Browsing by Author "Donna, Palojärvi"

Objectives. In this thesis I research how restorative peer mediation supports the citizenship of children. In addition I examine what kinds of possibilities of participation does restorative mediation offer for children in comprehensive school. Peer mediation is based on a theory about restorative justice. Theory of peace education has been suggested as the background for international mediation. Previous studies have proven peer mediation to be a working method in solving conflicts between children. It has been shown to produce many types of learning from social skills to skills of problem solving. Methods. This thesis was executed as a literary survey. I examined the research done on peer mediation and considered the results I got from the aspect of children’s citizenship and involvement. In this thesis I defined my keywords based on scientific literature and research: mediation, citizenship, participation, conflict, restorative practices and peace education. Results and conclusions. Previous studies showed mediation to be a proper method for solving conflicts between children in comprehensive school according to the teachers and pupils alike. The pupils were satisfied in being involved in the mediation process but worried that too few of their conflicts were being guided to mediation. The attitudes of adults and their uncommitment to the using of mediation caused problems in the continuity of the method. The poor visibility of mediation in the school world, such as both children and adult’s scarce knowledge about peer mediation, led to the reduced use of the method. In all the studies peer mediation solved 90 % of all the cases that were guided to be mediated so as a method it works well. Mediation is based on the involvement of citizens and bringing the method into schools gives children a chance to be involved. The pupil mediators have the greatest possibility of becoming involved and according to studies they are the ones that benefit the most from peer mediation. In the mediation method children get to solve their problems themselves and act as active citizens. They experience feelings of success from sorting out their own arguments and while doing so diminish the load of teachers by settling their own conflicts independently. Mediation is a functioning method in increasing children’s participation.