Mediation

What is mediation?

Mediation is the seventh of the nine basic Youth Crime Watch components. As typically practiced in schools, Peer Mediation is a process by which a couple of trained student mediators listen to other students (whom we'll call "disputants") who would otherwise have received a disciplinary/punitive referral and help the disputants create their own solutions to their conflict.

Mediators don't provide the disputants with answers. They don't tell anyone what to do, or force anyone to apologize. They certainly don't punish. They don't report back to the teacher or the principal. They just carry out the process and complete some simple, confidential report forms for the mediation coordinator.

How mediation helps

Mediation is a voluntary alternative to traditionally punitive consequences. We use it only when the offense is serious enough that, if ignored, it would seem about to create a referral, but it hasn't yet crossed that line. The intent of mediation rather than punishment is that disputants not only lose less class time, but also that they learn that they can handle most of the typical interpersonal problems on their own -- without having to involve adults, and without getting themselves in bigger trouble. Most disputants will come up with workable settlements. That doesn't mean perfect: It means that the disputants felt that the process was fair and reasonable, and that the solutions work for them.

Schools usuing mediation can realize a significant decrease in disciplinary referrals -- as much as 70-80%. Students can avoid punishment for relatively small problems. More positively, it helps them realize that they really can do something significant about problems they have with other people. Teachers and administrators can spend more time teaching their lessons or dealing with other more pressing issues. Making a suitable referral for mediation takes up less time than what they'd normally do to address it in the classroom. The mediation itself generally brings students away from the process less likely to repeat their offense.

Key steps

• Form a core group for the project. Make sure that everyone understands the nature and purpose of mediation, get buy-in, and assign responsibilities.
• Determine criteria for mediators.
• Recruit mediators.
• Get parental approval for student participation (as mediators and/or as disputants).
• Determine logistics: whether your program will operate mainly on a classroom, team, or schoolwide basis (or some combination); whether to provide mediation on-call or by scheduled hours (or some combination); what is and is not suitable for mediation; policies and procedures for students being referred to mediation; mediation locations.
• Train the mediators.
• Actively publicize the program.
• As you start the program, provide early feedback and debriefing for mediators.
• Provide ongoing training to keep skills fresh (especially if mediators serve only once or twice every few weeks).
• Keep records of objective, non-confidential data (e.g., how many mediations were conducted, how many were completed successfully).
• Evaluate your success.

Related materials

Conflict Resolution and Mediation Manual $14.95