European Journal of Alternative Education Studies
ISSN: 2501-5915
ISSN-L: 2501-5915
Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu
10.5281/zenodo.167133
Volume 1│Issue 2│2016
CONFLICT MANAGEMENT VIA
SYSTEMICALLY PLANNED PEER MEDIATION
Evangelos C. Papakitsos1i, Konstantinos Karakiozis2
Adj. Prof. Dr., School of Pedagogical and Technological Education,
Department of Education, Greece
2Secondary Education Directorate of Western Attica,
Youth Counselling Station, Greece
1
Abstract:
Conflicts and confrontations between students are a key-feature of school life.
Especially in recent years, both the scientific and the educational community are
particularly sensitive to bullying issues in the school context. Peer mediation (or school
mediation) is an alternative way to manage conflicts at school. A critical evaluation of
this practice is attempted, as well as its contribution to the formation of a positive
attitude in school and to the decreasing of school-bullying incidents. For this purpose,
school extracurricular programmes can be planned. The application of relevant
programmes at school can be facilitated by systemic modelling that may provide a
useful conceptual tool for organizing similar interventions. The overall approach is
exemplified by the implementation of Health Education programmes, as they are
conducted at the Greek secondary education in the context of educational counselling
psychology interventions.
Keywords: peer mediation, school mediation, conflict management, school bullying,
systemic modelling
1.
Introduction
In the last decade, a large number of studies have dealt with the phenomenon of school
bullying. Although there is not a general theory to explain bullying (Farrington & Ttofi,
2009), most studies emphasize the existence of predatory or intentional behaviour that
occurs repeatedly for some time and characterized by imbalance of power or by
asymmetrical power relationship (Olweus, 1997). Meanwhile, as a large number of
educationalists believe, these conflicts have only negative effects, i.e., the existence of
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Evangelos C. Papakitsos, Konstantinos Karakiozis CONFLICT MANAGEMENT VIA SYSTEMICALLY PLANNED PEER MEDIATION
violence (Cremin, 2007). However, conflicts and confrontations between students are
observed historically in every educational system (Galanaki, 2010; Panousis, 2010), as
they are inherent in the everyday life of school and their management is a part of the
cognitive development of students. In other words, they are a necessary feature of
human societies that may also have positive effects (Cremin, 2007; Johnson & Johnson,
1996). This is indicated by the large number of theoretical approaches, as well (Davies,
2004). Within this framework, intervention programmes are successfully implemented
that suggest the involvement of all members of the school community and actions taken
at school, class and individual level (Rigby, 2012; Limber, 2011; Farrington & Ttofi, 2009;
Olweus, 2009; Kallestad & Olweus, 2003).
In the Greek educational system, the most suitable institution for intervention
actions against school-bullying and for conflict management is the Health Education
programmes Karakiozis et al.,
a,b , dating since
Υ.Α. Γ /
/ -8-1992,
Government Gazette 629, vol. B / 23-10-1992). Since 2000, they constitute an important
category of the extra-curricular educational activities that are voluntarily implemented
by pupils and teachers. Their purpose is to protect, improve and promote the physical,
mental and social health of pupils, by developing their critical abilities and the
associated skills and by attempting to upgrade their immediate social and natural
environment (Karakiozis & Papapanousi, 2015a). Thus, part of the Health Education
programmes and activities is the improvement of mental health of pupils. This
particular group of activities includes the educational counselling psychology
interventions that is a duty assigned to the Supervisors of Youth Counselling Stations
(YCS), the only counselling psychology agency of the local (county) Secondary
Education Directorates of Greece. Their duties will be described in the following
section.
2.
Youth Counselling Stations
According to the official documents of the Greek Ministry of Education (
/Γ/ 08-2012, Government Gazette 2315 / 2012), the major educational duties of the
Supervisors of YCSs are the following:
They have the task of covering the psychosocial needs of local (county) schools,
with the detection, diagnosis, brief psychological intervention and referral of
students in particular need for psychological treatment.
They provide parental counselling, exert preventive intervention within family
support frameworks and also mobilize other social actors through school.
They can participate in pedagogical meetings of the teachers’ councils of county
schools for specialized subjects related to applied Health Education programmes.
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Evangelos C. Papakitsos, Konstantinos Karakiozis CONFLICT MANAGEMENT VIA SYSTEMICALLY PLANNED PEER MEDIATION
They provide information for teachers on specific problems that can be faced by
students, at the invitation of school directors or at the request of the local
associations of parents.
They sensitize the wider community about health and mental health education
issues, by organizing and coordinating speeches, discussions and other activities.
They monitor and support the mental health programmes of schools in the area
of their jurisdiction (local Secondary Education Directorate), in cooperation with
the regional Health Education Supervisors.
They organize meetings for groups of teachers to help them solve educational,
organizational and other issues and support their efforts.
They cooperate with Health Education Supervisors to promote in every way the
curricula of schools, the training seminars for teachers as well as local and
international partnerships.
They may be involved in coordinating the thematic network groups, in
organizational committees of seminars and conferences and present suggestions
related to their content.
These tasks are assigned to a single person (the Supervisor of YCS), who has a
huge educational area of jurisdiction. A typical example is the area of the West Attica
Secondary Education Directorate, consisting of 50 schools with 10,000 attending pupils.
To cope with the counselling psychology needs of such magnitude, a feasible tactics is
the decentralization of counselling services through the implementation of
extracurricular programmes and, in particular, of peer (school) mediation programmes
that deal with conflict management. In addition, the notion of implementing mediation
practices as a method of conflict management has been already suggested: “... peer
mediation training suggested (between others) as a crisis prevention and response preparedness
practices in which school counsellors should engage … “SC“,
, being recognized as
an activity within the context of (educational) counselling psychology services (Heesook Choi et al., 2008; Joynt, 2004; Messing, 1993; Shannon, 2008).
In Greece, school mediation programmes are implemented in a limited number
of primary and secondary education schools as extracurricular programmes (Health
Education programmes focusing on mental health). In public education, extracurricular
programmes are classified in five topics: Health Education, Cultural Affairs,
Environmental Education, Career Education and eTwinning / Erasmus+ programmes,
implemented by teachers during school hours for primary education schools and
beyond school hours for secondary education schools. Each extracurricular programme
can be coordinated by one teacher, who can be supported by up to three more
colleagues (assistants) depending on the size of the pupils’ group. It is implemented for
two hours per week with the approval of the teachers’ council of the school and the
local Extracurricular Programmes Committee. Each topic is monitored by the respective
local Supervisor, who is usually an experienced teacher having postgraduate education
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Evangelos C. Papakitsos, Konstantinos Karakiozis CONFLICT MANAGEMENT VIA SYSTEMICALLY PLANNED PEER MEDIATION
/ training in the relevant topic. Finally, school mediation has been recently identified in
the findings of the national dialogue for education as a structured process that has
tangible results in reducing violence at schools, because it gives the students the ability
to openly discuss their concerns, express their feelings, their needs and to explore
together how to solve their problems without being criticized by the mediators
(Porismata Dialogou, 2016: 97).
3.
Theoretical Framework
Summarizing the work of Isenhart and Spangle, Davies (2004) lists a series of theoretical
approaches where the notion of conflict is central. Some examples include:
Attribute Theory: people conflict with, because they simplistically attribute to
others properties and labels, often by describing positively their own actions and
negatively the actions of others.
Equity Theory: people conflict with, when they feel that they do not receive
whatever they consider proper, and the resolution comes through remedial
justice.
Field Theory people’s actions are a product of forces that are applied and based
on expectations, commitments and mutual trust between them.
Interaction Theory: a conflict is the product of a continuous negotiation,
depending on the value-framework and how people interpret behaviours and
various events.
Psychodynamic Theory: people deal with many unconscious situations such as
stress, fear, aggression or guilt. To overcome these internal tensions, they use
defence mechanisms of the ego such as the displacement , e.g., when directing
their anger towards another more accessible target.
Social Exchange Theory people’s selection is based on their personal interests and
on terms of needs and market conditions (cost-benefit).
Systems Theory: conflicts arise when imbalances are created, either because
people do not fulfil their operational roles or when a sub-system collapses.
Transformational Theory: the conflict is not necessarily dysfunctional but has a
vital social function, since tensions are released. Thus, the standards are
redefined and people are involved with the deeper causes of the problems.
Conflict Strategies theory: according to Johnson & Johnson (1996), each person
chooses certain strategies to solve a conflict, taking into account: (i) the need to
achieve targets and (ii) the need to maintain a relationship.
Summarizing the above references, a conflict is neither good nor bad, neither
constructive nor destructive, but depends on the ways in which it is processed (Johnson
& Johnson, 1996). In this context, the concepts of cooperation and competition emerge
and the conflict is perceived as a mutual problem that will be resolved through a
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Evangelos C. Papakitsos, Konstantinos Karakiozis CONFLICT MANAGEMENT VIA SYSTEMICALLY PLANNED PEER MEDIATION
collaborative process (Cremin, 2007). Mediation, and peer mediation in particular, is
such a method of resolving conflicts that will be presented next.
4.
The Method of Mediation
Mediation etymologically means that someone is between two parties. It refers to the
process whereby a third party, acting impartially, helps two (or more) parties that are in
conflict to work for resolving the conflict and decide the terms of the agreement. It
should firstly be made clear that mediation is an alternative method to resolve a conflict
before the two parties reach litigation. Other alternatives are arbitration, negotiation and
conciliation (Carneiro et al., 2014; Sandy, 2004). Those procedures refer to the process in
which both parties are working together to resolve a conflict. They are distinguished by
the degree of involvement of the third party to the decision-making and whether the
followed procedure resembles a formal judicial process (Stitt, 2004; Liebmann, 2000).
According to Artinopoulou (2010), mediation aims at restoring, through
structured processes, the relations between the two parties (remedial justice) and
redefining them on a more qualitative basis. This process presupposes the orientation of
all parties towards the future and not towards past behaviours. On the contrary, the
negotiation is non-committing, collaborative and informal process through which the
parties communicate with each other without the intervention of a third party (Carneiro
et al., 2014). During conciliation on the other hand, a process similar to mediation, the
two parties do not come into personal contact but only communicate through a third
party, searching for consensus and concessions and not for maximizing mutual benefits
(Carneiro et al., 2014). Also in arbitration, both parties usually participate mandatory
(Carneiro et al., 2014; Rigby, 2012; Stitt, 2004) while the third party, which also operates
impartially, after listening to both parties, suggests usually committing solutions for the
resolution of conflict. Finally, the dispute relates to judicial resolution of a controversy
(Stitt, 2004; Liebmann, 2000).
Mediation practices are used successfully to resolve conflicts in different fields of
social life: family, workplaces, businesses, primary and secondary education schools,
community, medical issues, conflicts between farmers, in civilian courts and finally
solving major issues (Cremin, 2007; Stitt, 2004; Liebmann, 2000). In the legal field,
according to the European Directive 2011/0275 (COM), Article 11 established standards
for mediation and remedial justice services, in order to protect the victim from
intimidation or further victimization. In the Greek legal system, the mediation process
has been recently introduced to resolve civil and commercial matters (Law 3898/2010,
Government Gazette 211, vol. A, 16/12/2010, Mediation in civil and commercial matters
pursuant to Directive 2008/52/EC).
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Evangelos C. Papakitsos, Konstantinos Karakiozis CONFLICT MANAGEMENT VIA SYSTEMICALLY PLANNED PEER MEDIATION
4.1. Peer Mediation: Definition and Context
According to Artinopoulou (2010: 144), peer mediation (or school mediation) is defined as
the process of peaceful resolution of conflict in the context of school life, between two or
more dissident students with the help of a third and neutral pupil - the mediator through a structured process with clear boundaries, active participation and direct
communication between the parties, aiming at a constructive resolution of the dispute.
In other words, the Child’s “dvocate
emphasizes the peaceful resolution of
conflicts, bickering and tension among students with the assistance of trained teachers
and student-mediators, where the involved persons are trying to understand each other
with the goal of reaching an agreement to avoid repeating future relevant behaviours.
Peer mediation is a successful form of intervention (Association for Conflict
Resolution, 2007) in primary and secondary education schools, aiming at a peaceful
resolution of interpersonal conflicts. Implemented initially as a reaction to
traditional/authoritarian forms of intervention (Rigby, 2012), it works alternatively to a
traditional disciplinary-punishment system (Artinopoulou, 2010). The peer mediation
programmes also contribute to the creation of a friendly school environment for
students, improving the interpersonal relationships among them and reducing school
violence and bullying incidents, especially when integrated into a comprehensive
prevention plan (Association for Conflict Resolution, 2007). Peer mediation
programmes were originally implemented in the United States during the 1960s and
nowadays in a number of countries, including Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Greece,
Latvia etc. (European Anti-Bullying Network, 2014; Rigby, 2012).
4.2. Peer Mediation Features
It has been attempted in various ways to classify peer mediation programmes. Initially,
there is a distinction among those selecting a limited number of students (Carde model)
and those that all students of a class or school participate in (Association for Conflict
Resolution, 2007; Johnson & Johnson, 1996). In the first case, the mediator-role can only
be assumed by those students that have attended the relevant training programme,
while in the second case, the total of students are trained in conflict management. In
practice there is also a combination of the above models. Another distinction of
intervention programmes is that of Levy & Maxwell (Johnson & Johnson, 1996), who
distinguish these that are embedded in the curriculum, which are mainly of preventive
nature, and those that deal exclusively with peer mediation in practice. Finally,
according to Opotow (1991), the peer mediation programmes and conflict resolution are
divided into: skills programmes (interpersonal and group relations, conflict resolution
skills), academic-type programmes (cognitive conflict management procedures) and
programmes that emphasize the need for structural change of schools.
Although there are many variations of peer mediation, most studies (Centre for
European Constitutional Law, 2015; IREX & FTI, 2013; Artinopoulou, 2010; Cremin,
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Evangelos C. Papakitsos, Konstantinos Karakiozis CONFLICT MANAGEMENT VIA SYSTEMICALLY PLANNED PEER MEDIATION
2007; Haynes et al., 2004; Orme-Johnson & Cason-Snow, 2002; Bitel & Rolls, 2000) agree
that in a mediation meeting the next steps are followed:
1. Agreement to conduct the mediation meeting.
2. Welcome and recommendations. The mediators welcome their peers involved in
mediation and make the necessary recommendations. They indicate the rules
governing the procedure (impartiality and confidentiality) and the
confidentiality exceptions according to school policy (e.g., cases of criminal
behaviour, abuse or threats of abuse).
3. Both parties present their story; there is a paraphrase and summary of the
different opinions by the mediators. Wherever a party does not understand or
reject the procedure, the head of the programme is informed to resolve the
dispute, otherwise the process ends.
4. Emphasis is put on the emotions, interests and needs of both parties and
whatever was said is confirmed through feedback.
5. Solutions are proposed by both parties that will meet their interests and needs.
6. Evaluation of proposals.
7. Agreement between the two parties that is recorded. It is expected that both
parties will meet again with the mediators after one week to confirm whether the
agreement was kept. To the school administration or others, only the result of the
process is notified and not the content of it, unless agreed by both parties.
These steps are also applied when mediation takes place between adults, with
the participation of lawyers-mediators (Stitt, 2004). Factors affecting the successful
outcome of a mediation, according to Rigby (2012), are: the quality of training (content,
time of training and skills that will be acquired by the trainees) and the school climate,
which affects the degree of readiness of students and their ability to develop the
relevant skills.
In summary, the key-features that govern peer mediation (European
Constitutional Law Centre, 2015; Artinopoulou, 2010; Association for Conflict
Resolution, 2007) are:
a) The voluntary participation of all those involved, without allowed interventions
by third parties, even with the purpose of enforcing the agreement.
b) The impartiality, objectivity and neutrality of mediators.
c) The mediators should avoid cases with conflicts of interest.
d) Whatever is said, done or recorded during the mediation process is considered
confidential, besides exceptions related to school policy.
e) The mediators must be properly trained and educated.
f) The mediators undertake to promote the mediation programme to their peers
without unnecessary promises or disclosure of information concerning the
course of a mediation process.
g) There is a mutual respect between the mediators and the mediated parties.
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Evangelos C. Papakitsos, Konstantinos Karakiozis CONFLICT MANAGEMENT VIA SYSTEMICALLY PLANNED PEER MEDIATION
h) The mediators work together for the better resolution of the conflict and they
respect any different approaches that may exist regarding the handling of
mediation.
In particular, the training of students in a mediation programme includes four
thematic areas: conflict management, communication, the process of mediation and
programme’s policy while a variety of teaching methods are used experiential
learning, work assumptions, role plays, presentations and written exercises (Centre for
European Constitutional Law, 2015; IREX & FTI, 2013; Artinopoulou, 2010; Association
for Conflict Resolution, 2007; Cremin, 2007; Haynes et al., 2004; Ohio Department of
Education, 2002; Orme-Johnson & Cason-Snow, 2002; Bitel & Rolls, 2000; Fairfax
County Public Schools, n.d.).
5.
Results
In this work, we try to define a theoretical framework that will assist to critically
evaluate peer mediation as an alternative to conflict management at school. According
to the literature and despite some criticism, the success of these programmes is factual
for the attending students, because they contribute to their emotional development.
Moreover, changes in attitudes and behaviours of students in school bullying issues are
observed when such programmes are incorporated in the school curriculum and
become part of the school culture, having the support of all members of the school
community. It should be noted that peer mediation is a dynamic process where new
practices can be adopted in order to manage a conflict better. In this respect, the
contribution of holistic approaches is stressed (Karakiozis & Papapanousi, 2015b), while
the systemic school-based interventions in various aspects and forms of counselling are
also recognized as an important educational activity (Kourkoutas & Giovazolias, 2015).
5.1. Planning a Peer Mediation Programme
In the absence of a unified theoretical framework for school bullying, the educational
authorities that could be interested in organizing a peer mediation programme would
have to improvise in creating relevant guidelines. In this respect, systemic
thinking/modelling has provided a useful conceptual tool for organizing such
interventions, in some schools of the educational region of the Western Attica
Secondary Education Directorate, implemented as Health Education programmes. By
the term systemic modelling we do not necessarily refer to the application of Systems
Theory in conflict management (see section: 3. Theoretical Framework) but to the usage of
this theory in organizing a respective programme.
Systems Theory is the interdisciplinary study and description of systems as an
abstract organization of phenomena, independently of their nature or scale of existence.
The study focuses on the common principles of complex entities, and the mathematical
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Evangelos C. Papakitsos, Konstantinos Karakiozis CONFLICT MANAGEMENT VIA SYSTEMICALLY PLANNED PEER MEDIATION
models of description (Heylighen & Joslyn, 1992). A system is described as a complex
set of components that have interacting properties, relationships and processes, within
the system and with its environment. Originally, the study of systems is conventionally
attributed to Wiener (1948) and Von Bertalanffy (e.g., see: Von Bertalanffy, 1968).
Especially social systems, as the mentioned herein, are self-regulating and adaptive that
learn from experience and change their behaviour through feedback. The study of social
systems, as a sociological paradigm, is influenced by the works of Parsons (1977) and
Luhmann (1995). The application of Systems Theory is very useful for the study of
social human activity systems, because … social and psychological phenomena tend to
resist quantitative modelling by posing basic difficulties already on the plane of boundary
identification … Laszlo & Krippner,
.
Systemic modelling offers a variety of conceptual tools, such as the cognitive
maps. The cognitive map of a person is a conceptual representation of his/her
environment (Laszlo et al., 1993). These notions are very useful for those educators that
would eventually decide to organize a peer mediation programme, by forming a
cognitive map of the required procedures as perceived by him/her. For the purpose of
facilitating their efforts, a general systemic model that is called Organizational Method
for Analysing Systems (OMAS) is presented and suggested below.
5.2. Systemic Modelling for Peer Mediation
The systemic model of OMAS (Papakitsos, 2010) originates from two similar techniques
of Information Systems: the Structure Analysis and Design Technique (SADT, see: Ross,
1977; Pressman, 1987: 192-196) and the Integration Definition for Function Modelling
series of models (IDEFx, see: Grover and Kettinger, 2000). These models/techniques are
compatible to the General Systems Model (GSM, see: Sanders, 1991) that describes any
system in terms of the Input-Process-Output-Feedback quadruple concepts. The former
is a standard technique of developing Information Systems, while the latter has been
used in governmental agencies and private commercial and industrial enterprises for
many years to conduct activities, such as system control, engineering and
reengineering, data flow and others. The evolution of OMAS aimed at increasing the
communicational aspects of the two previous models, in order to become compatible to
similar models of perceiving human communication (Mantoglou, 2007; Lasswell, 1991).
The latest version of OMAS-III has been used in a variety of social systems applications,
such as: curricula designing for vocational guidance projects (Papakitsos et al., 2015),
language teaching (Makrygiannis & Papakitsos, 2015), public administration
(Papakitsos, 2015), martial arts training (Papakitsos and Katsigiannis, 2015) and project
planning (Papakitsos, 2013a).
According to OMAS-III (Papakitsos, 2013a,b), the seven journalists questions
determine the features of a system. This notion will be exemplified in organizing a peer
mediation programme at school, perceived as a social system in accordance to GSM.
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The relevant setting-up is arranged in two phases: the preparation and the
implementation one. The presentation initiates with the latter:
Quantitative data (Input): the conflicting parties along with their status, attitudes,
personalities, emotions, interests, needs or expectations.
Why (Cause/Purpose): the reasons of conflict and the purpose of the remedial
activity within the school context.
Who (Monitor): the head-teacher of the programme and the mediators.
How (Rules): the rules governing the procedure, as indicated previously (2, a-h).
Where (Place): the place of mediation meetings.
When (Time): the time of mediation meetings and activities, within the schedule
of the school’s work-hours.
What (Output): the agreement between the two parties and the Feedback
operation, which is expressed as the subsequent meetings (7), the observed
benefits to the school community and any corrective activities required.
Since the application of OMAS-III can be recursive in dealing with the subsequent
levels of a problem, the preparation phase that precedes can be designed accordingly:
Quantitative data (Input): the candidate mediators along with their status,
attitudes, personalities, emotions, interests, needs or expectations.
Why (Purpose): the purpose of the remedial activity within the school policy.
Who (Monitor): the selected head-teacher of the programme.
How (Rules): the training curriculum and the accompanying regulations.
Where (Place): the place of peer mediation training.
When (Time): the time of peer mediation training and activities, within the
schedule of the school’s work-hours.
What (Output): the well trained and educated mediators and the establishment of
the local school’s facility/regulations for conflict resolution.
Obviously, there is no apparent limitation in the application of the afore-mentioned
methodology to different situations. All the previously presented concepts in the
respective sections concerning peer mediation, whether they regard the preferred
theoretical framework, the models of peer mediation, the stages of mediation meeting
or its features can fit somewhere within the particular systemic modelling.
6.
Discussion & Conclusions
Proceeding to a critical assessment of peer mediation, we have already mentioned that
peer mediation is only one alternative for conflict management within a school. Because
of this, objections have been expressed to a series of issues, such as:
the existence of a large imbalance of power, as in the cases of school bullying in a
large scale that we have already mentioned before (Olweus, 2009), makes the
mediation difficult since it is an obligation of the mediator to remain neutral
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Evangelos C. Papakitsos, Konstantinos Karakiozis CONFLICT MANAGEMENT VIA SYSTEMICALLY PLANNED PEER MEDIATION
(Rigby, 2012; Panousis, 2010). Respectively, it is not considered an appropriate
choice in cases of sexual harassment or when drugs/alcohol are used (Rigby,
2012);
the voluntary nature of the process can generate participation problems, such as
finding skilled mediators or allowing someone to avoid participating in a
mediation (Rigby, 2012);
finally, some studies observed methodological problems, e.g., the concepts of
conflict or bullying are not always perceived in the same way Johnson &
Johnson, 1996) or the realization of the programme can be identical with the
implementation of the survey (Rigby, 2012).
Yet, a large number of mediation programmes success is reflected in the
literature (Centre for European Constitutional Law, 2015; Artinopoulou, 2010; Cremin,
2007; Haynes et al., 2004; Stitt, 2004; Liebmann, 2000; Bitel & Rolls, 2000; Johnson &
Johnson, 1996) and focuses mainly on:
reducing conflict and bullying incidents (Noaks & Noaks, 2009; Flecknoe, 2005);
developing social skills for students attending the programme (Noaks & Noaks,
2009; Flecknoe, 2005);
improving the school climate (Noaks & Noaks, 2009. Flecknoe, 2005);
the support by the school administration and the integration into the school
curriculum (Flecknoe, 2005).
At the same time, a successful peer mediation programme requires a high level
of training and support of the mediators (European Constitutional Law Centre, 2015;
IREX & FTI, 2013; Rigby, 2012; Artinopoulou, 2010; Association for Conflict Resolution,
2007; Cremin, 2007; Haynes et al., 2004; Orme-Johnson & Cason-Snow, 2002; Johnson &
Johnson, 1996). However, the absence of a uniform training programme, although
enhancing the creativity of teachers, may hinder their work in the construction of the
corresponding programme (Rigby, 2012). In addition, the absence of a theoretical
framework, while limiting the comparability of mediation programmes (Johnson &
Johnson, 1996), allows the integration of various practices, such as: circular remedial
justice (Rigby, 2012; Restorative Justice Council, 2011), support/help from peers (Rigby,
2012), training in peace issues (IREX & FTI, 2013; Fountain, 1999) and active citizenship
(Cremin, 2007). All the above aspects of peer mediation can be successfully managed
according to the guidelines of systemic modelling techniques, which may open new
avenues for peer mediation and conflict management in the school environment.
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