Conflict Mediation Workshop

Code:

E417

Acronym:

OMF

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Social Pedagogy

Instance: 2012/2013 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Education Sciences
Course/CS Responsible:	First degree in Educational Sciences

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
LCED	78	Official Curricular Structure	2	-	6	57	162
		Official Curricular Structure	2	-	6	57	162

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

Learning outcomes of the curricular unit:
This curricular unit aims at providing students an understanding of mediation as citizenship promoting device, institutional device and conflict resolution strategy. It also aims at identifying and discussing potentialities and limitations of mediation as an instrument for managing social change and social conflicts, especially in educational contexts. 
The expected learning outcomes of this unit are the following:
- identification of the nature of conflicts, considering the characteristics of the parties involved;
- planning and conduction of mediation process;
- understanding of basic distributive and integrative negotiation strategies;
- planning interventions in social-educational contexts.
By the end of this curricular unit, students should have acquired the following competences:
- the ability to employ basic negotiation techniques;
- the ability to act as a mediator;
- the ability to develop social-educational intervention projects grounded on mediation approaches.

Program

Syllabus:
1) types of conflict and the nature of mediation as a conflict resolution method;
2) negotiation: fundamental concepts and techniques;
3) the mediator's role: ethical and technical elements;
4) conducting a mediation process;  
5) mediation in educational contexts: experiences, competences, figures.

Demonstration of the syllabus coherence with the curricular unit’s intended learning outcomes.
As can be seen in the syllabus (and also in the teaching methodologies that seek to put that syllabus into practice), this curricular unit is strongly focused on the articulation between theory and practice. In this sense, and while it aims at the technical training of the students, it does not forget the conceptual and ethical Framework of conflict mediation.
Following a brief initial exposition and debate about the nature, typologies, and modes of conflict administration, the curricular unit is structured around a process of continuous interaction between theory and practice, in which theoretical contents are immediately put into practice by the students in negotiation and mediation activities. These simulations are always followed by large group discussions, seeking to consolidate theoretical knowledge and increase students’ self-knowledge, which is essential to conflict management.
Mediation is understood as an extension of mediation (or as an assisted negotiation) and, for that reason, exploring negotiation precedes the exploration of mediation in the syllabus.

Mandatory literature

Brown, Jennifer Gerarda; Empowering students to create and claim value through the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, Negotiation Journal, 28(1), pp. 79-91., 2012
Cunha, Pedro ; Conflito e Negociação., Porto: Asa Editores. , 2001
Fisher, Roger; Ury, William e Patton, Bruce ; Como Conduzir uma Negociação?, Porto: Edições ASA. , s/d
Lewicki, Roy. J; Saunders, David M.; Barry, Bruce; Negotiation, Boston: McGrawHill. 5ª edição., 2006
Loode, Serge ; Navigating the uncharted waters of cross-cultural conflict resolution education., Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 29(1), pp. 65-84. , 2011
Mayer, Bernard; The Dynamics of Conflict Resolution. , San Francisco: Jossey-Bass., 2000
Moore, Christopher; The Mediation Process – practical strategies for resolving conflict. , San Francisco: Jossey-Bass., 2003
Neves, Tiago ; Practice note: community mediation as social intervention., Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 26(4), 481-495., 2009
Raiffa, Howard; The Art and Science of Negotiation., Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press., 2003
Torremorell, Maria Carme ; Cultura de Mediação e Mudança Social. , Porto: Porto Editora., 2008

Teaching methods and learning activities

Teaching methodologies:.
Lecture, debate, group work, role-plays, tutorial guidance.
Evaluation:

Demonstration of the teaching methodologies coherence with the curricular unit’s intended learning outcomes.
In accordance with what is commonly established as good practice in this field (see, for example, Wheeler, Michael A. Teaching Negotiation: Ideas and Innovations. Cambridge, Mass.: Program on Negotiations at Harvard Law School, 2000), there is a continuous interplay between theory and practice and a strong emphasis on simulations and role-plays that enable students not only to understand intellectually what is being said but also to understand through lived experience what they are meant to learn. Another important dimension of the teaching methodologies is debating: this applies not only to theoretical and ethical issues, but also to the experiences of students.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Calculation formula of final grade

Critical comment of a book (to choose from a list supplied by the teacher): 25%
Final exam: 75%
Fraud situations will be dealt with in accordance to article 14 of the Student Evaluation Regulation of FPCEUP.

Examinations or Special Assignments

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Special Evaluation
Students who, in accordance with the lay, may be absent from classes will have to go through an additional evaluation procedure. Students in this situation need to get in touch with the teaching staff in the first 4 weeks of the course in order to make arrangements regarding that evaluation procedure.
Improving scores

Classification improvement

In case they wish to improve the score previously obtained, students shall do a written test, without consultation.