ABSTRACT
Understanding the nature of confl icts, their impact on development and why there is a need for their resolution and the promotion of harmony.
(DfES 2005a)
Confl ict is clearly one of the major issues of our time and there is little evidence that the world is becoming less confl ictive. Confl ict occurs of course not just at the global level, but at regional, national, institutional and family levels and any resolution is complicated by the fact that certain types of confl ict are inevitable and indeed necessary. Confl ict is an essential element of the human condition since people will – and should – disagree on matters as a result of their differing beliefs, values and access to resources. The dilemmas therefore are twofold: fi rst, how one resolves confl ict, whether violently or peacefully, competitively or cooperatively, and second, at what point should one generate confl ict in order to surface a perceived wrong. An interesting question throughout this chapter is whether the same analyses can be applied at the school level as can be applied at international level.
