A co-curricular approach to

Developing Peace Education

The Sir James Reckitt Charity is exploring new ways to support Quaker-led and Quaker-inspired education. Education is a core interest for our trust, and we have a vision to support the development of Peace Education in UK schools.

Our aim is to widen the support we give to Quaker independent schools, in ways that can reach out more widely in all education settings.

The project starts from the understanding of peace as a process rather than a product. We take a broad view of peace to respond to the complex issues for young people today – equality, diversity, sustainability, as well as communication skills and conflict awareness. We seek to support development of a programme that offers an emotional and cognitive toolkit for schools to draw on rather than taking a prescriptive approach: a pragmatic but ambitious approach.

Our starting point is for development of materials for use in KS2 and KS3, taking a co-curricular approach which will provide resources to explore and develop thinking about peace within the wider curriculum. We are very grateful to Iain Kilpatrick for sharing what’s been learned at Sidcot School in creating their Centre for Peace and Global Studies.

We would like to collaborate further with Quaker networks – including schools, educators and organisations – to find a practical and inspiring way forward. Our intention is to enable Quaker schools and Quaker educators to build a body of resources that can be shared with a wider audience: practical, accessible, digitally based resources.

Please contact us if you are interested to find out more.