Community peacebuilding and restorative practice - Fellowship News - RSA

Community peacebuilding and restorative practice

Fellowship news

  • Picture of Callum Bate
    Callum Bate
    Fellowship Areas and Engagement Manager (Central)
  • Picture of Richard Hale
    Internal Communications Manager

Capabilities for Life is one of the RSA’s Design for Life key intervention areas. Its focus is on how we can use our education system to enable young people to thrive.

With this principle as his theme, at the end of July Roy Leighton FRSA, philosopher, peace scholar and theatre practitioner, facilitated a series of community peace talks with local schools and communities across the West Midlands. These talks formed part of a wider project investigating how we can use peace practice to improve school engagement and reduce exclusions, so making young people feel better able to thrive both at school and in the community.

Roy’s talk explored innovative ways to improve education and learning, thereby building the capability in our young people which the RSA has always seen as so essential to both individual and collective progress.

Alongside our learning-based interventions, we are also blessed to have amazing Fellows who embody this mission over the country and beyond. Our amazing network of Fellows supports our learning-based interventions and wider mission both locally and far beyond. As part of our Central region activities, we held a series of peace talks with Roy Leighton FRSA at several partner schools in July. These events contributed to a wider piece of work which explores how we can win the commitment of pupils and staff to embed restorative, peace-based practices in schools.

This is critical as young people are often denied the tools they need to respond to conflict during their education., Navigating these situations on their own can then lead to damaging outcomes. Implementing a peace matrix with students and staff addresses this. It encourages the creation of a supportive community of peace-builders who will act as mediators and recommend ways to make the school environment a more peaceful place. The hope is that pupils involved will then pass their knowledge and skills on to their peers, family and community, so promoting peace in their local areas.

The peace talk events were a thorough success, engaging RSA Fellows and community members in discussions facilitated by each school’s student peace ambassadors. This allowed them to put their skills into action and encourage local people to consider peace practices in their daily lives.

The peace ambassadors from Willenhall E-Act Academy said:

The session was so engaging! I loved talking to different generations. Listening to different stories and experiences really made me feel connected.

As this work continues, we hope that we will be able to offer more opportunities for further Peace Talks and the involvement of local Fellows. If you would like to find out more about peacebuilding in schools, businesses and communities please visit the Undiscovered Country webpage: www.undiscoveredcountry.org.uk or email: admin@undiscoveredcountry.org.uk

Design for Life

Read about our mission to enable people, places and the planet to flourish in harmony.

Capabilities for Life

Change starts with supporting people to learn and lead. At the heart of Design for Life is the commitment to build the skills, connections and confidence people need to fulfil their potential.

Related Fellowship news stories

  • Facing the future: Scotland's challenges

    Fionna Monk

    On 26 November 2024, RSA Scotland discussed Scotland’s future with nine engaging speakers addressing various challenges facing the country. The venue was resonant – a former committee room at the French Institute used in its early days by the Scottish Parliament. This successful event was chaired with deftness and humour by the former Presiding Officer at the Parliament, Rt Hon Ken Macintosh.

  • You asked, we listened. RSA Strengthens global and local connections for Fellows

    Line Kristensen Fionna Monk

    From our online global community platform Circle to enhanced local co-working spaces and personalised communications, we’re doing all we can to facilitate engagement with the RSA.

  • Celebrating excellence in design: New Royal Designers for Industry announcement

    Fionna Monk

    At the RSA, we believe in the transformative power of design. We take pride in being part of the process that awards the prestigious Royal Designer for Industry (RDI) title, which recognises designers across all disciplines for their sustained excellence, aesthetic contributions, and meaningful impact on society.