The Peace Education SIG of CIES has been active since 2005, when the proposal for its establishment was put forth by Prof. Jing Lin who served as SIG chair for the first two years. The SIG held its first sponsored panels at the CIES conference in Honolulu (2006) and drew considerable numbers of interested members and supporters. 

Prof. Monisha Bajaj was elected SIG chair in 2007 in Baltimore and coordinated the 2008 panels at the CIES conference in New York City at her home institution of Teachers College. The program co-chairs were Profs. Andria Wisler and Edward Brantmeier.  Three official panels were held on different dimensions of the theme “Towards Equity and Social Justice: Research and Practice in Peace Education,” including peace education in practice, peace education as part of teacher education, and global perspectives on peace education.  Specific papers included discussions of peace education in the following contexts: refugee camps in Eastern Africa, high schools in Turkey, non-formal arts programs in Cambodia, NGOs collaborating in Israel-Palestine, universities in Latin America, and juvenile detention centers in the United States.

The third sponsored panel profiled global perspectives on peace education and highlighted some of the most well-known scholars in the field. 

1. Yaacov Iram, Professor of Comparative and International Education at Bar-Ilan University in Israel and UNESCO Chair holder of the Dr. Josef Burg Chair in Education for Human Values, Tolerance and Peace, discussed a new project he coordinates between Palestinian and Israeli groups to build a culture of peace.
2. Yolanda Africa discussed the Development of a Peace Education Program for the Languages and Literature Department of De La Salle Lipa University that promotes greater peace between ethnic/religious groups in the Philippines and raises greater awareness among students about economic inequalities. 
3. Magnus Haavelsrud, professor at the University of Trondheim in Norway, was a founding member of the Peace Education Commission of the International Peace Research Association. He discussed in his presentation the theoretical underpinnings of the form, structure and content of peace education. 
4. Alicia Cabezudo is a professor at the University of Rosario in Argentina and at the University of Peace in Costa Rica.  She discussed the history and emergence of human rights education in Latin America and regional efforts towards peace learning and greater democratization. 
5. Discussant Jeannie Lum of the University of Hawaii and the editor of the Journal of Peace Education tied the papers together and posed excellent questions to the panelists to guide discussion of the highlighted themes.

For the 2009 conference in Charleston, the program committee consisted of Monisha Bajaj (Teachers College), Andria Wisler (Georgetown University), Maria Hantzopoulos (Vassar College), Chike McLoyd (University of Pennsylvania) & Edward Brantmeier (Colorado State University).  The SIG theme for the 2009 CIES conference was Measuring peace? The politics of assessment and evaluation in peace education research and practice.  We received an excellent group of proposals, for the first time through a united and general online submission system initiated by CIES.  The Peace Education SIG offered three well-attended and interesting panels.  The first panel featured research and reflection on the conceptualization, assessment, and evaluation of peace education and its initiatives; Dr. Jing Ling (University of Maryland) offered thoughtful comments as a discussant for this panel.  The second panel highlighted case studies from Israel, North Ireland, and Thailand on the politics of peace education; Dr. Maria Hantzopoulos (Vassar College) gave interesting summaries and points of reflection as discussant of this panel.  Finally, the third panel was chaired by Dr. Christine Min Wotipka (Stanford University), and focused on student achievement and outcomes in post/conflict situations. Thank you to all panel discussants, chairs, and presenters for their participation at the CIES 2009 conference.

COPYRIGHT 2008 - COMPARATIVE AND INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION SOCIETY