Student Voice That Does Something: Equipping Students to Resolve Conflicts

Years ago, when I was a middle school teacher in New York City, I saw a consistent stream of student-to-student conflicts coming in every day. Whether it was disagreements in the lunchroom, shoving in the hallway, or group chat drama, I quickly learned that peer disputes affect everyone in the building: the students who get involved, the teachers whose lessons get disrupted, the counselors whose mandated sessions get interrupted, and the administrators whose priorities get sidetracked.

During my time in the classroom, I also had the privilege of playing a role in addressing these conflicts by training peer mediators, students equipped to help their classmates work through conflict. After training over forty students and seeing over a hundred conflicts resolved, those experiences taught me a valuable lesson about something many schools are looking to develop: student voice.

The challenge with student voice

Lifting the voices of our students is a worthy pursuit, but it can be a challenging one to fulfill. While it is not hard to run a survey, gather student opinions, or even create a student council, it is far harder for those contributions to tangibly change something within the school. I found this to be particularly true at the middle school level, where the default is often to view students as the recipients of support rather than as the changemakers tasked with shaping their school's culture.

Why peer conflict is the place to start

So if you are looking to elevate student voice in a way that makes a positive impact on the school community, how do you do it? I would venture to say that peer-to-peer conflict is one of the best places to begin, for several reasons.

First, students respond differently to their peers than they do to adults. Even with a staff member who is genuinely trying to help them, students hesitate to share what is going on in a peer conflict. With other peers, however, they find themselves much more willing to open up, which paves the way for meaningful conflict resolution. Second, students receive incredible benefits from engaging in a structured conflict resolution session with their peers. This kind of setting brings CASEL's core competencies of social-emotional learning to life. Students build social awareness as they hear the perspectives of others, self-awareness as they process their own, and relationship skills as they develop win-win solutions. Third, administrators and counselors benefit tremendously when students can resolve peer-to-peer conflicts themselves, which frees them to focus on the priorities that only they can address.

What it looks like in practice

What this looks like in practice is a student-led conflict resolution program: a group of student mediators, trained to help resolve their classmates' everyday conflicts and supported by an adult coordinator. This model does not replace adult support for behavior issues, nor does it remove the need for school discipline. It does, however, empower students to use their voice to prevent conflicts from escalating and to help shape a positive culture in the school.

How to get started

Getting started does not require a new curriculum or a budget line. It takes a coordinator who is not a classroom teacher, usually a counselor, social worker, or dean, with some protected time to oversee the program. It takes a small group of students who are strong in both their academics and their character, trained to listen, to paraphrase, and to find win-win solutions. And it takes an administrator who is eager to embed the program into the school culture and to make sure appropriate conflicts are directed to it. You can start small, with a low volume of low-stakes conflicts, learn from your experiences, and grow it from there.

Giving students something that matters

Once you put something like this in place, students' perception of their school environment begins to shift. It becomes not just a place where they come to receive support from adults, but one where, over the three or four years they spend there, they can make a lasting, positive difference in the lives of others.

This prospect of giving students so much ownership can be challenging at first, but if we are serious about student voice, we have to be willing to give our students responsibility for things that matter in the school. Their own conflicts are a great place to begin. Give them the tools, and they will join you in shaping a school culture that promotes the flourishing of all its members, students and staff alike.

Samuel Rabkin is a former New York City middle school teacher who taught social-emotional learning and led peer mediation. He is a co-founder of MediatorSPARK, where he helps schools build sustainable, student-led conflict resolution programs.