MEDIATION – A MODERN AND PRODUCTIVE WAY OF PROBLEM AND CONFLICT SOLUTION IN SCHOOL

Abstract

Solution of problems and conflicts by means of mediation is still an innovation in Latvian schools. The social pedagogues are the most interested in mediation since they are the first who interface with the complicated situations in school and have to search for their solutions. In accordance with the demands of a changing world the task of the school is not just to educate schoolchildren but as well to prepare them to live in the future world. An ability to change a perspective is to be considered as a central competence; it is followed by the adequate social activities, ability to collaborate, by the concepts of fairness and moral reasoning. Change of perspective is a competence that could be obtained in the education process, as well as in the process of mediation. The theoretical and practical research on the implementation of the mediation in Latvian schools justifies mediation to be an alternative, successful and productive way of the problem and conflict solution that both improves the psychological environment of the school and fosters the competences of the schoolchildren that will be necessary in their independent life. The article is rooted in the theoretical concepts and ideas of several researchers (Trossen, Hofmann, Rothfischer, 2004; Will, 2005, 2011; et.al.) as well as in the reflection of the experience of the authors of this research. The aim of the paper: to analyse results of the survey of the literature teachers and social pedagogues on the necessity of mediation in the school.