Members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force gather information at Dunoon Park Technical High School in Kingston following the fatal stabbing of a 16-year-old student on the school compound. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

There are five 'P's in the Peace and Love in Society (PALS) framework for creating and maintaining a safe school, namely physical safety, psychological safety, policies, programmes and partnerships.

On the first day of the current school year, Dunoon Park Technical High School in eastern Kingston took a major step towards those objectives with the formal introduction of some other 'P's - 28 of them.

The peer mediators, students trained in conflict-resolution skills by PALS, were presented to the student body at a general assembly. PALS senior trainer, Sybil James, explained their role.

"You will hear them refer to themselves as conflict managers also. They serve their school by helping other students resolve conflicts," she said.

"They operate in pairs and are scheduled for duty by the coordinator. They assist students in the peaceful expression and resolution of their conflicts," James said. Students may be referred to the peer mediators/conflict managers by the principal, teachers or other students, or they may go voluntarily.

"They won't tell you what to do. They won't say who is right or wrong. They invite you, the students, to come up with your own solutions. The philosophy is that students can handle their conflicts themselves," James said.

Sheron Barnes-Wilmott started the four-day training with the students over the summer holidays, while Michael Cohen has hands-on responsibility for the PALS programme at Dunoon.

The school is one of 12 high schools which have implemented the PALS programme under a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Education.

There is a distinct difference between students handling conflicts themselves and 'handling their business', the latter implying forceful action or reaction in a dispute. And with the peer mediators/conflict managers on duty - though not on patrol - that sense of physical safety should increase.

Teachers of Dunoon Tech, in a PALS workshop, stated their concerns regarding safety. The consensus was that "when we think of physical safety, we want to achieve a secure and quiet environment free from distractions where teaching and learning can take place".

Eliminating distractions

Eliminating the distractions are key to the PALS programme, as James said with the peer mediation system in place, teachers should not have to interrupt their schedules to "deal with little conflicts".

The school's safe areas were identified as the football field, netball court and car park. Still, many argued that they did not feel safe anywhere on the compound and said it was difficult to function normally in this kind of environment. With adult supervision limited in areas outside of those designated strictly for teaching, the student body will no doubt benefit from the presence and availability of the peer mediators.

Among the teachers' 10 specific recommendations was that students and teachers be trained in how to resolve conflicts peacefully, which is just what PALS will do more of at Dunoon. According to Cohen, the school has taken on the PALS change-the-culture programme, as well as the critical incident management intervention.

Improved self-control

Even before the peer mediators/conflict managers effect change in their fellow students, they have found themselves changed as well. They speak to self-control: "The conflict manager's training has helped me in managing my anger and recognising the danger it can bring to the people around me, property and me." Their self-esteem has also improved: "To become a conflict manager has made me feel very important."

And they speak about the importance of the change that PALS brings to their school, one student saying, "I believe this is the best programme that has been done at Dunoon."

Before the assembly ended at Dunoon on the first Monday in September, peer mediator/conflict manager Romaine Brown gave an invitation to his colleagues. "We are here to help you deal with your problems. We are here as guides, so when you go into the society, you know how to manage your conflicts," he said.