School Mediation in Denmark – an overview

The Danish Centre of Educational Environment, Karin M. Villumsen

Conflicts in Schools
In Denmark, people are currently talking a lot about conflicts and the need of having different methods and tools of handling and solving smaller and larger conflicts. Within the school area the debate is about the social area and the connection between well-being and learning; in order to ensure the best environment of education and learning there is a need to avoid bustle, bullying, bad language, and movement within social standards among pupils and in the classroom.
 
One way of obliging this, The Danish Ministry of Education has recently published “Guidance of discipline, good behaviour, and well-being in primary schools” – an inspirational booklet targeted at the primary schools. The booklet encourages all schools to workout rules and use sanctions if the rules are not observed.

Another way of ensuring a more safe school environment comes from The Danish Centre of Educational Environment, DCUM. We have recently published another material of guidance and inspiration for primary schools. The subject is constructive conflict resolution and mediation in schools – as an alternative to sanctions. The Danish Crime Prevention Council has also distributed some material to schools and institutions with inspiration of organising conflict resolution across the pupils’ environments.

Educational Environment
In Denmark, the subject of discussion is also educational environment. The reason is that pupils and students in Denmark by law about educational environment have the right of a good educational environment within the settings and the learning environment in which the education takes place. This applies for the physical, psychical, and aesthetic settings.

Every third year, all schools must evaluate the quality of the pupils’ educational environment – with participation of the pupils in the evaluation. This applies for the conditions related to the psychical well-being as well as the general well-being, challenges, learning potential, collaboration, communication, the social community, friendships, ways of talking, conflicts, and bullying. And here school mediation becomes relevant.

School Mediation
In Denmark, school mediation is a term describing schools with an organised offer of conflict resolution as a method of handling conflicts between pupils and staff. The mediation can take place with adults and/or pupils as mediators.

It is mostly primary schools that try to use other methods of conflict resolution, including mediation. This is done on a voluntary basis and is organised in different ways. Via the school politics, a few municipalities have started demanding that their schools take on conflict resolution – also when it comes to peer mediation which is the type of mediation offered when older pupils mediate among younger pupils at the school.

There is no ministerial injunction or law about introducing school mediation but school mediation and especially peer mediation can be a method of fulfilling other authority demands in the school. This applies for requirements of development of the pupils’ whole person, including social skills and the ability to communicate in a conflict solving way which the pupils have to learn according to the requirements of teaching Danish. School mediation and alternative methods of conflict resolution and pupil participation contribute to improved educational environment and hereby some of the requirements of this law are fulfilled.

In Denmark, school mediation is still in its start-up phase but the first experiences show that it contributes to increased balance, happiness, and safety in the school and it develops competences for both pupils and staff. Effects that can improve the interaction between the social and the professional life at the school.

Experience also shows that school mediation often requires a cultural change by means of new understandings and new ways of doing things which also change the deeply-rooted roles and patterns of both pupils and staff. Is the staff able to return the conflicts to the pupils and do the pupils get the conditions for handling the conflicts constructively?

The school management plays a significant role in making school mediation a success. The management must make decisions, find resources, step ahead, and ensure smooth organisation and continuous focus. It is also the management’s role to make school mediation interact with other activities, demands, and the school’s additional profile.

The exact number of schools in Denmark working with school mediation is unknown, but it is estimated that it is between 30 – 50 schools, and this number will increase throughout the following years as the interest is growing.

Campaign Regarding Constructive Conflict Resolution – Use the Conflict
In the spring of 2006, DCUM is running the campaign “USE THE CONFLICT” which is targeted at staff, management, and pupils in primary schools. The purpose of the campaign is to extend the knowledge and use of constructive conflict resolution and peer mediation in schools. The campaign has been initiated in connection with the wish for better educational environment via safety, more pupil participation, and greater learning in schools.

Different campaign material has been worked out and this is supposed to work as material of guidance and inspiration. The purpose of the material is to awake the curiosity of the schools and then help the schools getting started on a dialogue and effort at their school specifically.

The material consists of:

• Documentary film about peer mediation – The Pupil Mediators
• Website with inspiration, knowledge, and experience together with educational material to be used by pupils, teachers, and management
• Guidance material with models and inspiration of development of school mediation - targeted at management and staff
• Good examples of conflict solving schools
• Investigation of bullying and conflicts in 9th grade
• Course catalogue offering courses in constructive conflict resolution targeted at management and staff at the school
• Campaign posters

Each school can have one set of the campaign package free of charge.

The campaign is published via:

• Conferences with workshops
• Via www.dcum.dk  and www.brugkonflikten.dk
• Via press coverage in daily newspapers and trade journals
• Via networking
• Via DCUM newsletters
• Via telephone survey

Other initiatives
The Danish Crime Prevention Council has a project and a website which publishes the experiences of conflict mediation among young people at the age of 12 -15 including knowledge and inspiration of organising such an effort across the young people’s environment – school and spare time. See more at www.hvahardugangi.dk

The municipality of Copenhagen is currently spreading school mediation to a number of schools with the purpose that this must apply for all schools in the municipality. Nina Raaschou is the project leader of this initiative. See more at www.bufnet.kk.dk

Danish Centre for Conflict Resolution is working for the promotion of conflict resolution and is running projects within the school area, among others in connection with schools with many bilingual pupils. See more at www.konfliktloesning.dk 

Facts about DCUM
DCUM is an independent public centre working on ensuring that the requirements in “the act about pupils’ and students’ educational environment” are observed. DCUM collects, systematise, and publish knowledge about educational environment and provide guidance to everyone with questions about this subject.
DCUM makes a series of tools and materials available – free of charge – for the work with the educational environment via the website: www.dcum.dk 

The campaign Use the Conflict has its own website: www.brugkonflikten.dk 

For further information about DCUM and the campaign Use the Conflict, please refer to Project Leader Karin M. Villumsen at villumsendcum [dot] dk.