Developing Concepts of Peace and War: Aspects of Gender and Culture
Author(s)
Hagglund, Solveig
Abstract
How do we know that peace education will obtain the expected impact on children’s learning and development? And, provided that a particular peace education program is successful at an individual level, how can we be certain that the learned skills and attitudes will contribute to a peaceful world, today and tomorrow? Questions like these are important to anyone dealing with peace education, be it as a teacher, politician, or researcher. Unfortunately, there is no universal theory for peace learning–its conditions, processes, and potential effects–and we lack conceptual tools to guide us in describing and evaluating peace education practice. However, as peace education involves elements that are essential in the child’s development of “social theories,”–that is, the understanding of society, its norms, rules, values, and structure–theories on child development and socialization can offer useful models when initiating systematic and critical research approaches to peace education.
