CREATIVE PEACE AND
HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION
The Course

Organized annually since 2006

Organized as part the Utrecht University Summer School
Program

Target group: - Professionals in the peace and
human rights sector
- International students
- Others interested

Course director: Marloes van Houten
Background
Creative Peace & Human Rights Education:
 Based on the ideas:
- Peace can be learned
- Peace is a human responsibility
 Origens can be found in the Englightenment
 Education as part of the problem of human aggression and as part of the sollution .
 Focusses on:
- Content of the subject
- Teaching process/methods of teaching
- Context in which teaching takes place
“[S]ince wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds
of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.”
Content
 First week:
Theories and backgrounds related to:
Culture of Peace/Culture of War
 Second week:
Themes and Practices CPE/HRE
 Red thread:
Art/creative approaches (understand violence;
develop responses to it; prevent it)
Themes
 Culture of Peace/Culture of War
 Violence and Nonviolence
 Prejudices, discrimination and a Culture of
Diversity and Tolerance
 Human Rights: A Moral Agenda for Peace
 Children’s rights at stake
 Creativity/Art and PE/HRE
 Youth work towards a COP
 Gender, Peace, and Education
Objectives of Learing
 Gain Knowledge:
- Contextual
 Develop Skills:
- Implicitely (by the method of teaching)
- Explicitely (explanation)
 Specific skills build (introduction):
- Critical analysis of the violent potential of cultures and its justifications;
- Dialogue as a method to overcome prejudices, tensions and escalation
of conflicts;
- Nonviolent strategies for conflict resolution;
- Conditions of learning and teaching peace;
- Using creative/artistic means for awareness raising and social change
- Civil peace action and society building.
“Giving people the knowledge, skills, and attitude necessary
to act as a positive and effective agent of social change.”
Methodology
 The group itself as an important
learning experience
 Teaching and learning methods:
– Lectures, excursions and debates
– Learning by sharing experiences
– The student and teacher are
both facilitators of learning
– Communication in different
‘languages’
– Individual study, using library,
internet and other sources of
information
“The HHH approach: Learning with your head, heart and hands”
Learning with your Head
 Lectures from socially engaged
academics and practitioners to provide
students with ample background
knowledge
 Opportunities for students to share their
experiences and knowledge
 Case studies, examples of peace
education to see how knowledge can be
implemented
Learning with your Head
“Both student and teacher as learning facilitators.”
Learning with your Heart

Learning from the stories of the others
in the group

Critical reflections during experimental
learning exercises:
- blindfolding game
- Musicians without Borders &
expressive arts therapy
- Warchild, games & healing from the
past
- ‘Human images’ & overcoming
conflict
- Fort Democracy: interactive
installation
- personal peace mantra

Student helping other students
overcoming their obstacles to fully
participate

Building trust and friendship
Learning with your Hands
 Movement based learning
 Music as a form of dialogue
 Visual arts (images, drawing, collages
and comic making) to analyze conflict /
violence
 Social action: - BeachWalk4Peace
- Picknick4Peace
 Storytelling on discrimination and
tolerance
Learning with your Hands
Student Feedback
Tria Rani (Indonesia):
“I think the summer school experience
has affirmed my passion […] for peace
education. I[t] inspired me to re-focus on
what I want to contribute to the field and
how.”
“I was inspired to use Prof. Ido's Abram
Arena Model and ‘the identity circle’
activity as an approach to create
multicultural learning.”
http://www.identiteitscirkels.nl/
To Conclude
Results:
 Students respond successfully to informal and
formal teaching methods
 Students feel encouraged to use the
educational methods and techniques learned
to their work
 Through sharing experiences among each
other, students and facilitators can relate more
personally to the more theoretical aspects of
the course.
Contact Information
Marloes van Houten – Course Director
Sums.cphre@gmail.com
Facebook: Peace and Human Rights Education –Utrecht
Summer School
https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/104098702981649/
Summer School Utrecht
www.utrechtsummerschool.nl