[Context/background of project]The EU faces a complex of crises – a huge influx of refugees, and threats from terrorism and radicalisation. At the same time, many urban areas suffer from structural inequalities and often dysfunctional integration policies. The resulting tensions have intensified the fear of difference. The erosion of trust particularly affects strongly migrant communities and the schools within them.In this context, how can such schools and the communities surrounding them engage in the kind of sustained dialogue, integration and peacebuilding that is so urgently needed? [Objectives of project]This project aims to identify, develop, test and evaluate Learning Communities for Peace (LCP) approaches in four primary schools in urban areas of high tension in four European countries, so as to improve the climate within the schools as well as the ‘living together’ in the wider community. [Number and profile of participants]The five project partners offer a combination of experience in peace education and community-building strategies, and in research/higher education and practice. Overall project coordinator, the Department of Education of the University of Gothenburg (Sweden), is supported by the Evens Foundation (Belgium), a public-benefit foundation that promotes ‘harmonious living together’ in Europe. The Center for Peace, Nonviolence and Human Rights Osijek (Croatia) has carried out post-conflict educational work in schools and communities. CREA (Catalonia, Spain) describes itself as a ‘Centre of Research in Theories and Practices that Overcome Inequalities’, while Place Identity Gr (Greece) focuses on ‘Clusters for Place Identity and Citizens’ Participation’. Finally, ARC – Alternative Resolution to Conflict (UK), a private company, has experience in school and community mediation. The Cambridge Peace and Education Research Group (UK) is being subcontracted to evaluate the quality and impact of the project.[Description of activities]The project has five phases. Phase 1 consists of peer training: the partners will train each other in their respective methods and approaches. Next (Phase 2), four suitable primary schools in four countries will be identified, and a context and needs analysis carried out. Following a European workshop for pilot-school representatives, the latter will work with their operational partner to develop an action plan for their school. Phase 3 is for implementation and testing. The four operational partners will keep a record of each school’s progress and intervene as trainers if needed. In Phase 4, based on the evaluation, the partners will transform the project learnings into concrete intellectual outputs. Finally, in Phase 5, the project results and outputs will be disseminated to local, regional, national and European stakeholders. [Methodology]Co-creation and equal participation of stakeholders are central to the project’s methodology; target groups will be involved in developing strategies, tools and methods, and strong local networks will be developed. Secondly, a thorough adaptation process involving the target group will help to ensure that any strategy, tool or method will fit local needs. Thirdly, the project will seek to ensure that each partner benefits from the experience and expertise of the other partners. [Short description of results and impact envisaged]This project addresses urgent needs and crucial questions related to integration, multiculturalism and the refugee crisis. It plans to develop new, and re-examine existing peace education approaches and peacebuilding strategies, and adapt them to a new reality. A comprehensive set of strategies, methodologies, tools and actions to help schools to establish and sustain an LCP will be developed.The process of dialogue will develop the social, civic and intercultural competences of the project participants (pupils, staff, families, community actors), improve school climate and increase social cohesion. The project will also benefit educators by offering them a panorama of options for working with diverse learners and their families, and a range of culturally sensitive peacebuilding strategies.The capacities of the partner organisations to promote the LCP concept and to support schools in creating such environments will be strengthened. Information about the project and results will be widely disseminated. The Evens Foundation will communicate with European policy and education stakeholders, and with their network of peace educators.
In light of the current context in Europe – the influx of refugees, threats associated with terrorism and radicalisation, structural inequality, dysfunctional integration policies, divisions in post-war societies – traditional approaches to peace education and conflict transformation seemed to fall short of proposing adequate strategies for confronting rising tensions and fear of difference in schools and their surrounding communities. The Learning Communities for Peace project was conceived as a European project involving 6 partners working alongside each other in different realities sharing the same overall goal and principles, improving relationships and bolstering togetherness within school communities taking a bottom-up approach. It sought to shift the trend away from thinking in terms of universal, pan-European solutions, to acknowledge the uniqueness of each school context and to embrace the belief that ownership is crucial. Instead of offering universal solutions, we chose to support an open-ended process with the school leading the way, building on the wisdom present in their community. This meant that the overall goal was redefined locally to correspond to the lived reality in each setting. We benefited from the exchange of unique experiences and expertise to better understand which conditions need to be fulfilled to build an LCP, acknowledging the ability of schools and teachers to create the change that is so urgently needed. The partners offered a combination of experience in peace education and community building, and in research and higher education. The overall project coordinator, the Department of Education and Special Education of the University of Gothenburg (Sweden), was supported in their coordination task by the Evens Foundation (Belgium), a public-benefit foundation. The Center for Peace, Nonviolence and Human Rights Osijek (Croatia) has carried out post-conflict educational work in schools and communities. CREA (Spain) describes itself as a ‘Centre of Research in Theories and Practices that Overcome Inequalities’, while Place Identity Clusters (Greece) focuses on citizen participation. Finally, ARC – Alternative Resolution to Conflict (UK), a private company, has experience in school and community mediation. The project was launched in November 2016, with the first partners’ meeting in Gothenburg, and lasted until 31 August 2019. The project had five phases. In phase 1, a Joint Staff Training was organized for the partners in order to create community. During this week, we educated each other and got to know each partner’s competences. In addition, we could discussed the project and the concepts used. This training contributed very much to the positive outcome of the project. In phase 2, the 4 operational partners were tasked to identify a primary school to join the project as pilot schools. In total, 5 schools were identified (1 in Croatia, 1 in Greece, 1 in Sweden and 2 in the UK). Delegates of the schools attended a two-day European training, European Learning Communities for Peace Lab which gave the opportunity for partners to introduce the LCP approach, explain action research methodology and offer the schools a platform for sharing, thus creating a European Community of Practice. In phase 3, the schools worked with the respective operational partners to implement an action research cycle including: 1) reflection, 2) action plan, 3) actions, 4) observation and data collection, and 5) interpretation. This operational phase, which lasted a school year on average, was monitored by researchers from the University of Cambridge. In phase 4, the partners summarised the project learnings from the action research projects and the evaluation into four concrete intellectual outputs (action research reports, impact evaluation report, workshop and toolkit). Finally, the project results and outputs were disseminated to local, regional, national and European stakeholders to motivate other schools to become a Learning Community for Peace The country reports showed that the action research took the operational partners and schools along different pathways. All actors involved acknowledged that the systematic and cyclical approach of reflecting, planning, acting and observing helped to structure their work. Different actions were implemented and observed, to see if improvement occurred. Even when there were no obvious improvements at first sight, the impact evaluations showed that several could be detected. All schools greatly appreciated the role of the project partners as facilitators, critical friend and external observers. We were in this together: reflecting, planning, acting and observing. This process of searching turned out to be the major strength of the LCP approach.