Mediation at School

The format and schedule of trainings can be adapted to customer needs for both the Peer Mediation Trainings (pupils/students) and the Qualification of Class Representatives Project.

Available formats: Short track trainings focusing on self-awareness (90 min), weekly regular courses throughout the school year (90 min per session), intensive one-day interventions (distributed through the school year), week-ends and weeks “en bloc” individual personal training

Contact us for proposals and costs estimate

contact@mediatedomain.com    

In 2003 we implemented the Qualification of Class Representatives, and in 2009 the Peer-Mediation training at the German School of Lisbon (P) Both projects are actively running.

Living and working in our increasingly globalized world requires teamwork and conflict resolution skills, as well as a deep understanding of the mechanisms of communication.

In many situations of conflict, the mediation between students offers a very promising solution finding process. Peer mediators (students with skills to mediate conflicts between colleagues) need to be intensely trained to overcome the related challenges. As an intangible side effect, the school ambience can improve substantially with the introduction of mediation between students.

Without any doubt – it is a challenge to be a mediator and to help fellow students to find amicable solutions, satisfying the needs and interests of all stakeholders that find themselves involved in a conflict.

The trained peer mediators receive a certificate of participation, proving their skills of conflict resolution and mediation. This certificate is certainly an interesting feature in the curriculum vitae, as acquired social skills are important, not only in school but also throughout life - on the personal or professional perspective.

As we all know - it's worth investing in personal and social education of young people, equipping them with knowledge, communication skills and conflict management resources. The institution of class delegates in schools aims to introduce children and young people at an early stage to the principles of representative democracy. So it seems essential not only to elect the delegates, but also to teach them from the beginning and systematically on their mandates which involve "rights" and "power" but also "duties" and "values” to be respected."

A systematic qualification of the class delegates helps to educate a new generation of responsible and respectful adults with a strong democratic consciousness.

The project "Qualification of the Class Delegates" at the German School of Lisbon (GSL) started in the academic year of 2003/04 and aims to teach and train skills that a delegate needs to fulfil his or her mandate successfully. These are skills such as: speaking in front of a group, representing the class in school meetings or developing solutions, acting as a liaison between classmates and teachers. Being elected as a representative of the class is demanding and requires practice and reflection. At the GSL two seminars each academic year (from Thursday afternoon until Saturday after lunch) are promoted. During this time delegates from the 6th to the 10th year and the members of the Students’ Association (SA) live and learn together. The contents are organized into four strategic pillars, namely:

•    Acquisition of communication skills, knowledge on the dynamics of conflicts

      and tools for consensual conflict management;

•    Training for appropriate intervention by class representatives and members

      of the SA, as a part of their mandate;

•    Creation of social contact and deepening of mutual relations within the group;

•    Inclusion of participants in specific projects of the school.

The seminars contribute to handle better the roles and tasks, and to understand increasingly the rights and duties of class representatives and SA. The project proved to ensure on a long run that the work of representation is done with commitment and pleasure, avoiding overload and false expectations, both by students and by teachers. The experience shows furthermore, that this project improved substantially the inter-relationships within the school community of the GSL.

Of course a project like this can be adapted to the possibilities and needs of each school, whether private or public