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Education for peace in the secondary school: The contribution of one subject to an across-the-curriculum perspective

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Abstract

The pedagogical literature on education for peace advocates an across-the-curriculum perspective rather than the development of discrete courses in peace studies. Advice on appropriate concepts and generic teaching strategies has been provided to teachers in a number of publications and has been taken up in many primary schools, where interdisciplinary themes and flexible time schedules are conducive to the innovatory dimensions of education for peace. The subject compartmentalization and rigid timetabling in secondary schools do not provide as much flexibility for interdisciplinary planning. However, much of the education for peace literature has neglected considerations of how peace themes and processes can be integrated within the curriculum of individual subjects in the secondary school. This paper addresses this situation by providing some guidance on how this may be done in one subject, geography, and hopefully might serve as a model for curriculum specialists in other areas.

Zusammenfassung

In der pädagogischen Literatur über Friedenserziehung wird eher eine das ganze Curriculum umfassende Perspektive als die Entwicklung einzelner Friedensstudienkurse befürwortet. In einer Reihe von Veröffentlichungen wurden Lehrern passende Konzepte und allgemeine Lehrstrategien zur Verfügung gestellt. Sie wurden in viele Grundschulen, in denen interdisziplinäre Themen und flexible Stundenpläne die innovativen Dimensionen der Friedenserziehung fördern, aufgenommen. Die Aufteilung der Lernstoffe in Fächer und streng festgelegte Stundenpläne in Sekundarschulen lassen weniger Flexibilität bei der interdisziplinären Planung zu. Ein Großteil der Literatur zum Thema Friedenserziehung stellt jedoch kaum Überlegungen an, wie man Friedensthemen und -prozesse in das Curriculum einzelner Fächer in Sekundarschulen integrieren könnte. Die Studie greift diese Situation auf, indem sie Möglichkeiten bei der Integration in einem Fach, Geographie, aufzeigt und vielleicht sogar als Modell für Curriculumspezialisten in anderen Bereichen dienen könnte.

Résumé

La littérature pédagogique sur l'éducation pour la paix plaide en faveur d'une perspective transcurriculaire plutôt que pour l'organisation d'études de paix en disciplines cloisonnées. Diverses publications ont apporté aux enseignants des conseils quant aux concepts appropriés ainsi que des stratégies pédagogiques génériques. Ceux-ci ont été suivis par de nombreuses écoles primaires où les thèmes interdisciplinaires et les emplois du temps flexibles sont favorables aux dimensions novatrices de l'éducation pour la paix. La compartimentation des disciplines et l'emploi du temps rigide dans les écoles secondaires n'offrent pas une flexibilité aussi grande à une planification interdisciplinaire. Cependant, la littérature relative à l'éducation pour la paix n'a pas pris en compte les considérations sur la manière dont on peut intégrer les thèmes et les processus de paix dans le programme d'études des différentes matières enseignées à l'école secondaire. On examine cette situation dans le présent article en donnant quelques conseils sur la façon dont on peut procéder dans une matière, la géographie, et en espérant que cet exemple pourra servir de modèle aux spécialistes du curriculum dans d'autres domaines.

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  1. John Fien
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Fien, J. Education for peace in the secondary school: The contribution of one subject to an across-the-curriculum perspective. Int Rev Educ 37, 335–350 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00619205

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