Lessons in Navigating Conflict from Northern Ireland

Learning Forward. 504 South Locust Street, Oxford, OH 45056. Tel: 800-727-7288; Fax: 513-523-0638; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: https://learningforward.org/the-learning-professional/

Y

4

Foreign Countries; Conflict; Faculty Development; Change Agents; Facilitators (Individuals); Learning Experience; Teachers; Conflict Resolution; Trust (Psychology); Cultural Awareness; Sharing Behavior; Knowledge Level; Schemata (Cognition); Role Playing; Transformative Learning

2476-194X

Eighteen people from different countries sat in a circle of chairs in a room facing the Sea of Moyle, some having traveled far to reach Ballycastle, Northern Ireland, for a week of learning about skillful responses to conflict and living better together across differences. Addressing the group, which included the authors, was Colin Craig, founder of Dialogue for Peaceful Change Global, a method that supports the development of individual and group capacity to transform conflict. The group would look at conflict theory, their personal experiences with conflict, and conceptual frameworks and models that help locate and identify the drivers of conflict. The group would explore the roles of peace building and mediative behaviors in transforming conflict from something that destroys to something that strengthens. Finally, the authors would practice applying specific tools and mediative communication techniques in an intensive, coached role-play with scenarios based on real-world conflicts gathered from cultures and regions around the world. Trust is the glue that holds people together through challenging conversations and new shared learning. It can be built, sustained, and repaired over time, in part, through consistent, intentional acts such as sharing tea or coffee or in exchanging the stories of people's names.

ERIC

2024

EJ1429588