Peace Education in the School Context: A Reflection on Teachers’ Perceptions and Practices

Author Information

Alessandra Priore, Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria, Italy
Federica De Marco, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy

Abstract

Peace education entails moving beyond a reductive conception of peace understood merely as the absence of war and redefining it as a positive and relational process rooted in everyday educational practices (UNESCO, 2023). From this perspective, peace education is conceived not only as an educational orientation aimed at transforming educational and cultural relationships, in line with Galtung’s (2019) distinction between negative and positive peace, but also as a practice directed toward the construction of critical dialogue, grounded in Freire’s conception of education as a dialogical process oriented toward emancipation (Freire, 1970, 1996), and in democratic pedagogies that identify cooperation and reflective inquiry as generative principles of educational processes (Dewey, 1916, 1938). Consistent with this perspective, contemporary research on peace education highlights the need to rethink pedagogical paradigms capable of addressing the complexities of contemporary educational contexts (Guetta, 2024). Building on this assumption, conflict is understood as a structural dimension of educational ecosystems and as a resource for transforming educational and relational processes (Lederach, 1997, 2005). Accordingly, an exploratory study was conducted to investigate the professional representations and educational practices of 266 teachers regarding peace education and their connections with conflict management. Qualitative data analysis, conducted using MaxQDA software, reveals a conception of peace as a multidimensional and everyday educational process associated with the development of relational and social-emotional competencies and classroom well-being. The findings also highlight teachers' recognition of conflict as a pedagogical resource, intentionally employed to foster reflection, dialogue, and the transformation of relational dynamics.

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