Peace education is now well recognized within international legal instruments and within critical educational literature as an important aspect of education. Despite this, little attention has been given in the critical literature to the philosophical foundations for peace education and the rationale for peace education thus remains substantially an assumed one. This investigation explores some possible ethico-philosophical foundations for peace education, through an examination of five specific ethical traditions: 1) virtue ethics, whereby peace may be interpreted as a virtue, and/or virtue is interpreted as peacefulness, and peace education as education in that virtue; 2) consequentialist ethics, whereby peace education may be interpreted as education regarding the consequences of our action and inaction, both as individuals and collectivities; 3) conservative political ethics, whereby peace education may be interpreted as emphasizing the importance of the evolution of social institutions and the importance of ordered and lawful social change; 4) aesthetic ethics, whereby peace may be interpreted as something beautiful and valuable in itself, and peace education as emphasizing the importance of that beauty and value; and 5) the ethics of care, whereby care may be interpreted as a core element in peace, and peace education as encouraging trust and engagement with the other. The study addresses major contributions to each of these ethical traditions, the strengths and weaknesses of the tradition, and the ways in which the tradition provides support for peace education. It is argued in the thesis that each tradition provides only a partial basis for peace education, and that ultimately a holistic and integrative understanding is required, one that encourages a culture of peace. " ... an important addition to the emerging literature on peace education and the culture of peace" (From the Foreword by Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO).

Examines the overlapping aims, values, and concepts in peace and environmental education.

Practice and research of peace education has grown in the recent years as shown by a steadily increasing number of publications, programs, events, and funding mechanisms. The oft-cited point of departure for the peace education community is the belief in education as a valuable tool for decreasing the use of violence in conflict and for building cultures of positive peace hallmarked by just and equitable structures. Educators and organizations implementing peace education activities and programming, however, often lack the tools and capacities for evaluation and thus pay scant regard to this step in program management. Reasons for this inattention are related to the perceived urgency to prioritize new and more action in the context of scarce financial and human resources, notwithstanding violence or conflict; the lack of skills and time to indulge in a thorough evaluative strategy; and the absence of institutional incentives and support. Evaluation is often demand-driven by donors who emphasize accounting given the current context of international development assistance and budget cuts. Program evaluation is considered an added burden to already over-tasked programmers who are unaware of the incentives and of assessment techniques. Peace education practitioners are typically faced with forcing evaluation frameworks, techniques, and norms standardized for traditional education programs and venues. Together, these conditions create an unfavorable environment in which evaluation becomes under-valued, de-prioritized, and mythologized for its laboriousness. This volume serves three inter-related objectives. First, it offers a critical reflection on theoretical and methodological issues regarding evaluation applied to peace education interventions and programming. The overarching questions of the nature of peace and the principles guiding peace education, as well as governing theories and assumptions of change, transformation, and complexity are explored. Second, the volume investigates existing quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods evaluation practices of peace educators in order to identify what needs related to evaluation persist among practitioners. Promising practices are presented from peace education programming in different settings (formal and non-formal education), within various groups (e.g. children, youth, police, journalists) and among diverse cultural contexts. Finally, the volume proposes ideas of evaluation, novel techniques for experimentation, and creative adaptation of tools from related fields, in order to offer pragmatic and philosophical substance to peace educators’ “next moves” and inspire the agenda for continued exploration and innovation. The authors come from variety of fields including education, peace and conflict studies, educational evaluation, development studies, comparative education, economics, and psychology.

In this book, Kevin Kester details how the United Nations promotion of higher education for peace and international understanding sometimes unintentionally contributes to the reproduction of conflict and violence across diverse cultures. He shows this through an indepth examination of peace curricula, pedagogy and policy in one United Nations higher education institution, where he indicates how dominant philosophical and pedagogical models that signify acceptable peace education ultimately undermine the very goals of educational peacebuilding. Kester contends that theoretical and pedagogical training must develop beyond the dominant psycho-social, rational and state-centric assumptions that permeate the field today if higher education is to better contribute to personal and societal peacebuilding. Drawing from the fields of educational philosophy and sociology, he argues for new concepts of poststructural violence and second order reflexivity that can assist scholars in reducing conflict and building peace in lasting ways. He complements his fieldwork findings with personal reflections throughout the book to reimagine the transformative possibilities of peacebuilding education for the 21st century.

This book addresses positive peace. In his introduction, Arun Gandhi , fifth grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, asks, "For generations human beings have strived to attain peace, but with little or no success. Why is peace so illusive?" Twelve philosophers and educators suggest creatively and pragmatically that peace education has a large part of play in meeting the challenge. --Book Jacket.

Bringing together scholars and educators based in Myanmar, the USA, the UK, Denmark, and Thailand, this book presents new perspectives and research on the struggle for social justice and peace in Myanmar at this critical juncture. It shows how actors from diverse backgrounds and regions of Myanmar are drawing from their identities, evoking their agency, and using critical pedagogy to advance social justice and peace. The chapters provide the compelling life stories of the authors, specific examples of what they are doing, and insights of how their work might be applied to other contexts. The topics discussed include addressing structural violence, peace curriculum development, identity-based conflict, teaching the history of the country, promoting inclusion, civic education, critical pedagogy, teacher agency, and agendas of research funding for peacebuilding. The foreword and afterword, written by well-known scholars of Myanmar, address the relevance and importance of the book vis-a-vis the current social and political crisis following the February 2021 military coup.

This book provides important reflections by and for peace and social justice educators working on college campuses. Importantly, it also integrates the voices of students. More than a feel-good compilation of success stories, however, it illustrates the complexities inherent in teaching and learning about and for peace and social justice. Chapters in the book provide critical assessments of institutions, pedagogies, and practices, making visible the messy but very real spaces in which education and learning occur. Written by faculty and students from many disciplinary areas, the contributions discuss in-class and outside-of-class actions, providing a deeper understanding of best practices and challenges faced by both groups. Albeit in different ways that are reflective of the many different pedagogical approaches to peace and justice education, each chapter integrates ideas, concepts, and reflections from both faculty and students. The conclusion and appendix offer recommendations for future and additional resources for college and university faculty and students interested in learning more about peace and social justice.