Looking for peace in the Swedish National Curricula

Abstract

This study analyses, in the light of peace educational theory, the presence and absence of peace elements in the Swedish national curriculum for compulsory schooling. Using the theoretical framework developed within the international Peace Education Curricular Analysis Project, content analysis and mixed methods we identify how the Swedish curriculum underscore and lack the peace elements of recognizing violence, non-violent conflict transformation and positive peace. Our analysis shows that the Swedish curriculum supports teaching and learning which may help pupils to identify violence in society and internationally, lack many aspects of non-violent conflict transformation (especially conflict resolution) and emphasize positive peace in numerous but limited ways. We find that many dimensions of peace are underscored in the syllabus of civics, making peace education primarily a concern for a few teachers. Noting how peace in education is a wide-ranging concern for all educators, we highlight how peace may in more nuanced ways become a part of the Swedish curriculum, today and in the future. ARTICLE HISTORY

Peace Education in the Higher Secondary Level Curriculum of Bangladesh

“…For teachers, it may be useful to note that the curriculum holds a number of recommendations useful to promote peace through education. However, some important aspects of peace education are lacking or missing in the current curriculum (Standish & Nygren, 2018). The pervasive social problem of domestic violence, which many children witness and experience, also deserves to be included in curricula so that the patriarchal traditions that motivate and sustain such violence are revealed and challenged (Toh & Cawagas, 2017).…”

Realising Roma rights through a high-stakes history test: Secondary school students narrating the Swedish Roma past, present and future

“…The third dimension includes teaching for change, with the aim to empower students to assert their own and others' human rights, as well as to critically engage with human rights issues and work for a just world (see Løkke Rasmussen, 2013;Lücke, 2016;Nygren and Johnsrud, 2018). Research has been carried out regarding how these learning dimensions about, through and for change are underpinned through human rights and peace in policy and curricula (see, for example, Robinson, 2017;Parker, 2018;Standish and Nygren, 2018), and through investigations of students' knowledge of human rights issues (see, for example, Bajaj, 2004;Kim, 2019;Brantefors, 2019;Nolgård et al, 2020;Tibbitts et al, 2020;Barton, 2020). Acknowledging the fact that there is a strong connection between education and society (Apple, 1992), learning about past historical injustices and the development of minority rights as a part of one's own history has been brought forward as a fruitful way to further an active engagement with issues related to historical justice within and beyond borders (Osler, 2015;Struthers, 2015Struthers, , 2017.…”

Looking for peace in the national curriculum of Mexico

“…This study is a part of the PECA Project, a continuing and evaluative study that assesses existing curricular statements for three elements commonly found in peace education (Standish, 2015(Standish, , 2016Standish and Kertyzia, 2014;Standish and Joyce, 2016;Standish and Talahma, 2016;Standish and Nygren, 2018). This project is the first analysis of its kind and aims to stimulate conversations about mainstream education and peace education.…”