Last summer we launched our peer mediation plus programme for schools in the West Midlands. A year on we are happy to say we think it’s a success and here’s why.
Peacemakers has been delivering peer mediation training for about 30 years. Our more recent Peer Mediation Plus programme evolved in response to requests from schools who received Peer Mediation training. They asked us what training we could offer to staff as well, which would support the scheme in school and equip staff with some of the skills that the mediators are trained in. It includes a preparatory workshop for children, training for classroom staff and lunchtime supervisors, the full three days of mediation training and follow up visits from Peacemakers. We have successfully trained 21 schools in Peer Mediation Plus so far. We have had some extremely successful trainings and it is lovely to return to the schools, meet the mediators and staff and hear how things are going for them. These follow up visits help us learn what is going well and what some of the challenges may be. We check the skills of the mediators and what they remember about the training, to feedback to the Mediation Lead anything that needs to be revisited. Surveys with the general student population suggest that 82% of children who used peer mediation felt it helped or partly helped their problem and 92% said they would return if they had a problem again. 87% of children felt that having Peer Mediators made their school a better place. One said “it helps you feel safe”. Read here why Ellis Brooks of Quakers in Britain’s Peace Education team, thinks every school in the UK should have peer mediation. And if your school doesn’t already have peer mediators, get in touch to find out more: Libbs@peacemakers.org.uk. But please note we are now booking for Spring 2024 due to the extreme popularity of this programme. |
