Peace, Nonviolence, Anti-Bullying and Wellbeing Education for Schools

WorldPeacefull is an organisation dedicated to World Peace and understanding.  The notion of World Peace is seen by many to be an unreachable goal.  At WorldPeacefull we do not share that view.  We regard peace education with an arts focus to be an extremely effective way to not only engage children’s interest but to stimulate questions and learn through experiential training.

The work that has been developed is unique in that it is taught by Susan Carew aka Peacefull a World Peace Clown and Rotary Peace Scholar.   Susan travelled to Russia with Dr. Patch Adams and it was there were she discovered the link between peace and clowns.  It was evident that clowns are the archetype of peace given they offer unconditional love, confidence, humour and present a peaceful presence on the streets, in hospitals, nursing homes, organisations and schools. 

Susan has extensively explored peace through post graduate studies Peace Studies at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia and selected from a worldwide candidacy to study on the Rotary Peace and Conflict Studies Program in Bangkok, Thailand.  Susan has tirelessly sought to develop her understanding of peace through self development, writing, poetry, clowning, travelling the World as a World Peace Clown and as a peace educator travelling around Australia offering programs to schools.  She was also in the media as a producer and presenter on radio presenting ‘Bridges to Peace’. 

Peace Education is essential to schools and works in theory and practice on developing the whole child to foster resiliency, emotional intelligence and awareness to deal with conflict and model peaceful behaviour .  Bullying cannot occur in a school where children have advanced and integrated values where they see a problem and they are able to access their sense of responsibility or feel an urge to act on empathy and share a common sense for a Culture of Peace at school. 

There are many anti-bullying programs which focus on what is wrong, this program is developing virtues to enhance better decision making, enhanced awareness and emotional intelligence to feel and sense that action must be taken.  In homes today children are not always receiving good role modelling in values or peaceful behaviours and many are mirroring their families or what they see on television. 

The REAL HOPE program empowers children to access their inner values which are natural inner navigation not only guiding them to do what is right but to know intuitively that they have the power to do something and the confidence to participate as a community member in their school.  There is much evidence to suggest that bystanders (those not involved but watching) have an influence on bullying as they reinforce a culture that you are on your own and that the drama of a fight is entertainment rather than psychologically and physically damaging.  Values education ensures that they utilise their expanded emotional intelligence whereby they know to act.

The workshops offered by WorldPeacefull are designed to enhance a Culture of Peace for the whole school as advocated by UNESCO.  The programs will develop peaceful behaviours, provide skills in conflict resolution, link peace to sustainability, develop wellbeing through clowning and juggling and generate a positive disposition in children.

A children’s forum is available for schools as a process to develop decision making, civics and citizenship and solutions generation.  A companion on-line forum is available for schools to have children speaking to each other on-line to solve problems and meet children from other geographic areas.  Children are very literate with computers and a program that works with both IT and real life forums provides a good balance where technology is in service to people rather than an escape.