ABSTRACT This study aims to map global trends in peace education research using a bibliometric analysis approach. Using data from 381 articles in the Scopus database (2015–2024), this study analyzed publication trends, author contributions, institutions, as well as the distribution of research themes. Bibliometric methods enable an understanding of publication distribution, citation patterns, and collaboration networks. The results show significant growth in the number of publications, with the United States as the most productive country (102 publications), followed by the United Kingdom (56 publications). The University of Cambridge was the institution with the most contributions (13 publications), while Zembylas, M. was the leading author with 12 publications and 142 citations. The Journal of Peace Education dominates with 109 publications. Research themes include clusters such as critical education, decolonization, post-conflict peace, and global citizenship education. The findings provide a comprehensive overview of the dynamics of peace education, reveal the contributions of important authors and institutions, and identify research gaps. The study highlights the relevance of peace education in dealing with global conflicts and promoting tolerance through integrating various critical and pedagogical approaches. As such, it encourages cross-disciplinary collaboration to strengthen comprehensive peace education efforts.

ABSTRACT In addition to imparting subject knowledge, textbooks serve as a vehicle to express universal values and those specific to different communities. The present study aimed to explore the representation of peace values in three English as a foreign language (EFL) textbook series, namely Vision, New Elementary and Merit, all published in Iran. Content analysis was used to describe, interpret, and compare the peace values in the analyzed textbooks. The results suggest that all three sources of peace –inner peace, social peace, and peace with nature–are included in the textbooks to varying degrees. The Vision series highlights all the three sources of peace, while the New Elementary and Merit series place greater emphasis on social peace. However, some of the important peace values are underrepresented, which need to be addressed. This study offers pedagogical recommendations for curriculum and textbook developers, as well as educators, by drawing attention to key issues that can create optimal learning opportunities for fostering peace values.

ABSTRACT This study takes a unique approach by examining the perceptions of Arab and Jewish teachers in Israel’s Shared Education Program during the 7 October war. This sudden and intense event in the ongoing, intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict, provides a unique context for understanding how these educators view their roles and the program’s viability during periods of heightened violence. Utilizing qualitative thematic analysis, this study conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 teachers who had participated in the program prior to the war. The findings reveal significant emotional impacts, including fear, anxiety, and ambivalence toward continuing the shared education efforts. Notably, the war led to the program’s suspension, influenced by both administrative decisions and the teachers’ concerns. This research underscores the intricate dynamics of sustaining educational initiatives aimed at fostering shared life in a divided society, particularly during wartime. Despite the challenges, teachers expressed a mixture of hope and reluctance about the future of shared education, emphasizing the pivotal role of such programs in promoting understanding and empathy between divided groups. The study concludes that despite severe conflicts, the desire to maintain educational efforts for shared life persists, albeit with numerous difficulties and complexities.

This paper examines teachers’ perspectives on the promotion of peace education in Ghana. It is based on a study that engaged twenty (n = 20) secondary school teachers in five schools in two regions in Ghana to investigate how prepared, equipped and supported teachers are to teach peace education and what factors support and hinder education for peace and the integration of Ghana’s Indigenous traditional knowledge of peace – Sankofa – in the education system. This study fills the gaps in and offers a nuanced reading of peace education in Ghana from the perspective of teachers. The Transcendental Phenomenological analysis method was employed in this study, revealing the deficits in the support teachers receive in teaching for and about peace and the challenges they face that arise from curriculum issues, systemic obstacles, and enduring colonial legacies. The paper offers a valuable understanding of the Sankofa concept as a potential direction for decolonisation and change in peace education in Ghanaian secondary schools and other contexts globally.

ABSTRACT This study aimed to explore barriers to implementing peace education in secondary schools in South Africa. The empirical inquiry employed qualitative research methodology and evaluation research design to examine the implementation of a peace education programme in three selected secondary schools in the Western Cape, South Africa. Purposive sampling was used to select the research sites and participants. Data were collected through semi-structured individual interviews with the manager of the Quaker Peace Centre (QPC) programme and school principals; and focus group discussions with teachers and learners. The data were analysed through thematic content analysis. Findings indicate that peace education was implemented with modest success outside the formal curriculum by following a multimedia approach using learner-run peace clubs and anti-bullying campaigns. However, barriers to the implementation of peace education persist, including financial constraints; inadequate allocation of time to peace education; poor parental involvement; overburdened teachers; and negative attitudes and societal influences. Based on these findings, the study recommends that government and school management should support the successful implementation of peace education by providing teacher training on peace education, including peace education in the mainstream curriculum; ensuring that all stakeholders participate in peace education efforts; and prioritising funding for implementation.

ABSTRACT Given the well-documented toll of gender-based violence on the wellbeing of women and girls, schools and universities can be key sites of advocacy and prevention. Peace educators have identified tackling gender-based violence as a priority for the field. Yet, two gaps persist. Firstly, the lived experiences of female survivors outside Europe and North America remain little understood in research. Secondly, the severe structural barriers female survivors face risk being overlooked in overly individualistic conceptualisations of wellbeing that neglect the social context. We argue that both these geographical and conceptual gaps can be addressed by considering voices from the Global South and closely contextualising children and women’s experiences. We thereby utilise qualitative data from South Asia and the Middle East, combining the social-ecological model with Galtung’s framework of direct, structural and cultural violence to contextualise the emotions and experiences of female participants and to flag the role of education and societal structures in perpetuating or tackling gender-based violence. We conclude with an ecological conceptualisation of ‘being-well’, calling for sustainable, context-sensitive action for peace and social change and highlighting the responsibility of education to provide sanctuary to those who seek it.

ABSTRACT Given the increasing popularity of the science-fiction genre, its capacity for worldbuilding and its long-durée vision, coupled with both the difficulty of discussing issues of migration in today’s world as something more than a problem of the present and the necessity to go beyond this presentism, the author argues that science-fiction films provide an excellent tool for peace education inside and outside the classroom in general and to address migration in particular. This article discusses the why and how of using science fiction films for peace education, which the author claims is not necessarily taught in the classroom or special programs but should also be seen as part of lifelong learning/continuous education.

ABSTRACT The collective adherence to contradictory conflict narratives has underpinned the intractable ethnopolitical conflicts that have occurred in the Northern Region of Ghana. Changing the conflict narratives that perpetuate ethnopolitical conflicts in the region through peace education is a prerequisite for any meaningful peacebuilding. Consequently, the study examined how civil society actors use peace education to deconstruct negative conflict narratives in the region. The study is qualitative and relied on both primary and secondary data sources. Primary data was obtained through in-depth interviews with 20 participants. The data was analyzed using an inductive-deductive thematic analysis approach with the aid of NVivo 12 software. The study found that civil society organizations’ (CSOs) peace education programs create awareness, facilitate mutual understanding, and engender values of human rights, non-violence moves to conflict resolution, reconciliation, and trust-building. Peace educational activities by CSOs, whether direct or indirect, and whether in educational settings or the community, are essential in changing the socio-psychological infrastructure that perpetuates a culture of violence. It is proposed for broader engagement with CSOs for the initiation and implementation of context-specific peace education programs to help deconstruct the conflict narratives that perpetuate identity conflicts in some parts of Ghana.