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Sweden—Teenagers as Third-Party Mediators

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Abstract

This chapter describes the development and use of third-party interventions in the classroom, and how to teach and learn about constructive conflict management. The Swedish DRACON program combined conflict theories and drama methods and included role-play training of mediation, and also peer teaching. The program was developed through action research into 12 sessions, each of 100 minutes including ABC theory, analysis of conflict styles and role-play. In addition, the program has also been successfully used for teachers. Within the framework of developing the DRACON program, three studies were performed to find typical conflict situations at school, at home and during leisure time and how young teenagers usually tried to handle their conflict situations. The questionnaire was answered by more than 1700 students and identified three main ways in which students handle conflicts: avoidance, confronting and fronting. The analysis of the questionnaire resulted in useful background knowledge of the processes needed to develop a program aimed at improving adolescents’ conflict-handling strategies, and to develop their awareness of impartial third-party and other solutions involving compromise and negotiation.

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Correspondence to John O’Toole .

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O’Toole, J. et al. (2019). Sweden—Teenagers as Third-Party Mediators. In: Researching Conflict, Drama and Learning. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-5916-3_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-5916-3_6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-5915-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-5916-3

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