Pedagogy of Peace Education

This entry presents the conceptual exploration and pedagogy of peace education. Can peace be studied? Can peace be shared?

To begin, it makes a distinction between peace studies and peace education. Peace studies, on one hand, is a discipline in colleges probably in political science or international relations that analyzes conflicts to better understand them and find ways to resolve them. Peace education, on the other hand, touches on the inclinations and aspirations of people to live in peace by presenting them the skills necessary to build a culture of peace.

Both peace studies and education attempt to address the various forms of violence in their context; physical, psychological, environmental, and domestic.

Education, per se, can be formal, non-formal, and informal. The difference among the three lies in the form where learner gets knowledge. Structured instruction is formal, unstructured is non-formal, and informal education is learning from the books, TV, plays, etc. Peace education puts special content and focus on peace to the different instructions of education.

Although peace studies can not cause peace instantly, peace education can change attitudes and behaviors of people over time. And we know that behavioral change is necessary to transform the world into a peaceful one where people are able to live with others comfortably and decently.

In Freire’s pedagogy, the banking concept of education is constraining the creative power of students. Problem-posing education is the key to liberation and humanization. It empowers the students to think critically in dialogue with the world. Peace education can take this pedagogy to be liberating and humanizing for the people and world.

Now, in what direction is our education going? The State and business sector have privileged some disciplines, not based on people's and global needs but demand of capitalist development. Like for example, sciences, economics, information technology, and health sciences are the most in demand careers in the world today. Is this the way to go? How about peace? Very few universities and colleges offer this field of study, although there is a great need of it in the world.