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Peace Psychology in Australia pp 139–160Cite as

Enhancing Relationships in School Communities: Promoting Cooperative Conflict Resolution and Respect for Cultural Diversity in Schools

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Part of the book series: Peace Psychology Book Series ((PPBS))

Abstract

This chapter describes an ongoing Australian peace psychology initiative that has involved working with school communities to develop better processes for resolving conflict and enhancing culturally respectful relationships. Originating from Psychologists for Peace, an interest group of the Australian Psychological Society, the Enhancing Relationships in School Communities (ERIS) project is an example of how collaborative relationships between peace psychologists, universities and schools have enabled the development of a series of models, professional development programmes, resources and methods of evaluation for school contexts. The aim of the ERIS project has been to work with primary (elementary) schools to assist them in making whole school changes in how they approach conflict, and to help teachers to learn more cooperative problem-solving approaches to resolve conflict and assist students to learn and use those approaches. A second aim of the ERIS project, which developed increasingly over time, has been to support a focus on respect for cultural diversity as part of the broad agenda of enhancing relationships in schools. This chapter will describe the conceptual foundations of the project, including process considerations and theoretical approaches to the content matter, approaches to evaluation and lessons drawn from working with schools, to create and enact better processes for addressing conflict and to develop culturally respectful communities.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychological Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Eleanor Wertheim

  2. Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Elizabeth Freeman & Margot Trinder

Authors
  1. Eleanor Wertheim
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  2. Elizabeth Freeman
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  3. Margot Trinder
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Correspondence to Eleanor Wertheim .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, 4072, Queensland, Australia

    Diane Bretherton

  2. , School of Law, La Trobe University, Bundoora, 3086, Victoria, Australia

    Nikola Balvin

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Wertheim, E., Freeman, E., Trinder, M. (2012). Enhancing Relationships in School Communities: Promoting Cooperative Conflict Resolution and Respect for Cultural Diversity in Schools. In: Bretherton, D., Balvin, N. (eds) Peace Psychology in Australia. Peace Psychology Book Series. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1403-2_9

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