Schools and war: urgent agendas for comparative and international education

A focus on conflict and education is one of the most pressing concerns of the current times, and yet the role of education in the perpetuation, or the mitigation, of international conflict is curiously underplayed and under-researched. This paper looks firstly at the contributions that education makes to conflict, through the reproduction of inequality and exclusion, through perpetuation of ethnic or religious divisions, through its acceptance of dominant aggressive masculinities, through selection, competition and fear, and through distorted curricular emphases on narrow cognitive areas of learning. However, the paper also outlines some ‘possibilities for hope’, such as resilient schools, the impact of peace education initiatives and the rise of global citizenship education. It is argued that comparative and international education has a highly important role in establishing patterns of educational contribution to peace or conflict, and in dissemination of research to act as a lobbying force to influence education policy and practice. The paper outlines eight priorities, including alternative international studies focusing on ‘achievement’ in peace education; crosscultural or longitudinal studies of impact of peace education and war education; and tracer studies of why young people join fundamentalist organisations.