Journal of Emerging Trends in Educational Research and Policy Studies: Home

Abstract:
Literature suggests that violence is a learnt behaviour and that children need to learn self- control and how to handle conflicts very early in life as a lack of these skills may have severe consequences in adult life. Conflict is a common feature in many Nigerian schools. It is also common to listen to parents complaints during Parent teacher Association meetings that some children are in the habit of causing trouble both inside the classroom and on the playground. Though, most classroom and out- of- classroom conflicts are settled by teachers, research suggests that children need conflict resolution strategies for power assertion and negotiation. This action research investigated the value of the fuss buster peer mediation programme on children�s conflict resolution in a nursery and primary school in Ibadan, Nigeria. A pre-intervention record of frequency of conflicts in each class was taken for one week while the following week was spent on training children in peer mediation using the fuss buster programme. The programme was started after the one-week training and it lasted for six weeks, after which the effect of the intervention programme was analysed using descriptive statistics of frequency counts, means and percentages as well as qualitative analysis that expressed the reactions of the children, the fuss busters, conflict initiators and teachers to the programme. A comparative effect of the fussbuster programme on each class was also found. The findings revealed a high reduction in conflict in all classes while the grade one class had the highest reduction in conflict resolution. Teachers and children also expressed their interest in the programme. Teachers wanted the programme to continue as it allowed children to develop self-control and leadership skills. The research work was conducted in order to address the issue of conflict which has increased lately in many schools and seemed to have defied most methods used by teachers to solve it. It was recommended that mediation methods such as the fuss buster method should be introduced not only into the school system for conflict resolution but into the civic education curriculum.

Keywords: conflict resolution, fuss buster, initiator, peer, mediation

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