Conflict Resolution: An Alternative Approach to School Discipline (From Crime at School: Proceedings of a Seminar Held 2-4 June 1987 in Canberra, P 69-74, 1987, Dennis Challinger, ed. -- See NCJ-110911)

• NCJ Number: 110917
• Author(s): S Plunkett
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 6 pages
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology; National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: For microfiche, see NCJ-110911.

Annotation

This 1986 Australian study tested the hypothesis that a 6-week course on conflict resolution will produce an improvement in fifth-grade children's understanding of the options available to them in resolving conflicts.

Abstract

The program's overall aim was to empower the children with options, skills, and strategies for resolving problems with increasing autonomy and with developing satisfaction. The course content encompassed win/win strategies, creative response, empathy, appropriate assertiveness, cooperative power, managing emotions, willingness to resolve, mapping the conflict, development of options, negotiation, broadening perspectives, and the third-party mediator. Twenty-four children were nonrandomly assigned to the experimental group, and 25 children were nonrandomly assigned to a control group. A pretest aptitude/attitude survey and an achievement/attitude posttest survey were used to determine the program's effect. Although not statistically significant, the change in score for the 'aggression' and 'win/win' behaviors in the experimental compared to the control group indicates the experimental children improved in their ability to manage their emotions and apply communication skills developed during discussions and role play.