Conflict Resolution Guide
2014-2016
CONTENT INTRODUCTION TO CONFLICT RESOLUTION WORKSHOP: ........................................................................ 2 WORKSHOP PRESENTATION ....................................................................................................................................... 4 STUDENTS’ WORKSHOP ONLINE............................................................................................................................ 23
INTRODUCTION One of the sub- themes the project dealt with , is the theme of the conflict resolution. For this reason an initial workshop was created and presented in a powerpoint format. It was meant to be carried out by our partner schools in all participating countries and to be further supported by and extended to single students, wishing to share their experience and interact with their peers on our project ‘s Wiki pages. The ever- growing number of international and mobility projects, greatly fostered in EU by the new Erasmus plus programmes, requires from our students the ability to deal with different people, mindsets, values, cultural, linguistic, religious and other backgrounds, at home now and abroad. It is a life-long intercultural competence, which is and will be all too necessary in our students’ transnational and globalised personal life as well an unavoidable requirement for their future employment opportunities. We have started our workshop by linking our international project to the EU Key competences for Lifelong learning, focusing mainly on the social and civic competence. We have proposed a range of in- class activities from different books and authors, which focus on some important aspects of cross-cultural awareness and sensitivity and which can be applied to individuals as well as groups. These activities include understanding and recognising the different elements composing cultures, dealing with stereotypes and racism, managing miscommunication and misunderstanding with an effective tool and reinforcing active listening skills. We have then focussed on effective ways of preventing, managing and reducing conflicts using both the necessary theoretical knowledge of conflict management as well as useful practical skills. Different styles of conflict resolution were presented, which led to roleplaying conflicts. We concluded by offering some games, aimed at strengthening the students’ sensitivity. We think that the students should be specifically taught these skills and that it is vital for them to realize that managing conflicts is primarily a learnable skill, that peaceful relationships just don’t always come by themselves and that you can do something to resolve the majority of conflicts. The interaction among students on the WIKI of our project was about specific conflicts that the students themselves have met in their private and especially school life, both at present as well as in their recent past. Their witnessing and
recognising conflicts seemed to us the right conclusion of the conflict resolution theme and skills, which can help to profile our students, further implement their mobility and hopefully prepare them for their future international teamwork. B.L.
WORKSHOP PRESENTATION
STUDENTS’ WORKSHOP ONLINE Here we are some examples of conflicts expressed in the wiki by students and answers