Cambridge Positive Peace Education Hub

The Cambridge Positive Peace Education (CPPE) Hub is an ambitious new peace education research project based at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education.

Context

In 2024, global military spending reached record levels and there were more nations in conflict than at any point since World War II. In response, UNESCO has put out a call to action for world leaders and everyday educators to focus their efforts on education for peace. Peace education strongly aligns with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 on inclusive education for all and SDG 16 on peace, justice and strong institutions. As UNESCO states, “building more peaceful, just, and sustainable societies starts with education.” However, the current uptake of peace education in many national curricula is limited, and existing materials often fail to address contemporary challenges such as climate change, gender inequality, and the risks associated with emerging technologies like AI.

Positive peace education is needed

To address these challenges and gaps, the CPPE will create an innovative, research-backed, and context-adaptable global peace education framework and curriculum. This project builds upon Professor Hilary Cremin’s decades-long career as a leader in peace education including her novel Positive Peace Education Learning Objectives, her book Positive Peace in Schools with Dr Terence Bevington, and two recent positive peace education projects in Kazakhstan and the UK.

The CPPE Hub will enhance and scale-up this work by conducting a global peace education needs assessment, implementing case studies in two new countries, and developing peace educator and education leader networks. The findings from this research will be used to create the Positive Peace Education Framework and Curriculum, including a suite of resources to support peace education integration into classrooms, school districts, and national curricula. The collective work of the project will be shared on an interactive digital platform, the CPPE Digital Hub, that will serve as a lasting legacy of the project and help maximise its global reach. In addition, the results of the research will be published in leading Education and Peace Studies journals and shared at international conferences and centres of excellence.

In alignment with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and UNESCO’s call to prioritise peace in schools, this project will conduct needed research, bring key global peace education actors into dialogue and collaboration with one another, and make impactful peace education resources more accessible – leading to an array of positive impacts for learners, their communities, countries, and the planet.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse