Every May, the U.S. Institute of Peace celebrates Teacher Appreciation Week by honoring the important role teachers play as peacebuilders. This year, Teacher Appreciation Week and its message hold special resonance, as the coronavirus pandemic has upended education not just in the U.S., but around the world. In the face of this unprecedented challenge, teachers across the country are still delivering education from their homes. USIP and alumni of the Institute’s Peace Teachers Program have joined together to thank educators for all they are doing during this pandemic and for showing why it’s so vital to continue teaching about peace during this crisis.
USIP Marks Teacher Appreciation Week 2020
Related Publications
Measuring Collective Impact: Creating a Framework for Assessing Multiple Peacebuilding Projects in Colombia
USIP implemented its Initiative to Measure Peace and Conflict (IMPACT) program first in the Central African Republic and later in Colombia, where it worked directly with peacebuilding organizations to gauge their collective impact on fostering reconciliation in the wake of the 2016 peace accord between the government and FARC rebels. Drawing on the challenges encountered and lessons learned, this report provides suggestions for how future iterations of the IMPACT approach can help policymakers, donors, and practitioners achieve greater and more cost-effective results from the peacebuilding projects they support.
Amid the Pandemic, Teaching Peace Remains Vital
USIP’s Peace Teachers Program is a year-long professional development opportunity for middle and high school educators in the United States. Launched in 2015, it offers a select group of educators the opportunity to work closely with USIP and with each other over the course of a school year as they incorporate global peacebuilding themes and skills into their classrooms. In this article, one of USIP’s current Peace Teachers, Emily Philpott, and one of the program’s alumni, Matt Cone, reflect on their experiences teaching peace amid the COVID-19 crisis.
How ‘Teleschool’ Can Revolutionize Pakistan’s Education System
For decades, children’s media has been curiously absent in Pakistan. That changed last week when state television launched a new channel, Teleschool, in the wake of school closures due to COVID-19. With the Pakistani curriculum now beaming into millions of homes nationwide, the country has a chance to re-think the content of its failed education system and how children’s television media can help fill the gap.
How to Handle Pakistan’s Corporal Punishment Problem
Shameen, a ninth grade teacher in a low-cost private school in Islamabad, frequently turns around from the whiteboard to shout at the children for slouching and making noise. “Why are you smiling? Sit properly!” she calls out to one of the students. Holding a stick wrapped in tape, she asks students to open their hands and then smacks their palms several times whenever they fail to answer her questions correctly. This is an all too common scene from an average school in Pakistan—and sometimes it can be much worse.