of the human relation in fostering a quality living environment. For many years, school has neglected the human dimension of the student, as if the educational process was limited to the acquisition of knowledge. The emphasis of the educational process has been in the past, and still is, on the transmission of knowledge, in detriment of the promotion of affective/relational competencies; as if the student did not possess experiences, feelings, opinions, attitudes and motivations. According to Grave-Resendes (1998) if schools are to promote the well being of their students, they need to implement alternative programs not only to help students, resolve immediate conflicts but also to help them in gaining personal and social skills that will aid them in solving conflicts, thus avoiding the stage of violence. As an added benefit, students acquire life long relational skills.

Schools have an extremely important role in the preparation of future citizens to act as autonomous individuals, individual thinkers, responsible citizens, believers in democracy and solidarity, who know how to live in groups and are capable of managing critical situations. More than ever schools are called upon to assume a new role, a role of preparing the student for participating actively in society, thus demanding a school that is not with its back towards society but rather brings society into the school. In this context, John Dewey (1959,1956) reminds us that school is fundamentally a social environment which fosters an education, supporting the idea of a democratic organization in the daily life of the school, as fundamental for social learning. The school, as a microsociety, challenges the traditional role of the school in how it carries out its objectives, particularly if we think that school is a physical space where students sit, keep quiet and listen to the teacher transmit knowledge. When the school environment is not conducive to the promotion of the highest democratic values, respect, culture, civism, personal dignity, then students, stimulated by spurious values of their age group, easily feel stronger, more empowered when they disobey school norms, at times alien to student needs. In these situations, the indifference with regards to learning manifests itself swiftly, absenteeism climbs, resulting in school failure and conflict and eventually violence.

As a result of violence in schools, generally, independently whether such schools are suburban or rural, various training programs in the curricula focusing on conflict management and prevention of violence have been implemented. Needless to say that the implementation of such programs has not been peaceful due to the fact that it has contributed to some discussion and controversy regarding the role of the school, in particular, whether or not it should be responsible for providing this training to their school community and what institutional culture adaptations should take place to support these programs. The critical issue, therefore, is for the school to look at their School Project and assure that it contemplates the various factors that foster the promotion of a safe environment, encompassing beyond the cognitive development of the student the social and personal development.

The emergence of school mediation, based on principles of cooperation and responsibility, fostering attitudes of respect, of listening and effective communication, of reestablishment of relations and conflict resolution, may constitute a valuable contribution to concrete actions. It is believed that school mediation, integrated in broader educational approaches, such as Personal and Social Education, fosters the development of life skills in that domain. It is also believed that it is important to support parent participation in the development of educational actions, with the role of family mediation being pertinent to achieving parental responsibility and effective participation, particularly in cases of family disfunction. According to Valadão Serpa (1998) the benefits of school mediation go beyond the redoubt of school, by preparing the students not only to resolve and avoid conflicts in daily life, but also in finding solutions and alternative ways through cooperation and collaboration. For him mediation provides students with a different vision of reality by making them aware that conflict is achieved not by claming who is right or wrong, or who is the strongest or the weakest.

Keenly, aware of the importance of the human relation in the school, the Center for Studies on Pedagogy and Evaluation had started organizing, seminars and workshops that dealt with human relation in the school context in 1996 Responding to a call for proposals to the Connect Initiative DG XXII in the area of prevention of violence in schools, establishing a connection between Education and Society was a logical next step. A number of specialists from other European universities and institutions were invited to participate in the proposal. The project was called GESPOSIT Project- Management of Conflict and Violence through Mediation (school and family) - Program for Personal and Social Education. The project was awarded for a two-year period, from 2000 to 2001. The group of partners involved in GESPOSIT come from various areas of research, but all have a concern in the prevention of violence in school. This multi disciplinarity of research areas from different countries will enrich the project, by bringing various experiences, programs of intervention and eventually a multitude ways of handling conflict and prevent violence - a benefit for all society! The partners the Project are listed in table 1.

GESPOSIT is a project whose goal is to promote the positive management (GESTão POSITiva) of conflict and prevent, reduce, and counter violence in the school community, especially through school and family mediation. It is hoped that the actions of this project will promote the quality of school life, and as a result of it, will foster a good learning environment. The pedagogical aspect of the project should promote cognitive, social and personal development of the student. The project encompasses training, innovation, intervention, interchange and aims at contributing to the promotion of an atmosphere of understanding through positive management of conflict at various levels in schools, and in the local community. The project involves training activities capable of promoting functional learning considered relevant to the personal and social development of those involved. The main activities entail (1) the preparation of trainers with awareness building of the need to manage conflicts in a positive way; (2) training of mediators; (3) the support to their work. The project aims at innovating in the areas of pedagogical intervention strategies capable of promoting quality teaching and learning and the acquisition of human relation skills for life. It also contemplates exchange activities among schools in different countries. The Project deals with transnational issues which affect various member states of the European Community which find it advantageous to cooperate in this field. Project evaluation will occur at different levels, integrating the views of promoters, trainers, teachers, students and parents involved in the project, as well as other elements from the educational community. Research will also be carried out in the schools during the process. It is also contemplated that the results will be disseminated in the European educational community.

The project will focus on the following specific objectives:

· Help children/youths in the acquisition of life skills, which enable a responsible and satisfactory insertion in the family, the school, and the community;

· Promote the implementation of skills and values in appropriate behavior;

· Establish an interinstitutional network in the prevention of violence and conflict management, as center institutions active in school and family affairs;

· Promote a new cultural approach to conflict.

Based on the experience of the network members, the tasks will build on the following types of activities:

· Establishment of social interdisciplinary mediation centers on the resolution of school and family conflicts, namely, related to parental responsibility in situations of separation and divorce;

· Definition of a concerted methodology of intervention;

· Creation of a network of mediators to provide project continuity, in association with universities in the countries involved;

· Implementation of programs promoting personal and social development of children/youths;

· Sharing mediation experiences with other countries involved in the project;

· Experimentation and project evaluation;

· Research into relevant aspects for the institution on a system of mediation, which enabling the acquisition of information for the elaboration of educational policies on conflict management and prevention of violence; and

· Diffusion of project results both nationally and at the European level.

A certain number of activities have already been implemented by the partners of the network. All are instrinsically involved in helping preventing violence at schools, the place where one grows, discovers, develops cognitively, personaly and socially, where one learns the competencies to have an impact in improving society - the student as change agent!

References

Bonafé-Schmit J.P. (1996) La Médiation: un Nouveau Mode de Régulation Sociale? Reflexion, 2, pp.53-57

Cutrona, Cheryl and Diane Guerin (1994) Confronting Conflict Peacefully, Educational Horizons, V 72, Nº2.

Dewey, John (1959) Democracy and Education. New York: Macmillan

___________ (1956) The School and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press

Faconti, P. and A. Hagennstand, (1987), Conflict Management Resolution, Thrust, May/June, pp. 26-27.

Grave-Resendes (1998) Human Relation In the School Context, Opening conference delivered at he IV Seminar on Dynamics of Human Relation : Conflict Managemnet through school Mediation, Lisbon

About the authors

Lídia Grave-Resendes received her Doctorate in Education in 1989 from Boston University. She is an Assistant Professor at Universidade Aberta of Portugal, the Director of a Master`s program on Administration and Educational Management and is responsible for the Center for Studies on Pedagogy and Evaluation.

Maria São José Caldeira has a Master`s in Education, in the area of Personal and Social Education, and is a trainer certified for Continuing Education in the areas of Personal and Social Development and Pedagogy of Child/Youth Development.

António Farinha is Attorney General, and President of the Associação Nacional para a Mediação Familiar - Portugal. He is doing a European Master`s in Mediation.