A Right to Mediate

Description

We will introduce peer mediations to two post-elementary schools in the Nowomiejski District. Our previous project has concluded that the region’s youth have low level of social skills, particularly in the areas of dialogue and interpersonal relationship building. Additionally, teenagers engaged in our research pointed out frequent conflicts and peer violence. We’d like to address these issues by pointing to mediations as an alternative to the authority’s intervention (e.g. a teacher). We’d like to train young boys and girls as well as their guardians, introduce a right to mediate to the school statutes, and create two textbooks designed for a peer mediator and a school mediator. Additionally, we’d like to open a consultation point for the youth that will train individuals interested in conflict resolution among their peers, at school, family, etc. Our partners in the project are two post-elementary schools, both interested in introducing school and peer mediations. Our partners will make their facilities available and will engage their students, teachers and parents into the project.

Summary of project results

We run peer and school mediation in two post-primary schools in the Nowomiejski district (in the Warmińsko-Mazurskie province). In one of our previous projects, we diagnosed the problem of low social competencies in the region, especially regarding conversational sills and the ability to build interpersonal relationships. We also conducted a research project among youths who stressed that they often faced conflicts and peer violence.Hence, we addressed the above problems by arguing that mediation is a better solution than an intervention from an authority (e.g., a teacher). We trained youths and caregivers, we introduced to school statutes the proposal of the right for mediation, and we prepared two manuals: for peer mediators and for school mediators. We also established the “Mediation Emergency Service”, namely a mediation advice point for youths, for which we trained individuals wishing to resolve conflicts in their social environment (such as school, peer group, family).Two post-primary schools were our partner in the project, namely Vocational School Complex in Kurzętnik and C.K.Norwid School Complex in Nowe Miasto Lubawskie. They were open to running school and peer medications at their premises. Partners shared their venues with us to implement the project and they engaged their pupils, caregivers and parents in the initiative.Our observations and talks to mediators show that thanks to project activities the number of conflicts between pupils and their relatives declined. Forty-eight individuals turned for advice to the Mediation Emergency Service and were provided with help to solve their conflict situations.

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