Effects of Conflict Resolution Training on Elementary School Students

Abstract

A peer-mediation training program was conducted in four classrooms in an American, suburban, middle-class elementary school. Ninety-two students in the third through sixth grades received 30 min of training per day for 6 weeks. The training focused on negotiation and mediation procedures and skills. Prior to the training program, frequent conflicts involving physical aggression, playground activities, access to or possession of objects, turn taking, put-downs and teasing, and academic work were reported. The conflicts were primarily brought to the teacher for arbitration or managed with ineffective and destructive strategies that generally made the conflicts worse. The training program was successful in teaching negotiation and mediation procedures and skills. The students were able to transfer the procedures and skills and apply them in real conflicts among classmates. Careful observation of hallways, the lunchroom, the playground, and the gymnasium revealed that 4 months after training students seriously and carefully used these procedures to resolve highly emotional and prolonged conflicts with fellow students. The training reduced dramatically the number of conflicts referred to teachers and the principal. Discipline problems that previously drained teachers' attention, time, and energy were eliminated as students became much more autonomous in managing their conflicts constructively.