When duty calls

Kids are looking out for each other in the playground and solving problems themselves, reports JANE DUNBAR.

It's lunchtime and the Heathcote Valley School playground is alive with sound and movement. Weaving among the swirling activity are Summer Rutherford, 11, and Eva Hooke, 10, on duty to help sort out problems.

The two girls are peer mediators - pupils who are trained to help resolve playground conflict. Wearing bright- yellow vests, they are easy to spot, and children approach them with their arguments.

Mostly, it's "She won't play with me" or "He's being mean to me", says Eva. She asks the children to take turns and explain exactly what happened, and after a discussion, she usually finds they will shake hands or have a hug and move on.

Name-calling is another big one, says Summer. Again, she encourages the children involved to take turns and explain what happened, and then gets them to work out a solution for themselves. Usually that's enough, but if it's not, there is always a duty teacher as backup.

Summer and Eva are part of a non- compulsory Cool Schools programme, set up by the Peace Foundation, that is used by schools throughout New Zealand that are lucky enough to have teachers prepared to take on the scheme and make it work.

The scheme is in its second year at Heathcote Valley, and is a huge success, says assistant-principal Tony Hartley.

"We have a dedicated team of year- 6 to year-8 children and they do an awesome job," he says.

"The programme has allowed us to free up teacher time to offer activities to our children in music and sport because the playground is running so well we don't need to have two duty teachers at a time.

"We meet regularly with the mediators to talk about issues and to provide training. It has been a challenge for the mediators, but the skills they learn are wonderful, and we know that many will go on to be head boy or girl and house leaders at our school and beyond."

It's not only good children who make good peer mediators.

As South Island Cool Schools co- ordinator Tracy Scott says, "bad kids" don't always feel comfortable going to the "good kids" to help resolve problems, so having a diverse range of kids as mediators is great.

Not only is it good for "naughtier kids" to learn leadership skills, but they can seem more accessible to other children.

They are also often the most popular pupils, says Hartley.

Scott is a great believer in the enormous benefits of children learning mediation skills. Skills in managing conflict in the playground will flow on into all aspects of a child's life, she says.

And in an era of so much electronic communication - via texts, email, instant messaging and chatrooms, it is great for children to have to communicate face to face.

"They think they can hide behind the technology," she says.

"But mediation is the art of communication, and it brings kids face to face.

"They have to take responsibility for their interactions. There are very obvious benefits to that."

Julie O'Neill, who runs the programme at Opawa School, says the school has had peer mediators for several years and it has made a noticeable difference to the playground.

Her mediators wear bright-yellow T-shirts and have a mediation tree, where they mediate with other children.

"They also recognise positive playground behaviour by writing children's names into their folder, then having a fortnightly draw for a small prize. The skills they learn are lifelong and they talk about using them in other situations as well."

At Westburn School, teacher Tina Meyer has been training a new group of mediators.

She has been using the training manual provided by the Peace Foundation, and her mediators have attended a series of sessions before taking on their responsibilities in the playground. The training sessions focus on topics such as active listening and recognising different types of responses to conflicts; and the children have practised mediation, and how to handle difficult situations.

"The students have discovered how powerful 'I' statements can be when you are trying to solve a problem," says Meyer. "They've commented on how it was easier for them to resolve conflict when someone used an 'I' statement (eg, "I felt hurt when you said that"), because there is no blame and nobody feels threatened."

Her students have not only relished tackling problems in the playground, but also have recognised that they have been developing skills to resolve conflict in their own lives outside of school, says Meyer.

Of course, if a conflict in the playground is serious, the mediators can call for a teacher. But generally, schools are reporting that mediators are managing to solve a lot of low-level conflict and bullying very effectively.

In a Cool Schools Peer Mediation Programme report for the Ministry of Education in December last year, schools recorded a high level of satisfaction with the programme.

"The biggest effect of the programme has been a reduction in stand-downs and negative behaviour in schools," the report says, noting that about 400 primary, intermediate and secondary schools throughout New Zealand use peer mediators.

"Teachers attributed this to students being able to talk to each other more effectively, having the skills to resolve their problems through talking rather than fighting."

Talking rather than fighting - now that's a result for everyone to be proud of.

- © Fairfax NZ News