CONFLICTS RESOLUTION
Ralleia Experimental Primary School 6th Transnational Meeting Piraeus Greece - March 2019
CONFLICTS RESOLUTION A basic goal: respectful coexistence at school • We try to cooperate harmoniously all together: students, teachers and parents. • School's operating regulations: – for parents and students – describe the pedagogical and learning objectives
CONFLICTS RESOLUTION Afer school clubs Rhetoric and Argumentation Club
Human rights against racism and xenophobia (school year: 2017-18)
Promote Our school’s basic objectives Democratic dialogue
Equal rights
Stop bullying
Stop cyber bullying
CONFLICTS RESOLUTION Teachers implement activities and projects
often in cooperation with other institutions like Actionaid
children rights, respecting diversity, solidarity for vulnerable people in need of help (e.g. immigrants), respect of human life, respecting and protecting the environment etc.
Basic principles governing our school life • The democratic dialogue • Democracy and democratic behavior are virtues that are fundamental in the mission of our school. We believe that all problems can be addressed through dialogue and discussion.
Basic principles governing our school life • Equal rights for all children, respecting diversity – All students are treated equally in our school regardless of their color, nationality or academic ability
Basic principles governing our school life Dealing with bullying and cyberbullying • Bullying can threaten students’ physical and emotional safety at school and it can affect their ability to learn. Our goal is to deal with bullying before it starts. All teachers encourage students to report attempts of bullying without hesitation. They also do activities like creative writing, role-plays, presentations, artistic works about respect or the effects of bullying and hold classroom meetings to discuss students' relations and prevent incidents of bullying among them. • Cyberbullying: During the ICT lessons, students are frequently informed about cyberbullying and how it can take place. Students are encouraged to report cyberbullying by classmates or others, to their parents and teachers during their online navigation.
Basic principles governing our school life • The following video presents what is cyber bullying and how we can prevent or stop it:
Basic principles governing our school life • Video: a quick guide for parents about cyber bullying
CONFLICTS RESOLUTION • Instead of conflict solving we try to prevent conflicts. • When teachers notice a conflict or a similar problem: – discuss it with the students involved. – students' parents and all teachers of the class are informed about the event – if it is necessary, a pedagogical meeting with all class teachers and the headmaster is held, to discuss the problem and decide how to deal with it. – If the conflict/problem is not resolved, the school pedagogical guidance counselor comes to help us resolve the conflict.
• Our rhetoric and argumentation group formed an experimental team of students with the aim of managing and solving conflicts in the school environment
INCLUSION • Ralleia Experimental Primary Schools participated in the research program "Researching and Adapting the Adult Interactive Style Model to Autistic Children in Primary Schools in Attica, Greece", implemented by the Laskaridis Foundation and approved by Φ.15 / 53/27750 / Δ1 / 19-2-2015 document of the Ministry of Education. • The purpose of the program was to train teachers about autism and how to deal with cases of it in the classroom. • A detailed guide for children with autism is presented by Konstantina Anagnostopoulou in Greece-Good practices Autism page.
ACTIVITIES OF RHETORIC SPEECH GROUP:
CONFLICTS RESOLUTION
Ralleia Experimental Primary School Of Piraeus Teacher: Anagnostopoulou Konstantina Greece 2018-19
1st year of Rhetoric Speech Group 2016-17
Τhe importance of Rhetoric Speech
• It is known that Rhetoric highlights the power of speech by teaching eloquence, reasoning and arguments. It is an essential tool for the development of free critical thinking. Thus, it is very useful as an alternative way of teaching the language through the curriculum.
Conflicts Resolution
• Within the framework of Rhetorical Speech group and always aiming at developing good practices in order to resolve conflicts at school, in 2016 -2017 we had been experimenting with the training of mediators, for mediation and violence prevention at school.
Definition of School Mediation • Peer mediation or school-based mediation is defined as the process of peaceful resolution of a conflict in school life between two or more disagreeable students with the help of a third and neutral mediator student through a structured process of antiviolence strategies with clear boundaries, active participation and direct communication of the parties, with a view to constructively resolving the disagreement. This is an alternative practice that replaces the disciplinary system of punishment. Association for Conflict Resolution. Recommended for School Based Peer Mediation Programs 2007
Standards
How student-mediators worked in this experiment ... • Student-mediators were divided into groups and during the school break they tried to stop quarrels among students using arguments and discussion. Our group officially practiced this action on Îœarch the 6th 2017, which was the day against school bullying.
…day against school bullying…
…day against school bullying…
Positive outcome of the experiment • Initially the mediators were enthusiastic about their participation in the experiment. They liked the idea of trying to help their classmates. • We found out that participants developed their skills of communication and their behavior was improved. They became more responsible through dealing with and managing conflicts/disagreements.
Î&#x;ur next implementation goal • Our pursuit and next year's goal is to have a set group of students who will undertake the role of school mediation.
Reasons for developing a Mediation Program in our school •
We consider that a School Mediation Program can be implemented in Ralleia due to the fact that the institutional framework promotes innovation and good practice in education.
• The school building is old with relatively small courtyards, leading to a lot of tensions and disagreements among students due to the lack of adequate space .
VIDEO:
• https ://www.emotionerasmus.com/ralleia-conflict sresolution
2nd year of Rhetoric Speech Group 2017-18
Rhetoric Speech Group Ralleia Experimental Primary Schools 2017 - 2018
School based mediation as a way for conflict resolution in school
…the way we worked… • Initially, the pupils were trained and then the school community was informed about the program • The program run experimentally for DE-ST classes only and took place in their courtyard.
Effect of the School Mediation Program • Benefits from these actions are not measurable only quantitatively and qualitatively. We can surely recognize the acquisition of greater selfconfidence through continuous exposure to the public, the development of cooperation, creative respect for diversity and the value of personal research and information.
Students recorded their views on school mediation
• “Before my teacher explain what school mediation is, I thought it was a method applied by trained teachers and students. I thought that children who were creating problems were going to a room and were trying with debate to solve the problem”. Kalliopi Agiovlasiti/ Dimitra Moira
• “We believe that school based mediation is a group of children that resolve the problems that exist in schools” Anna Kyriakou/ Peny Pothou
• “I believe that school based mediation is a helping hand given by trained teachers and students involved in conflicts”. Arina Nestora/ Dorothea Pavlou/ Theodora Lagani
• “The school based mediation is the process that some children come to solve a problem that has been created by two or more children”. Nikitas Revithis
Students recorded their views on how school mediation would help the school community “We believe that school mediation practice will help our school very much, because we face a lot of quarrels, almost every day per school year, among the students. School mediation can be a really good practice. Undoubtedly, it will take time, but in the long term it will be understood as a practice by the entire school body. School mediation will make possible for our students to be more independent, to be able to solve their problems on their own, without the need for the help of a teacher or the use of disciplinary penalties. Also, it will be desirable if after some time, students can improve their behaviour and become more friendly with each other�. Anna Kyriakou / Peny Pothou / Michalis Balafas
Students recorded their views on how school mediation would help them and their classmates • “I believe that school mediation can help those involved in a dispute in many ways and in many cases. With school mediation, those involved in a dispute have the opportunity to be listened by someone who can hear them and understand them. So they feel confident and tranquil because, through school mediation, the confusion in their minds is solved by finding a solution to their problem. In this way, through school mediation, students are given psychological support”. Arina Nestora / Dorothea Pavlou / Thodora Lagani
• “We believe, it will help us a lot! It will make us feel safe! We will know that in a dispute we will have someone who can calm us and help us solve it. We can solve our problems in a different way, by discussing! most children in our school will feel the same with us! It is better to talk than to shout, fight and hit!” Thodora Lagani / Dorothea Pavlou
Simulation of school mediation at our school in the framework of a presentation of good practices of Erasmus + “E-M @ TI-ON” (Thursday 14 of June, 2018)
3rd year of Rhetoric speech and ancient Greek Philosophy Group 2018-19 Teacher: Bourou Argyro
Rhetoric speech and ancient Greek Philosophy Group Activities employed for promoting school mediation during 2018-2019: • Observation: Students observe their classmates -and note potential conflicts that occur, during intermissions. Appropriate discussion of the incidents follows at classroom in order to find possible/peaceful solutions
Rhetoric speech and ancient Greek Philosophy Group Activities employed for promoting school mediation during 2018-2019: • Role playing: Hypothetical stories are given to students for a small interval of time. After appropriate preparation, a small group of them take the role of pupils in conflict while the remaining students take the role of mediators. The mediator group should improvise -trying always to employ basic dialogue rules, such as listening carefully to both parts involved in the conflict, showing the appropriate respect and keeping calm. All students are given the chance to express their opinion and their feelings. The above process is repeated in order for all the students to take both roles
Rhetoric speech and ancient Greek Philosophy Group Activities employed for promoting school mediation during 2018-2019: • Children become writers: Students create conflict scenarios based on their experiences and also to everyday observation at school. Each story is written in the form of an illustrated booklet. In every story there are always two parts conflicting while a peaceful solution is promoted at the end
Rhetoric speech and ancient Greek Philosophy Group
Story-conflict scenario written in the form of an illustrated booklet
Rhetoric speech and ancient Greek Philosophy Group Activities employed for promoting school mediation during 2018-2019: We should note that all the booklets are exposed at the “reconciliation corner� - an appropriate place at the schoolyard, in order to be potentially read by all pupils. The stories promote the idea of resolving conflicts without using verbal or physical violence between students
Rhetoric speech and ancient Greek Philosophy Group Our “reconciliation corner”
Rhetoric speech and ancient Greek Philosophy Group Activities employed for promoting school mediation during 2018-2019: • School mediation “in action”: From second semester onwards (one day per week), students of the fifth and sixth grade take the role of mediator and resolve potential conflicts during intermissions under appropriate guidance
Rhetoric speech and ancient Greek Philosophy Group School mediation “in action� - Procedure employed : 1. Mediators encourage the two parts in conflict to express their opinion about the incident 2. Mediators ask appropriate questions in order to identify the causes of the argument 3. Both parts express their feelings about the incident in order for each student to understand the consequences of his actions 4. Mediators challenge each student to propose a solution; for each proposal, pupils are asked if they are satisfied. The specific step is repeated until a commonly accepted solution is found