„aber ich finds ein bisschen HEIkel eben,“

Abstract

In a growing number of schools, class councils are a regularly practiced interactional format to support pupils’ participation in decision making processes as well as the development of social competence. Whether class councils should also be used to resolve social conflicts, however, is controversial. While the class council is viewed as a suitable opportunity to discuss the pupils’ diverging views in many studies, others are highly critical of this idea, citing the potential effects of conflicting requirements. In this article, we take a conversation analytical approach to how the rhetorical practices and social competence of 9- to 15-year-old pupils and the teacher involvement affect the ways in which conflicts are resolved. Focusing on practices of addressing and social positioning, we analyse how the complex requirements of collective conflict resolution are interactionally dealt with during class councils. Our analysis shows that, on a structural level, the participants are confronted with three facets of processing and resolving social conflicts: reconstruction, resolution and organization. Against the backdrop of these core categories, we propose several practical considerations aimed at increasing teachers’ awareness of the interactional requirements of collaborative conflict resolution.