WORLD CONFERENCE ON PEACE EDUCATION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD

Significant progress in the scientific and technical fields has marked the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the new millennium. Knowledge and expertise are now available to meet the challenges that face our world, among others: global warming and the progressive deterioration of the natural environment and its resources.

There are other challenges that also require the cooperation of governments and civil society for their solution: the contradictions of geopolitical and economic policies that result in depriving world regions and countries of adequate primary health and education; the increasing number of wars and armed conflicts in different parts of the globe, in which civilian populations suffer intolerably leaving children with the bleakest of futures… More intimate challenges also exist in our societies, racism and intolerance of diversity, domestic violence and its presence in media.

The achievement of a more just and humane world society calls for a change in mentalities, for a conscious turning away from violence and exploitation toward a culture of peace and co-operation in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Building the defences of peace is essentially a work of education and construction of new ways of thinking and behaving. This work should start in early childhood.

For this reason we, the undersigned, on behalf of all the delegates to the World Conference on Early Childhood Education for Peace, held in Albacete, Spain, on April 20-22, 2007, considering the need to find new paths toward social transformation and world peace, in cooperation with governments, civil society and, especially with families, schools and early childhood services, declare:

Inequity violates children’s rights and becomes a serious barrier to peaceful feeling and thinking. Support for children and their families during the early childhood years is an imperative for peace building. Hungry families can become angry families.

National policies, laws and legislation concerning the welfare, care and education of the young child should be in line with international agreements, a listing of which is attached to this document. In parallel, we request governments to make significant increases in the financing of early childhood and family services.

It is a fundamental responsibility of every nation to provide all young children with both high quality, comprehensive, equitable and accessible early education as well as development activities that include among their many components, opportunities for young children to experience relationships that are positive and respectful.

Governments should form sustainable partnerships with the institutions of civil society to introduce peace education in early childhood services and to develop the sharing of information. They should facilitate the participation of parents in program development and planning, develop and exchange educational materials and methods, and support professional development opportunities for early childhood personnel.

The education of the child must be understood as a continuous, dynamic and permanent process that facilitates critical thinking and participatory learning. The goal of early education is the full development of the child in a culturally relevant manner. Education must also promote positive gender socialization that recognizes the vulnerability and the strengths of both sexes in different ways, with no gender bias.

Because participation in society takes place through interaction with the child’s immediate environment, adults should adopt a child-centered attitude, observing and listening to young children, respecting their dignity, and their individual needs and points of view. The environment of the home and school should be conducive to child participation from the earliest age, and children should be encouraged to express their feelings, views and ideas in numerous ways.

For a culture of peace, we should eliminate bullying from our schools, stimulate the motivation to handle conflict, the skill to do so, including the appropriate use of language and creative imagination

Children should not be treated as objects to be trained in handling conflict, but be seen as resourceful and creative subjects, less bound by limiting rules and past experience. Peaceful conflict resolution can only be achieved when parents and educators build peaceful environments together with the children in their daily lives.

This declaration is signed in Albacete, Spain, on April 22, 2007, on behalf of the experts who drafted it and appear in the list below and of the 1,200 delegates who attended the World Conference on Peace Education in Early Childhood.