Learning peace: Adolescent Colombians’ interpretations of and responses to peace education curriculum.

This study contributes to this literature and the field of peace education by employing psychological theories on development and meaning making in investigating how adolescents respond to peace education in Colombia. In 2015, the Colombian government mandated the inclusion of peace education across all levels of schooling. The law reflected increased attention to young people’s potential development and role as peacebuilders. Nevertheless, there has been minimal evaluation of how the law has been received by young Colombians or has influenced their understandings of and orientations toward peace. The methodology in this study involved presenting adolescents with an excerpt from the Colombian government’s proposed curriculum and asking them to respond. To do this, interviews were conducted with 205 adolescents between 15 and 18 years old across 36 schools in various areas of Colombia. Participants were presented with the 1-page framework intended for 10th-grade instruction in the Colombian Ministry of Education’s document of tasks and recommendations for peace education. Thematic analysis of the interview data was used to identify key patterns in participants’ responses. Analyses revealed three primary themes: youth needed to be prepared for engagement in society, informing served as a foundation for participation in peacebuilding, and peace education needed to bridge the divide between the classroom and social contexts outside of it by promoting concrete action. Thes...
Source: Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research