What is Peer Mediation?

Peer mediation is conflict resolution for young people by young people.  Peer Mediators are trained in the process and skills needed to mediate between two parties neutrally, they are trained to see both sides of an argument and help others to come to a solution themselves. Role-play is used and helps the children find solutions to conflict.  When asked children think they can perhaps understand children's problems better than adults.  

The aim of Peer Mediation here at Aldwyn is to encourage our pupils to resolve conflict in the school playground using mediation.  This important role can be extremely beneficial to the children in the playground as well as the peer mediators themselves.

What is conflict?

A conflict is a struggle a disagreement or an argument between people who have different ideas about the same thing.  

When is peer mediation used?

Peer mediation is used in lots of different scenarios, here are a few examples:

When children won't play with each other or they are leaving someone out.

When children make rude gestures to another child.

When someone says horrible things to someone else

When is peer mediation NOT used?

Peer mediation is not used when:

There is fighting;

When there is any physical violence (a child is hit, punched, kicked etc);

When a child is being called names because of their size, their looks or their race/religion/gender or perceived sexual preference;  and

When a child is being coerced to do something that they know is wrong.

In these instances an adult will always intervene.