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The Values Of Peace Education And Ethics

Decent Essays
3.1 Peace education and ethics
Peace education provides learners with opportunities and spaces to develop knowledge, skills, attitudes. Moreover, it nurtures the values needed to prevent the escalation of conflicts into violence and to be able to transform those through cooperation and solidarity with others using non-violent means. Peace education requires that learners become aware about themselves, their relations with others and the interactions in society.

Today, we live in plural and diverse societies, that are increasingly interconnected and interdependent. All our interactions with others presuppose a basic trust. We hold each other’s’ lives in our hands and have a responsibility to care for others. This constitutes the demand to
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It is about being able to respond actively to those challenges, injustices and violence and helping restore and transform broken relationships. It is not about defining who is right or wrong but the process of critically reflecting about our beliefs and actions and how those affect the connectedness of life, and actively doing something to ensure human dignity is protected and upheld.

Ethics is at the core of peace education. Therefore, peace education should help learners to respond to that intrinsic need to care for one another unconditionally and equip them to make decisions and act ethically regardless of their religious and cultural belief systems or legal prescriptions. Peace education helps learners understand, respect and celebrate diversity through ethical reflections, helping them to build harmonious relations.

Learning to act based on ethical principles and values constitutes the foundation for living together in peace. Because peace is much more than the mere absence of war and violence we must be equipped to respond to injustice and discrimination; upholding the respect for human rights and human dignity for
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A process of dialogue and exchange needs to be encouraged in which children assume increasing responsibilities and practice respect and active citizenship while developing democratic competencies.
For this reason, to respond to the multiple ethical challenges of societies, including equipping children with the necessary skills to build peaceful and inclusive communities, education needs to contribute to develop children’s full potential, not just intellectually, but also emotionally, spiritually and relationally.

3.3. How can Peace Education encourage ethical reflections in the classroom?
How can we concretely support the learners to respect and appreciate others as well as themselves as human beings, applying attitudes and a mind-set that help build positive relationships with others? How can we respond to the demands of a common humanity?

Peace education that fosters ethical reflections and actions responds to the needs of our increasingly plural societies, being sensitive to cultural and religious differences; and ensuring that learning spaces are safe for children to strengthen their sense of belonging, inclusive identities, and allow them to become who they want to become, connect with others and transform themselves, as well as contribute to transform the world around
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