Philosophy

The Need and Rationale for Peace Education
Violence in its multiple forms at all levels of the global social order is a major problem. For nearly five decades educators concerned with this problem have argued that education has a responsibility to address the related issues through instruction in the school system, in the education of teachers, and, theoretically in the carving out of appropriate knowledge and in the development of pedagogies which are both relevant to the substance in achieving the learning goals of the field.

Peace Education is now the subject of UN policy, research and training by UNESCO, the Council of Europe and ministries of education, various universities throughout the world and a worldwide transnationally conceived and conducted NGO Global Campaign for Peace Education. Teachers College has played a major role in all of these developments.

Three Dimensions of the TC approach to Peace Education
The three formative dimensions of the TC approach to peace education arise from this rationale of social need and educational responsibility. The three dimensions are the substantive problematic from which content is derived, a philosophy of education grounded in the role of education in social change, and a pedagogy that is consistent with the philosophy and most relevant to the problematic.

1. The Central Problematic is violence as it has been conceptualized and studied by peace research , outlining its systemic nature and it multiple manifestations. The substantive purposes of peace education are to provide a knowledge base drawn largely from peace research and based in a grounding of the relevant issues of peace, development, education and other academic disciplines. So, the knowledge is comprehensive and interdisciplinary in scope.

2. The Philosophy of peace education is in the Dewey tradition , seeking to prepare learners for active and responsible citizenship in the process of addressing the problematic. It is based on an inquiry into the normative principles (non-violence, human rights, social, economic, political and ecological justice, etc.) that inform peace education and asserts the need for an intentional interrelationship between pedagogy and content. One of its primary purposes is the development of agency, in the sense of the concept as articulated by Maxine Green, to capacitate learners to take action in the larger society.

3. The Pedagogy , which is the most unique and special quality of the TC approach, is an adaptation of critical pedagogy with roots in Freire and elements of forms of inquiry practiced in various academic disciplines and some sub fields of peace research, such as the problem inquiry developed by world order studies. This pedagogy is primarily directed toward developing student capacities for critical thinking, inquiry, and reflective skills that enable students not only to understand the relevant issues and obstacles to peace, but more importantly to develop skills and abilities to confront these issues, envision realistic alternatives and devise and implement strategies for the realization of the alternatives.

Distinctions Among the Areas of Peace Knowledge
The distinctions among the aspects of the production and dissemination of peace knowledge are significant to the development of the TC approach which is unique in its amalgam of pedagogy to substance and philosophy. Each of the three component fields, peace research, peace studies, and peace education , makes a particular contribution to the development and dissemination of peace knowledge. The parent field, peace research, like the other two, is multi-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary. Peace studies focuses on the transfer of knowledge of alternative interpretations of the international system and critiques of security policy. Peace research has been developed internationally. Its scope has broadened from its post WWII origins in the study of war and its prevention to research in most of the areas that comprise global problems. It is now concerned with the production of knowledge toward the reduction and prevention of all forms of violence. Peace education , drawing on the other two areas, is unique in its focus on the learning process, in both the academic and the social sense.

The Core Problematic and Conceptual Components of the Concentration
For various reasons the content of the MA Concentration in Peace Education at Teachers College has been developed conceptually. While the specific content of the core courses may vary from semester to semester (content is reviewed and updated annually to include current literature and issues) the fundamental concepts derived from the problematic of violence remain integral to each of the courses. Each is essential to a comprehensive consideration of the full problematic. The underpinning philosophy and pedagogy of comprehensive peace education is assumed to be infused into each of these courses.

The Fundamental Concepts of Peace Education
Introduces a conceptual map of the problematic of violence, and addresses conceptual frameworks for construction of curricula, applying, inquiry as the preferred mode of learning. As an introduction to the field, it provides a grounding in the evolution, theory and pedagogy of peace education, drawing from the international research and literature of the field as it has been developed over the past 4 decades.

Education for Global Security
Focuses on direct, organized violence, particularly the institution of war and armed conflict, employing a framework based on recent theories of human security. It introduces the concept of security system and a method of inquiry into alternative security systems.

Human and Social Dimensions of Peace
Within a framework of theories of structural violence or positive peace, this course introduces the concepts of human dignity and human rights with specific reference to such values as economic equity, political participation, ecological balance, and particularly the normative principles fundamental to international human rights standards. The course has focused on problems of human rights, global ethics, gender issues, and various aspects of cultural violence.

The United Nations as Peace Educator
This course is concerned with concepts of global governance and the emergence of global civil society as a significant actor in addressing problems of direct and indirect violence. It reviews and assesses the evolution of the world organization, what institutional learning it has developed, how it facilitates the learning among other actors in the international system that is deemed necessary to achieving a system in which violence is no longer the norm. It also considers the various education programs that exist within the UN system.

Holistic and Comprehensive Dimensions
The Peace Education Programs at Teachers College emphasize the integral relationship between pedagogy and content that is essential to its transformative nature. Drawing from the rich field of peace studies, Peace Education goes beyond learning about peace to teaching for a culture of peace. Peace education openly acknowledges its purpose as education to facilitate the achievement of peace and a related set of social values, largely through learning to recognize, confront and practice alternatives to multiple forms of violence.

Because peace education seeks to develop new modes of thought , seen as essential to the new knowledge that peace education would bring to the curriculum, our approach is conceptual as well as content oriented. Following are some of the approaches and methodologies that underlie our programs, as well as some of the essential peace studies content.