Abstract
The study of conflict management is very crucial in the career of teaching since it helps to identify the psychological aspects and the nature of the conflict. Therefore, the study will help to avoid the conflict situation in class and to teach how to create a positive approach to the conflict. In addition, since the course is designed for non-experienced teachers, it will help them to keep a positive communication with children and handle the conflict situation.
The major tasks of the training course
Understanding the conflict
Before analyzing the reasons of the conflict, first, it is necessary to define the notion of the conflict and figure out the nature of it. Then, it is necessary to identify the typology of conflicts and different theories. Thus, according to Cheldelin et al. (40) there distinguishes the latent conflict, manifest conflicts processes, and aggressive manifest conflict processes. According to Dixon (40), conflicts are divided into impersonal conflicts, interpersonal conflicts and inter-group conflict. The awareness of these issues will help to analyze the issues from the psychological point of view within the group taking into consideration the gender differences.
Steps to be taken
- The lesson will imply activities that provide the students with the understanding of the nature. Consequently, the perfect approach will be the explanation of the material, namely the main purpose and the importance of the conflict management theory.
- In order to comprehend the main issues of the material, it is desirable to allow the students to experience the notions and reflect thoroughly on them. That would significantly help to recognize the existence of the conflict situation and to perceive what negative outcome may follow unless certain measures are taken. This is especially useful for educators to understand children psychology and to realize why the pupils often face conflicts.
- After a thorough examination of all the concept, it is important to the choose the most appropriate one. Since the target audience are both male and fame of 22-26 age category, it is more crucial to assess their needs and outlooks of this age category since they have little experience of teaching children.
- Next step that should be taken is the experience exchange so that the student could share their own experiences of conducting lessons ad to analyze the conflicts that appeared.
- The final measure will be summing up. After analysis of the nature and the typology of the lessons, it is obligatory to single out the types that require a more thorough examination (Shapiro, 6).
Analysis of conflict settings and environment
It is necessary to study the environment and the atmosphere in the class, to trace preconditions of the conflicts, and to identify the contemporary conflict contexts. In this case, there is the necessity to research the current school environment so that the teacher could make the necessary conclusions (Dixon, 41). The course also presupposes the study of social and cultural preconditions as the evident ground for conflict behavior (Cheldelin et al., 91).
Steps to be taken
- Study the case suggested by Dixon (41). Analyze it from the point of view of the suffered side. Study the current environment in the school and define the factors that cause the pupil’s self-isolation
- Propose the students to analyze the major the source of the conflict in the current environment and to decide what are the most dangerous ones
- Define how environment affect the conflict development and what should be done to avoid extreme outcome of the confrontation.
- Then suggest the students writing the psychological analysis of the pupil and the trigger points that occurred in this latent conflict.
- After completing the paper, the students should share their own conclusion in order enlarge their outlook on the situation.
To consider the conflict management pertaining to the importance of communication
It is obvious that an effective communication is crucial in managing the conflicts. Therefore, the introduction of the major aspects of successful communication is rather useful for the teachers since in difficult and conflict appealing situations, the communication is always complicated and problematic. Hence, it is necessary to study the core elements of effective communication with children in order to find a unique approach to each pupil. In addition, an effective communication cannot only contribute to conflict settlement but also prevent conflict situation emergence. In general, the mastering of communication skills is especially important for the educators since it is the only means to effectively manage conflicts (Shapiro, 83). So, the general task is to learn how to put into practice the acquires knowledge. In addition, an educator must to check the personal communicative skills of the students
Steps to be taken
- First of all, it is necessary to teach the student how to rely on each other and to check to what extent the student are reliable. To do that, the student should be divided in pairs where will be a follower and another will be a leader.
- The follower should rely on their partner and trust him/her. As the students are both males and females, the educator should avoid all leader be male and follower be female and vice versa.
- The leaders and the followers should exchange their roles and repeat the same actions.
- After the leader-follower game you should involve a comprehensive discussion about the importance of friendship and communication so that the students can write a short analysis of each other on the sheets.
- After that, the student should report on the analysis and to conclude what drawbacks or merits a person has. In the end, the educator should make the necessary assumptions.
Resolving conflicts
The teachers must be aware of the variety of the approaches in dispute resolutions so that they should be capable of defining the stages in problem solving. In that regard, it is obligatory to study the experience and behavior, the emotions and influence of relationships on the outcome of the conflict. The teacher should also realize that there is no a universal approach to resolution of all conflict and there are situation when the conflicts cannot be eliminated. That is why, there is a strong necessity to acquire skills of listening and problem solving. Additional an educator should directly participate in conflict settlement. Regarding that, conflict situation demands clarification so that the teacher could meet the requirement of parties.
Steps to be taken
- After the examination of communicative skills, a teacher should be taught to apply them in practice. To do that, the teacher should look trough the main principles of negotiation (Crawford, 1899).
- Divide the teachers into two groups so that it would be possible to develop their own concept of an effective negotiation in a certain situation. Let the teachers create their own short project on the negotiation with children.
- To apply this project, study the first two cases in school on the conflict resolution and analyze each participant from the psychological point; define what type of conflict it is; what environmental factors facilitate the conflict.
- After the situation analysis, the groups should apply their negotiation projects in deciding the conflict and trace which one was the most effective in conflict resolution.
- After the conflict resolution was achieved, let us the teachers conclude which project was better and why. Then, it is also very important to decide what the major advantages and disadvantages of the negotiating programs and to take the necessary measures in order to eliminate them.
Teacher’s Tips
Since the target audience is most adults, the majority of which are busy, the teacher should pay a significant attention to the psychological image of that category. For a successful conduct of the course, the educator must be aware that these group is predominantly self centered, and results-oriented and independent from other opinions. That is why, the course should include serious and evidence-based arguments and direct and precise aim of the study. The trainer should realize the actual needs of the adult students and accept the responsibility of the course. In addition, since the majority of the teachers are working, the course should not be time consuming so that the course should be well-organized time wise. Therefore the most appropriate method of conduct is application of practical activities.
Works Cited
Cheldelin Sandra, Druckman Daniel, Fast Larissa A. Conflict: from Analysis to Intervantion UK: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2003.
Crawford, Donna Conflict Resolution Education: A Guide to Implementing Programs in Schools. US: DIANE Publishing, 1996.
Dixon, Mary Invitation and inspirations: pathways to successful teaching. Australia: Curriculum Corporation, 2004.
“Conflict Resolution – Case Studies” 2009. Web.
Shapiro, Daniel. Conflict and Communication: a Guide through the Labyrinth of Conflict Management US: IDEA, 2004.