How to cite this journal: Author, Date of the post, WMO Conflict Insight, Title of the post, ISSN: 2628 6998, https://worldmediation.org/journal/
ABSTRACT *
This article presents the Junior Mediators project, an international partnership between the World Mediation Organization and the Istituto Tecnico Commerciale Germano Sommeiller in Turin, Italy, running since 2014. The programme introduces selected high school students to mediation as both a professional skill and a life approach. The article outlines the rationale of the participating school, which regards mediation as a fundamental educational competence: it teaches young people that litigation is not the only available response to conflict, it confers a competitive advantage in the labour market through negotiation ability, and it contributes to a peaceful school environment. The paper describes the origins of the initiative, the selection of participants on the basis of demonstrated interest and academic performance, the concluding examination, and the forty hour curriculum covering the understanding of conflict, responses to and sources of conflict, communication skills, the role of the mediator and the mediation process, together with bias awareness, social and cultural diversity, advanced communication, the uncovering of hidden interests, dealing with anger, and caucusing. The article closes with an appeal to invest in young people as the peacemakers of tomorrow.
KEYWORDS *
Junior Mediators, peer mediation, mediation education, World Mediation Organization, Istituto Tecnico Sommeiller, Turin, conflict resolution training, negotiation skills, school culture, youth, curriculum
INTRODUCTION
WMO (World Mediation Organization) – Istituto Sommeiller: project on “Junior Mediators” training, an international partnership to introduce teenage students to mediation, life-approach, and to its core principles.
WMO and Istituto Tecnico Commerciale “Germano Sommeiller” share a common initiative since 2014. Istituto Tecnico Sommeiller is an ancient technical high school in Turin, Italy (www.itcssommeiller.it/).
A former Italian Republic president (Luigi Einaudi) was a member of the Istituto Tecnico Sommeiller teachers team, meanwhile, another one (Giuseppe Saragat) had been graduated here. The common initiative has the target to introduce high qualified students to mediation life-approach and to its core principles.
MAIN CORPUS
Istituto Tecnico Sommeiller considers mediation as a fundamental educational skill for its students, useful in their future working life as a new approach to conflicts, allowing them to understand that to file a case in a court is not the only solution available. Moreover, the acquisition of negotiating abilities will give its students a competitive advantage in the job market. Last, but not least, mediation will help the construction of a peaceful environment in the same school.
The project come to existence mainly thanks to the efforts of WMO Fellow (Ph.D. Ermenegildo Mario Appiano), and of a former Istituto Tecnico Sommeiller teacher (Prof. Cristina Armano).
The “Junior Mediators” project is an integral part of Istituto Tecnico Sommeiller programs. It’s open only to selected students, who will be teaching deeply about negotiation and mediation. To be admitted, students have to show a real interest to mediation and should have good results in their general school career. A final exam will check the results reached.
“Junior mediators” training (40 hours) is focused on the following subjects:
- understanding conflict, responses to conflict, sources of conflict communication skills, the role of the mediator, the mediation process.
- bias awareness, social/cultural diversity, advanced communication, uncovering hidden interests, dealing with anger, caucusing.
SUMMARY *
The Junior Mediators project translates mediation from a professional discipline into an educational one. Through a structured forty hour curriculum, selected students at a historic Turin technical school acquire both the foundations of conflict understanding and the advanced skills of bias awareness, intercultural competence, working with anger and conducting private sessions. The programme is designed to serve three purposes at once: preparing young people for working life with negotiation skills, widening their understanding of how conflicts can be resolved beyond the courtroom, and improving the climate of the school itself.
CONCLUSION
A new future begins at school. Having said this, it is clear that we create our common future by investing in our children. Wake up and dedicate your time with the peacemakers of tomorrow.
POTENTIAL SOLUTION *
The conflict this project addresses is the one every school knows: disputes among young people that escalate because no one has been taught how to hold them, and that are then settled by discipline rather than understanding. The Junior Mediators model answers it, and the question worth developing is how such a programme becomes durable and transferable rather than dependent on the few people who founded it.
First, extend from training to practice. Skills fade unless used. A programme reaches its full value when trained students actually mediate real conflicts among peers under adult supervision, with a simple referral route from teachers and from students themselves, a defined range of suitable cases such as friendship disputes, rumours, exclusion and minor property matters, and clear exclusions where safeguarding, violence or bullying require adult intervention. Regular supervision sessions protect both the young mediators and their peers.
Second, resolve the tension in selection. Restricting participation to high achieving students secures quality and prestige, but the pupils whose conflicts most need addressing, and who would gain most from being entrusted with responsibility, are often not the academically strongest. A two tier design preserves both: a rigorous certified track for the selected cohort, and short basic conflict literacy modules for all pupils, so that the whole school shares a common language while a trained core carries the practice.
Third, institutionalise beyond the founders. Programmes born of individual commitment tend to end with it. Written curricula, trainer training so that teachers can deliver the course themselves, an anchor in the school’s statutes and annual plan, and a named coordinating role convert an initiative into an institution.
Fourth, make it a network rather than a single school. The partnership already spans an international organisation and a national institution; a shared curriculum, a common certificate recognised across participating schools, exchanges and joint competitions between junior mediator cohorts in different countries would give students a peer community and would let each school learn from the others’ cases.
Fifth, evaluate honestly. Simple indicators, disciplinary incidents, referrals mediated and settled, pupil sense of safety before and after, gathered over several years, provide the evidence that persuades ministries and funders. If the claim is that mediation education changes school climate, that claim deserves to be tested, and the results, whatever they show, are the strongest argument for taking this model from one historic school in Turin to many.
* Added by the WMO Editorial Team
REFERENCES *
Fisher, R., Ury, W., & Patton, B. (2011). Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In (3rd edition). Penguin Books, New York.
Istituto Tecnico Commerciale Statale Germano Sommeiller, Turin, institutional website and school programme documentation, https://www.itcssommeiller.it/
World Mediation Organization, Junior Mediators project documentation, Berlin.
Cohen, R. (2005). Students Resolving Conflict: Peer Mediation in Schools. Good Year Books, Tucson.
Bickmore, K. (2002). Peer Mediation Training and Program Implementation in Elementary Schools: Research Results. Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 20(2), 137 to 160.
Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. T. (1996). Conflict Resolution and Peer Mediation Programs in Elementary and Secondary Schools: A Review of the Research. Review of Educational Research, 66(4), 459 to 506.
Council of Europe. Competences for Democratic Culture: Living Together as Equals in Culturally Diverse Democratic Societies, Strasbourg.
UNESCO. Global Citizenship Education: Topics and Learning Objectives, Paris.
Directive 2008/52/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on certain aspects of mediation in civil and commercial matters.
Italian Legislative Decree No. 28 of 4 March 2010 on mediation in civil and commercial disputes.
Thanks,
please consider that, i my view, it’s a beginning that could be better developed.
It’s important to uderline that some Italian Universities (like Torino one) start to recognize that students need special formation on “soft skills”, like conflict managment.
mario
Useful information that has been provided about how the youth in Italy have and continue to embrace mediation.
Thank you for highlighting the mediation program you established for junior mediator; this was exactly the information I was hoping to get from you through our correspondence. I am in the process of developing a program for young children that focuses on celebrating diversity and cultural differences; teach them to be “curious” instead of in fear of someone that is different. I developed a pilot mediation program when I worked in a small city a few years ago, it was not highly utilized mainly because I didn’t put much effort in promoting the program. I hope to try again once when the opportunity arises. But with this program for youth, the focus is less on mediation, but more on not getting into conflicts in the first place. Will love to learn more about your program, mostly from the perspective of the development of such a comprehensive program.
When I first went into mediation, I was first trained in the 40-hour program held by the Arizona Attorney General’s office. I learned from the trainer that many people, even after the training, should not be a mediator, because they failed to understand the neutrality concept and inject their perspectives in the mediation session (particularly notorious with retired lawyers and judges). Unfortunately, there was no certification requirement in AZ at the time that will help maintaining certain standards.
Great program you have! Yes, education is definitely key to promote diversity and peace building.
Very inspiring article. It allows us to reflect on how such initiative could be beneficial for Brazil, where we see with great concern the escalation of violence in schools and where the elected government bets on weapons instead of education for conflict resolution.
Dear Louisa
thanks for your appreciation.
It’s a nice work, even if having so few hours each year makes difficult to establish a strong relation with students, as they have with their professors.
But it’s a beginning …
mario