Professionals
Setting Up A Service
Training children and young people
Primary schools
The training takes the form of 6 workshops which are outlined in Include Youth's Primary School Training Manual. The school can choose which year group these are taught to - usually P5 (age 8/9), P6 (age 9/10) or P7 (age 10/11). The training has generally worked best with P6 because the group will be in the school a whole year following training and get the opportunity to use their skills. The workshops teach listening skills, communication skills, co-operation and the peer mediation process through games, role plays and discussions.
Post-primary schools
The training is usually delivered to year 8 students (age 11/12). This allows the peer mediation ethos to move up the school. The initial training is taught through 9 sessions lasting half an hour each, and is taught to every pupil in year 8. This means every student has awareness of how conflicts can be managed and also knows the peer mediation process making them aware of what happens in a mediation session if they need to use the service. The PSE programme aims to develop listening skills, communication skills, co-operation and the peer mediation process through games, role plays and discussions.
The students who choose to become mediators then participate in 2 days training which looks further at mediation skills, the mediation process, when mediation should not take place and setting up a service.
Both the PSE programme and the 2 days training for mediators are outlined in the Post-primary school manual.
Training outside of Formal Education
The training is set out in 6 two hour sessions. This training should be flexible to meet the needs of the group and age of the group. The training uses games, discussions and role-plays to teach the skills of conflict management and more specifically mediation.
This training is outlined in the Peer Mediation training Manual for Young people.
Selecting Mediators
Firstly students should fill out an application form and be given a job description. Parents should sign a form to give permission for their son/daughter to become a mediator. The ratio of mediators would usually be approximately 20 for a year group of 80 - any more than this and there may not be enough mediations for them to get using their skills leading to frustration and lack of motivation. However some schools will train more than this as they feel the training is valuable in itself.
Schools would sometimes interview those who are wanting to become mediators in order to select. Some schools have also asked potential mediators to submit a reference either from a teacher, a fellow student or both.