Conflicts between peers are inevitable in schools, and schools must be equipped with strategies to assist students in avoiding conflicts and engaging in problem-solving when conflicts occur. Restorative practices and other conflict resolution interventions such as peer mediation are gaining popularity, particularly as an alternate framework to the…

Although conflict resolution education programs are usually designed to help resolve crises and reduce school disruption, the power of these programs extends far beyond the original purpose of reacting to violence. This article highlights the positive impact of conflict resolution on student relationships and school climates.

Adolescents struggle with many types of conflicts in their lives. They must define relationships with friends, teachers, parents, and themselves. Disagreements will arise, and without the proper training, many teens are left feeling angry, confused, or depressed. Teaching middle school students to deal with conflict productively at an early age…

The consequences of bullying are both widespread and severe. It disrupts learning, threatens school safety, and poses long-term emotional repercussions for bullies, victims, and bystanders. Although multiple strategies have targeted bullying, bullying must be understood within a social contextual framework beyond the bully-victim dyad. Davis and…

The Conflict Resolution Model was formulated by a group of Australian psychologists who set about integrating the literature on achieving mutually beneficial outcomes in a conflict situation in order to create a best-practice prescriptive process for conflict resolution. A number of experimental studies conducted at the University of Tasmania with…

This report describes a program for decreasing student aggressive behavior when confronted with conflict. The targeted population consisted of four fourth grade classrooms in a growing middle class community. The problems of aggressive behavior were documented with classroom surveys, discipline and peer mediation referrals, records of parent…

Successful programs for classroom management and discipline treat students as active participants in building positive affective environments. This paper discusses the basic steps of conflict resolution and presents an example of how one elementary school handled a situation in which a group of students who played soccer each day during recess had…

Explores some of the research that describes the process of growing up to be violent, reviews a typical conflict-resolution program in the schools, and describes an action research project that provides some pointers on the development of conflict-resolution programs that address the problem of violence in greater depth. (SM)

Discusses the challenges of implementing school-based conflict-resolution programs, with particular reference to the problems and unique strengths of girls. The Resolving Conflict Creatively program is often well received by young women, but many are hampered by gender expectations that stigmatize girls who act with assertive leadership. (LSR)

One Maryland school district incorporated conflict-resolution strategies with learning opportunities, infusing it into the regular K-12 curriculum. Teacher workshops produced seven conflict-resolution tools: brainstorming, questioning, active listening, conceptual thinking, role playing, triggering, and problem solving. Teachers received training,…

Conflict resolution provides a structure through which children can communicate, and character education enhances this by offering students the right language to find a middle ground for compromise. This paper describes how teachers at Pittsburgh's Falk Laboratory School developed and implemented a conflict-resolution program for grades K-8 that…

States that teachers should understand their own assumptions about conflict and their approaches to it. Proposes a four-step model for conflict resolution: (1) identify the problem without blame; (2) brainstorm alternatives together; (3) agree on a solution; and (4) evaluate the result. Includes a section of conflict resolution resources by Steven…

Considers two complementary ways of teaching conflict resolution in schools: special training sessions focusing specifically on conflict resolution; and more diffuse but substantiated conflict resolution opportunities integrated into academic coursework. Vignettes from two schools illustrate the different strengths of curricular and…

Discusses results of an evaluation of the conflict-resolution/student-mediation program in region II of the Dade County (Florida) Public Schools during 1992-93. Describes staff training, conflict-resolution instruction for students, the nature and extent of student mediation, and measurable program results. Although school behavior indicators…

Discusses student empowerment and the importance of including students in planning and implementing conflict resolution programs. The paper describes the "Winning Against Violent Environments" (WAVE) program which trains students to be peer mediators who train other students and adults to be mediators and conflict managers. (SM)