February 26, 2016- Living in Washington DC, students have the world at their proverbial doorstep. Not all local students, though, have had the opportunity to engage with and learn from DC’s diverse cultural offerings and international connections. DC Public Schools (DCPS) recently committed itself to changing that, creating a Global Education team in 2014 to connect students with the wider world – both inside the classroom and out in their community.

“Our goal is to ensure that we’re preparing all students to become active, inquisitive, and involved global citizens,” DCPS Global Education Director Kate McNamee said in a recent conversation. “We want to make sure all our students can take advantage of what DC has to offer and become active members of their communities.”

As part of this effort, the Global Peacebuilding Center at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) regularly works with the DCPS Global Education team, schools, and teachers to introduce local students to the world of international conflict management and peacebuilding.

But what is the connection between global education and global peacebuilding?

McNamee explains: “When we think about what it means to be a global citizen, it really means that we want students to be thinking about their role in their local community and their global community, and a lot of that is connected to peacebuilding…It can be really easy for students to look at issues that are happening internationally and see it as “other,” something that doesn’t impact or affect our lives.” Integrating global peacebuilding concepts and skills into global education can help “students see themselves in that other.”

As a local resource with a global focus, the Global Peacebuilding Center has helped DCPS teachers and students make these connections through a variety of initiatives, programs, and resources.

The Global Peacebuilding Center has had the opportunity to work with a number of individual DCPS teachers through onsite and offsite teacher trainings.

We have provided teachers participating in DCPS’s Embassy Adoption Program  with ways to integrate global peacebuilding skills such as active listening, cooperation, and negotiation into their classrooms – all critical skills for effective cross-cultural communication. USIP also drew on its overseas work to connect the Embassy of Afghanistan with the Embassy Adoption Program, an important addition to the program’s partner embassies.

And this year, two DCPS educators-- Monica Shah at Brightwood Education Campus and Michael Martini at Alice Deal Middle School—are participating in the 2015-2016 USIP Peace Teachers program, working closely with USIP over the course of this school year to integrate international conflict management and peacebuilding into their classrooms.

Almost a dozen DCPS elementary, middle, and high schools have visited USIP or received visits by USIP staff for educational programs in the past few years. One group of students from Stoddert Elementary School were inspired by their visit to organize a campaign to save their local ice-cream shop, which was closing because of landlord issues, and to raise money through good works in their community to donate to local, national, and international charities.  

DCPS’s Global Education team also rallied behind last year’s International Day of Peace, committing to take up USIP’s Peace Day Challenge and inspiring schools and classrooms to take one action to help build peace.

Kayla Gatalica, who runs the Embassy Adoption Program for the DPCS Global Education team, affirms: “Global citizens should be able to investigate the world, recognize and respond to different perspectives, communicate ideas, and take action on issues of global significance. Keeping peace in the world and ensuring cooperation between people and nations is a task that calls on all of these global competencies, and it’s something that students can see the relevance of in their daily lives.” 

The Global Peacebuilding Center has been proud to team with DCPS in providing students and teachers with global peacebuilding education, training, and resources, and looks forward to discovering new ways to collaborate!

If you would like to explore how peacebuilding fits into global education in your classroom, school, or school district, please contact us at buildingpeace@usip.org.