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A group of children give their views when asked by their teacher to consider conflict and how to deal with it. They recall incidents of friction they have experienced. They also explore the role of a peer mediator. A peer mediator is someone who can see both sides of an argument and helps others to come to a solution themselves. Role-play helps the children solve disagreements. The youngsters think they can perhaps understand children’s problems better than adults.

Ask students to consider whether they agree with the children in this clip – that sometimes other children are able to better understand their problems than adults. Students could then brainstorm some of the most common causes of conflict in their school playground. With a list compiled, students could explore how a peer mediator could tackle each of these.

They could role-play the situations and show the role that the peer mediator could play. Students could be supported in developing strategies to deal with these conflicts. Where possible, students could organise their own peer mediator team who could be stationed in the playground during playtimes. They could help resolve conflicts as they occur, but should also understand when an adult is required. Peer mediators could rotate to give everyone in the class a chance to take on this role. At the end of the year students could prepare peer mediator training for the next class.