PEACE EDUCATION:

A Transformative Response
to Major Societal
Challenges
Dr. Diosdado P. Estimada
Faculty, CAS Dept

Topic Outline
What

is Peace Education?
Holistic Understanding
Levels of Peace
Types of Violence
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter you should be
able to:
1.Define the concept of peace in a holistic
way;
2.Explain the contribution or importance
of peace education in the quest for
positive social changes or transformation;
3.Identify and explain the key themes of
peace education.
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INTRODUCTION
Peace educationistheprocessofacquiring

thevalues,theknowledgeanddeveloping
theattitudes, skills, and behaviorstolivein
harmonywithoneself,withothers,andwiththe
naturalenvironment.
Thegreatest resource for building a culture of
peace arethepeople themselves,foritisthrough
them that peaceful relationships are created.
Thus,educatingpeopletowardbecomingpeace
agentsiscentraltothetaskofpeacebuilding.
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A Holistic Understanding of Peace

Traditional Point of View
The simplest and most widespread
understanding of peace was that of absence
of death and destruction as a result of war
and physical/direct violence

A Holistic Understanding of Peace

Modern Point of View
It was realized that it was not only war and direct

violence that caused the death and disfigurement.

Structural violence also led to death and suffering
because of the conditions that resulted from it: extreme
poverty, starvation, avoidable diseases, discrimination
against minority groups and denial of human rights.
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A Holistic Understanding of Peace

Peace is both the absence of

personal/direct violence, and the

presence of social justice.
The meaning of peace can be
captured by the idea of a negative
peace and the idea of a positive peace.
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A Holistic Understanding of Peace

Negative peace refers to the absence of war

or physical/direct violence, while positive

peace refers to the presence of just and nonexploitative relationships, as well as human
and ecological well-being, such that the root
causes of conflict are diminished.
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A Holistic Understanding of Peace

The non-exploitative relationships mentioned above refer

not only to relationships between humans but also those

between human and nature.
Peace with nature is considered the foundation of positive
peace (Mische, 1987). It is because the earth is ultimately
the source of our survival, physical sustenance, health and
wealth; it is not possible to provide for human survival if
natures capacity to renew itself is seriously impaired.
I t must also be remembered that human behavior is
intimately related to the availability of basic resources
9(Barnaby, 1989).

Frameworks of Peace
NEGATIVE
PEACE

PEACE

POSITIVE
PEACE

STRUCTURAL
VIOLENCE
DIRECT
VIOLENCE
SOCIOCULTURAL
VIOLENCE
ECOLOGICAL
VIOLENCE
VIOLENCE
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PEA
CE
BET
WE
EN
HU
MA
NS
Harmony with
AN
Nature
D
THE
GLOBAL
PEACE
EAR
Respect for other
TH
nations, Justice,
Harmony
AN
Tolerance,
D
with Others
Cooperation
BEY
INTERGROUP/SOCIAL PEACE
ON
Respect for other
D groups within

LEVELS OF PEACE

Harm
ony
with
the
Sacre
d
Sourc
e

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nation, Justice, Tolerance,

Cooperation
INTERPERSONAL PEACE
Respect for other persons, Justice, Tolerance,
Cooperation
PERSONAL PEACE
Self-respect, Inner resources: love, hope

Harmony
with the
Self

Types of Violence
Betty Reardon, a peace educator who

has made significant contributions to

the field, defines violence as humanly
inflicted harm (Reardon, n.d.).

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Types of Violence
Conceptual map of Violence done by Toh

Swee-Hin and Virginia Cawagas (1987). It is

a typology that indicates the various types/
forms of violence and some
examples/illustrations of each type in the
personal, interpersonal, social and global
levels.
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Types of Violence
Level
Type(s
)
Direct/Physical

Structural

14

Personal

Interpersonal/
community

National

Suicide, drug
abuse

Domestic
Civil war,
violence, violent violent crimes,
crimes
human rights
abuses

Conventional
war, nuclear
war, human
rights abuses

Powerlessness,
alienation, low
self-esteem,
anxiety

Local
inequalities,
poverty, hunger,
prejudice,
cultural
domination,
racism, sexism,
religious
intolerance

Global
inequalities,
poverty, hunger,
prejudice,
cultural
domination,
racism, sexism,
religious
intolerance

National
inequalities,
poverty, hunger,
prejudice,
cultural
domination,
racism, sexism,
religious
intolerance

Global

Types of Violence
Level
Type(s
)Ecological

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Personal

Interpersonal/
community

National

Global

Overconsumption

Overconsumption,
pollution

Overconsumption,
pollution,
chemical and
biological
warfare

Overconsumption,
pollution,
chemical and
biological
warfare

Peace Education as Transformative

Education
Peace education or an education that promotes a
culture of peace, is essentially transformative, because:
It cultivates the knowledge base, skills, attitudes and values
that seek to transform peoples behaviors.
This means that the learning process utilized in peace
education is holistic and it tries to address the cognitive,
affective and active dimensions of the learner.
The action towards transformation may include action
against prejudice and the war system, or action for social
and economic justice. Paying attention to all these levelsthe cognitive, affective and active- increases the possibility
that the peace perspective or value that is being cultivated
would be internalized.
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DISCUSSION
THE PEACEABLE TEACHING-LEARNING
PROCESS
COGNITIVE PHASE
(Being aware,
Understanding)

ACTIVE PHASE
(Taking practical
action)
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AFFECTIVE PHASE
(Being concerned,
Responding, Valuing)

REFLECTION
A holistic understanding of peace is needed for

the youth to be educated on the different facets

of peace for them to be able to live and apply
what they have learned in order to be able to
have peaceful relationships with themselves,
with others, with other nations and with the
world as a whole to prevent increasing the
number of victims affected by violence of
various kinds.

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LEARNING TASK
1. In your opinion, why is peace education

important in our present time?

2. The list of Peace Educations schema of
knowledge, skills and attitudes and
values is exhaustive. What else can you
add to each (knowledge, skills and
attitudes)? Explain.
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