• Piirroskuvassa eri-ikäiset lapset ja nuoret hymyilevät. OIkealla lapsi on kohottanut kätensä tervehdykseen, ja hänen vieressään huivipäinen tyttö pitelee keltaista rauhanmerkkilippua, Keskellä kuvaa on pyörätuolissa istuva nuori, joka pitelee yläpuolelleen kohoavan maapallo-kuvitetun ilmapallon narua. Hänen vieressään vasemmalla suureen takkiin pukeutunut ihminen seisoo ja pitelee käsissään kukkaruukkua. Laitimmaisena oikealla on oranssia reppua kantava lapsi.

Peace School

Peace School is a peace and global education programme maintained byt Peace Union of Finland. It strives to educate and foster the culture of peace. We create and develop new methods of peace and global education.

Peace School offers workshops for schools and student groups off all ages. Peace School challenges Finnish students to think about global development issues, peace and nonviolence in their own lives, and conflicts at a global level. We organise tranings also for youth leaders and teachers.

Peace School was established in 1998 to support the work of Finnish schools in Global Citizenship Education. Since 2008 the funding for Peace School has mainly come from the development fund of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. Nowadays Peace School works in 5 different cities in Finland. The headquarters of the Peace School is located in the Peace Station in Helsinki.

 

The pedagocical approach of the Peace School

The themes and pedagogical approach of the Peace School global education support the themes and value base of the Finnish curricula (VASU 2022, POPS 2014, LOPS 2019). These include growing towards peace, respect for life and human rights, respect for well-being and democracy, active participation in civil society, equality, non-discrimination and a sustainable lifestyle.

The operation of the Peace School is value-based. Respecting peace, human rights and democracy, equality, mutual solidarity and global responsibility are key values. The educational activities of the Peace School are linked to the tradition of critical pedagogy, for which the pursuit of change is central. Implicit in the criticality aiming for change is the hope of a life that follows the set values. Along with global development challenges, the possibilities of change are discussed and learners are encouraged to take their own initiative. The pedagogy of the Peace School global education project is defined by Freire’s pedagogy of hope. According to Freire, the purpose of a teaching situation is to lead to critical thinking, action and change. The Peace School challenges students to independently reflect on the world around them and on their role as a part of the global society. They are encouraged to reflect on the backgrounds of knowledge and procedures.

The Peace School’s pedagogical methods are based on participatory methods, especially drama education. The drama stories, used as teaching methods, take place in developing or fragile countries (such as Kenya, Zambia, Afghanistan, South Sudan). Out of the Agenda 2030 – Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), they deal especially with the scope of social sustainability and goals 5: gender equality, 10: reducing inequality, 16: peace and justice, and 17: cooperation and partnership.

The drama stories are implemented using the means of participatory drama in the way that the learners get to immerse into the story and get a first-hand experience of the themes of global education. In connection with the drama stories, the learners are provided with current information, which connects the stories to global issues of peace and development.

The use of storytelling and drama enable true to life narration and the examination of the root causes behind current phenomena and global challenges as part of teaching. The methods are well suited for examining the Agenda 2030 – Sustainable Development Goals and for supporting growth as a global citizen.

Storytelling allows themes that can appear distant, be brought closer to the learners’ own experience. Drama work is characterized by the use of roles, a way of telling and exploring stories about living as a human. The purpose of drama work is to make learning comprehensive by offering learning situations resembling real life. It helps to understand the world, and develops the cooperation skills, empathy and critical thinking of the participants. The experience of empathy motivates into action for promoting other people’s well-being and human rights.

The Peace School applies the model of experiential learning developed by David Kolb. It suggests that the learner gets information in a process that takes place in the interaction between the learner and the environment: learning proceeds by reflecting experiences and action towards understanding phenomena and better operating models.

Attitudes and values gradually develop with one’s own reflection and experiences. Through drama work, the Peace School offers tools that enable the development of the empathy skills of children and youth. The Peace School drama stories allow them to extend the experience of empathy not only to their own near circle, but also to the life situations of young people living in the global south, when stories based on real conditions bring life to the everyday lives of people living in the global south. The experience of empathy motivates one to take responsibility for promoting the human rights and well-being of others.

 

For further information please contact

Annukka Toivonen

Expert in Global Citizenship Education/ Peace School programme

Peace Union of Finland

rauhankoulu@rauhanliitto.fi

+358 50 597 9629