in this Teach Peace lesson from the Civil Mediation Council, learners will find out what mediation is and the role it plays helping to resolve conflict in society. They will try out a simple example mediation, and consider the skills, knowledge and values a mediator needs. This lesson could be stand-alone a first step to deciding whether your school community could use peer mediators.
Curriculum links, England
Citizenship | GCSE (AQA) | 1. Citizenship skills, processes and methods | Understand the range of methods and approaches that can be used by governments, organisations, groups and individuals to address citizenship issues in society
PSHE | KS3-4 | Relationships | Forming and maintaining respectful relationship | R19. to develop conflict management skills and strategies to reconcile after disagreements
English Language | KS3 | speak confidently and effectively, including through: classroom discussion
Citizenship | GCSE (AQA) | 2. Life in Modern Britain |UK role | How the UK has assisted in resolving international disputes and conflicts, and the range of methods used.
Curriculum links, Scotland
Health and wellbeing across learning | experience personal achievement and build my resilience and confidence
Curriculum for Excellence: Effective contributors. |
Literacy | Listening and Talking: | LIT 4-02aWhen I engage with others I can make a relevant contribution, ensure that everyone has an opportunity to contribute and encourage them to take account of others’ points of view or alternative solutions. I can respond in ways appropriate to my role, exploring and expanding on contributions to reflect on, clarify or adapt thinking.
Literacy | Listening and Talking: | LIT 4-09aWhen listening and talking with others for different purposes, I can:sum up ideas, issues, findings or conclusions.
Curriculum links, Wales
Cross-cutting theme | Human rights
Cross-curricular skill | develop listening, reading, speaking and writing skills
The four purposes | enterprising, creative contributors who: think creatively to reframe and solve problems
Planning a peace education lesson, and want to map it to your curriculum?
Using handy drop down lists, this spreadsheet lets you find curricular links we’ve, whether in England, Scotland or Wales.
We’ve selected cross-curricular learning outcomes that we’ve found useful in developing Teach Peace resources for secondary schools.
In this Teach Peace lesson from Scientists for Global Responsibility, learners will combine ethics and the science to assess nuclear weapons. Using Nuclear weapons: a beginner’s guide to the threats from Scientists for Global Responsibility, learners gain an understanding of the science and the effects of nuclear weapons and use that insight to inform their moral reasoning.
Using the six sections of the Beginners Guide, learners will explore
1. What is a nuclear weapon?
2. the basic science of nuclear weapons
3. How many nuclear weapons are there?
4. How much destructive power do the nuclear-armed nations have?
5. A nuclear attack: the immediate effects
6. A nuclear attack: longer-term and global impacts
Express opinions about a variety of issues affecting young people across the world, and listen to others’ views. Explore how and why children become ‘child soldiers’, and how it affects their lives in different ways. Build empathy with young people who have not been able to experience childhood.
History & Society | Talking and listening
This Teach Peace lesson from the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) uses eyewitness case studies from human rights monitors.
Learners will evaluate the human effects of conflict and Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. The lesson approaches the issue with an ethos of principled impartiality.
In this lesson from the London Mining Network, learners will find out about a situation in which nonviolent direct action succeeded. This is the story of the successful nonviolent direct action taken by the Mirrar people and their allies against the Jabiluka uranium mine which was to be built on their ancestral land dangerously close to the Kakadu National Park in Northern Territory, Australia. Learners will carry out a
guided group research project on the topic.
Citizenship and action | Geography
In this Teach Peace lesson from World Beyond War, Learners will be introduced to the concepts of direct, structural, and cultural violence. They will think critically and reflect on the different types of violence present in different contexts.
Citizenship and action | Talking and listening
A Teach Peace lesson from Peace Pathways. hen in conflict with another person, we tend to behave in characteristic ways. What conflict style do you use? When do we act like turtle, fox, teddy, owl or shark? Do we tend to always react in one way? What advantages and disadvantages does each type have? Learners will become familiar with the concepts of conflict as a part of life, and of
conflict handling skills. They will explore how they behave in conflicts and choices they can make.
Wellbeing | Talking and listening
A Teach Peace lesson from CRESST (cresst.org.uk).
Conflict Resolution in Sheffield Schools Training (CRESST) equips young people
with the skills to be peacemakers. In this introductory lesson, designed for the PSHE curriculum in England, students will learn to identify what conflict is and why it starts.
Follow-up lessons are available from cresst.org.uk.
Wellbeing | Talking and listening
What is the relationship between religion and peace? Some people argue that religion is a cause of war, but many say that their faith is a source of peace. Learners will study teachings from a range of faith traditions, exploring common themes such as the sanctity of life, inner peace, nonviolence, just war and reconciliation. They will consider their own response and what interpretations of peace resonate for them.
Religion and ethics | History & Society
A Teach Peace lesson from War Child.
Explore the notion that individuals’ actions can impact on society, and the different ways to influence change. Express your opinions, justify them and listen to others’ views. Work together and make decisions based on viewpoints as they develop.
Citizenship and action | talking and listening
A Teach Peace lesson from Anti-slavery International. Beginning with the 2020 destruction of slave trader Edward Colston’s statue, this lesson from Anti-slavery International looks at slavery’s past and present, inviting learners to consider its impact and how it can be challenged. The learning looks at the connection between racism and slavery, and how these can be challenged today.
Citizenship and action | Religion and ethics
London, Sana’a and Hiroshima: three cities bombed at different moments in history. Three poets respond to these events. Learners will analyse the poets’ approaches and make their own poetic responses to the texts.
Guide learners through the work by Antony Owen of Coventry, Atiaf Alwazir of Sana’a, and Keith Jarret of London. Learners will explore the poets’ use of form, language and imagery to create meaning.
Learners will have the chance to develop their own poetic responses.
Teach Peace is about relationships at every level, and one is our personal relationship with nature and the earth. This lesson asks learners what relationship they want with nature. They will visit a natural space and prepare a display to celebrate nature on their doorstep.
Learn about being an Eco School at eco-schools.org.uk
STEM | Religion and ethics | Creative expression
A Teach Peace lesson from Oxfam.
Learners will find out about two key elements of climate justice: inequality and interconnectedness. They will think in greater detail about how the lifestyles of people in the world’s high-income countries impact on the rest of the world.
STEM | Citizenship and action
A Teach Peace lesson from the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom. Building on more than a century of women’s peace activism, learners explore how war and conflict are experienced differently by men and women. They are also asked to reflect on why we need to talk about war and conflict and to consider how they are connected to our present lives.
Citizenship and action | History & Society | Wellbeing
Mary Foley’s teenage daughter was murdered at a friend’s birthday party. 18-year-old
Beatriz was jailed for life for the unprovoked attack. Explore Mary’s journey of forgiveness, which took her from rage and anger towards forgiveness, including sending a personal letter of hope to Beatriz in prison.
Religion and ethics | Talking and listening
A Teach Peace lesson from Diversity Role Models.
What is the effect of bullying and discrimination against LGBT+ people? How
can we stand up to bullying? Students will explore inspiring examples of upstanders and reflect on how their school can challenge discrimination.
Wellbeing | Citizenship and action
A Teach Peace lesson from Football Makes History.
How can football tackle discrimination? Fans are the lifeblood of football, but what effect does their behaviour have?
Learners will reflect on being a fan and the impact of racist, homophobic, sexist and other discriminatory chants, and think about how football can prevent discrimination.
This activity has been developed by Lennard Bunt within the framework of the Football Makes History project, which is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union as part of the Football History for Inclusion project.
Talking and listening | Wellbeing | Creative
Antisemitism is increasing in Britain and around the world. To be able to challenge it, young people need to be able to recognise and challenge antisemitic messages and myths. This lesson teaches students about antisemitic tropes, their troubled history, their evolution and their present manifestation, and the harm that their circulation can cause. It is the first lesson in a unit designed with the support of the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) that helps teachers have conversations with learners about contemporary antisemitism in a safe, sensitive and constructive way. Build on this lesson with more material from the unit ‘Discussing Contemporary Antisemitism in the Classroom.’
Citizenship and action | Religion and ethics | Talking and Listening