Looking for Peace in the National Curriculum of Mexico

• In Event: Looking for Peace in Educational Programs and Initiatives: Global Experiences

Abstract

Schools are places where we can learn ways of being, seeing and living. They are transmission belts - social institutions that can engender values and attitudes from both how we learn and what we learn. Using content analysis this mixed-methods study assesses the national curriculum of Mexico (Plan de estudios Educación Básica 2011) for three components found in peace education programs: recognition of violence (direct, structural or cultural); addressing conflict nonviolently; and, creating the conditions of positive peace. This component of the Peace Education Curriculum Analysis (PECA) Project, finds that plan de estudios contains minimal content that recognizes violence, some evidence of techniques used in transforming conflict nonviolently and only select content that is concerned with contributing to positive peace.

Authors

• Heather Kertyzia, California State University Dominguez Hills

• Katerina Standish, University of Otago