Don’t shy away from talking to students about global conflict

The last time the world was at peace was for a few months in 1954 between the end of military conflicts in East Asia and the start of war in Algeria. There have been wars raging somewhere in the world ever since, with all the resulting misery. Whether close or distant, global conflict has consequences for students and staff, and no educator can avoid them.

We live in a time of intensification and normalisation of violent conflicts around the world. The members of our college communities will be shocked and disturbed by the scale and intensity of the violence and the surrounding threats and rhetoric. Atrocities are being committed, lives destroyed and people will have strong views about how to respond. Some will be personally affected.

It’s not surprising that some staff hesitate to engage on these issues with their students. They can be difficult to talk about and feelings can run high, particularly where people are exposed to polarising views on social media. But avoiding these issues simply allows bad actors, biased or hateful narratives, dis- and misinformation to go unchallenged.

Instead, colleges need to view this as an opportunity to reaffirm and promote college values and take up the educational challenge. Without taking sides, it is possible to advocate for equality, democracy, human rights, non-violence, mutual respect and tolerance, individual liberty and the rule of law. How best to do this needs to be thought through in each specific context. This is why we have produced new guidance for colleges to help them identify and create good materials, presentations, and approaches, and to think about how to create safe spaces for students to explore and understand these events.

Key aspects of our guidance

1. Being clear about ground rules and language
   Colleges will have existing policies on how members of the community relate to each other and these will emphasize the need for respect, consideration and sensitivity, not speaking or acting aggressively or threateningly, not using provocative or offensive language or advocating violence or law-breaking and not making assumptions about the views of others. It means not expressing or promoting racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, antisemitic or Islamophobic ideas, not sharing narratives which glorify violence or celebrate violent acts, or which might offend others or be regarded as hostile or provocative, or which stigmatise, demonise or dehumanize any group or community. To be meaningful, these values need to be explained, justified, expressed and re-affirmed in the daily practices and messaging of the college.
2. Students also need to develop their fluency in the language of conflict and war as well as international law
   Often the best way to do this is through planned, structured dialogue in a low-risk setting. Glossaries of terms used in international humanitarian law, such as those produced by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the European Parliament can be useful. Being able to engage in informed discussion will build students’ confidence to speak and their resilience against extremism and misinformation
3. Aim to be politically impartial while being informed and value driven
   Educators have a legal duty to be politically impartial. But that doesn’t mean avoiding political issues or different perspectives. We should encourage our students to learn about a range of political positions, and understand where they come from. It also doesn’t mean presenting an ‘equal and opposite’ view on everything, or giving equal weight to every viewpoint. We should aim for informed criticality, with the educator helping students draw on the full range of evidence in a ‘fair and dispassionate’ way.
   Being objective is compatible with advocating for fundamental values and human rights. In teaching about a conflict, it’s not biased to make the case for peaceful conflict resolution and abiding by international law and conventions, and the case against genocide, war crimes, collective punishment, the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure. That can be combined with presenting different political perspectives and interpretations.
4. Be prepared to challenge inaccurate claims and extremism
   Students have access to a lot of misinformation and harmful narratives online. Staff need to be ready to challenge unsubstantiated theories and conspiracies. This creates opportunities to model critical thinking and fact-checking techniques.

While there’s no substitute for thinking these things through for yourself, there is plenty of support available for both staff and students. We’ve published guidance for staff and signposted some of the most useful resources. There are also helpful college case studies drawn from across the country. And we routinely share good practice at our Equity Exchange meetings, free to all AoC members.

This work is not always easy. But if colleges are to be anchor institutions in their communities, they have to address the concerns raised within those communities and create places of safety, mutual care and respect for all, as well as of learning, discussion and debate. It’s precisely when violence and conflict put us under strain that we most need to educate about its causes and consequences. The ongoing escalation of violent global conflict is just another reminder of why understanding, dialogue and empathy are needed more than ever.