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Peer teaching as a strategy for conflict management and student re-engagement in schools

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Abstract

This article reports on a major action research program that experimented with the use of cross-age peer teaching in schools to assist teachers to manage conflict issues in their classrooms, and to re-engage disaffected students in learning. The research, which was conducted in a range of elementary and secondary schools in Australia, was part of a larger international project using conflict resolution concepts and techniques combined with drama strategies to address cultural conflict in schools. The use of formal cross-age peer teaching emerged as a highly effective strategy in teaching students to manage a range of conflicts in schools, and especially in learning to deal with bullying. Operating as peer teachers also enabled a number of students in the study, with serious behaviour problems, to re-engage with their learning. The article therefore evaluates the effectiveness of peer teaching in both conflict management and student re-engagement.

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Notes

  1. Forum theatre involves the creation of plays where different problems and conflicts are presented to an audience. Members of the audience are invited to step into the play and take the place of one of the actors, becoming that character, and then trying to solve the problem or end the conflict.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, 4111, Australia

    Bruce Burton

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  1. Bruce Burton
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Correspondence to Bruce Burton.

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Burton, B. Peer teaching as a strategy for conflict management and student re-engagement in schools. Aust. Educ. Res. 39, 45–58 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-011-0046-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-011-0046-4

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