UNICEF defined peace education as the process of developing the knowledge, competences and values critical to produce behavioural changes that will help children and young people to stop conflict and violence; to resolve tensions peacefully; and to construct situations encouraging peace not only at intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intergroup but also at national and international levels (Fountain, 1999). Based on his review, Harris (2007) states that peace education is conducted through various ways: international education, human rights education, development education, environmental education and conflict resolution education (pp. 8-16). In Delors Report (1996), ‘Learning to live together, learning to live with others’ was underlined as one of the pillars critical to be integrated in education in order to develop students’ respect for diversity and mutual understanding and for peace.

The aim of the current study is three-fold: first to examine how peace related values are integrated in international curricula; next, to conceptualize the implementation of peace education in Europe; and finally, to examine the national curriculum of North Cyprus, and if necessary, make recommendations for its improvement from peace education viewpoint. This would provide invaluable insights to the development of today’s conception of peace education in the curriculum and to the efforts for promoting a peaceful and democratic future in the island.

Cyprus is considered as a post-conflict area (Quaynor, 2011). After the war in 1974, the island is parted into two as north and south, where Turkish community lives in the northern part of the island, and the Greek community in the south. Since then, inter-communal talks have been ongoing under the mandate of the Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), and the United Nations Peace-keeping Force (UNFICYP) is present in the island to ensure the continuation of peace and calm (1984, UN).

After the partition of the island, the education system of the Turkish community, has been under the Ministry of National Education of Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), that is responsible for educational policies and instruction in addition to the administration and implementation of the national curricula at primary and secondary education (Ufuk & Çağanağa, 2019).

The national core curriculum underwent two major reforms in 2005 and 2014: the former aimed to promote democratic consciousness and 21^st century citizenship qualities such as peace, social justice and human rights, in education system; and the latter was conceptualized through an interdisciplinary curriculum aiming to equip students with democratic citizenship mindset through a cross-curricular theme of ‘responsible and active citizen’ (MoNEC, 2016, p. 10).

This study - based on document analysis of curricula at international, European and national levels – covers three phases. The first phase - conceptualisation phase - focuses on the analysis of the curricula of some of the highest-ranking countries in PISA tests - Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Finland, Canada and Australia – considering the level, subject/course, principles, aims, knowledge-skills-attitudes, teaching-learning process, and evaluation dimensions. 

The second phase focuses on examining peace education in the curricula at European level. This will provide a comprehensive picture as regards how peace education is integrated in European countries.

Both the first and second phases will help to conceptualise peace education that will consequently facilitate the examination of the third phase, which focuses on the investigation of the core curriculum of North Cyprus.

This is work in progress. The preliminary findings of the first phase indicated that there is not a course entitled ‘peace education’ in the national curricula of the seven countries investigated; yet, certain peace-related concepts and elements are integrated in certain subjects within those curricula.

The study is based on document analysis using content analysis method of the qualitative research paradigm. The first phase of the study that focuses on the analysis of international curricula of seven national curricula, including the following countries: Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Finland, Canada and Australia. These countries have been chosen based on their students’ success in the international PISA test scores. The national curricula of the afore-mentioned countries were analysed through content analysis qualitatively in two steps. In the first step, the curriculum of each country was analysed separately with regard to the seven dimensions: the level, subject/course, principles, aims, knowledge-skills-attitudes, teaching and learning process, and evaluation. Next, as the second step, the qualitative data analysed were merged into a matrix in order to obtain the whole picture considering the issue under investigation. As a consequent phase of the development of conceptual understanding of peace education in curriculum context, as the second phase, content analysis will be conducted on the curricula of the countries in Europe in order to develop a conceptual understanding of peace education at European level. This will be followed by the analysis of the core curriculum of North Cyprus to further understand how peace related values are integrated in the curriculum, and subsequently to make recommendations for its improvement.

The preliminary findings of the analysis of the seven national curricula revealed that there is not a course titled ‘peace education’ in the national curricula of the countries investigated, yet certain peace-related concepts and elements are integrated in certain subjects within those curricula. A more detailed account of the preliminary findings is as follows: Subject: According to the findings, at all levels (elementary and secondary), there are certain courses in which peace-related elements are incorporated. These courses are entitled as ‘Character and Citizenship Education’, ‘Moral and Civic Education’, ‘Moral Education and Social Studies’ and ‘Moral Education’ which are integrated in the curricula of Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea, respectively. While peace-related elements are integrated in the subject titled ‘Ethics’ in Finland, they are incorporated in the courses titled ‘Social Studies’, ‘Social Sciences and Humanities’ in Canada and ‘Civic and Citizenship’, ‘Values Education’ and ‘Global Perspectives’ in Australia. Principles and Aims: Considering the principles and aims of the curricula examined, the findings exhibited that all curricula directly or indirectly aim students’ holistic development by giving emphasis on developing their cognitive, social, and affective competences. While the curriculum of Singapore (Character and Citizenship Education) highlights the development of students’ civic literary, global awareness and cross-cultural skills, Global Perspectives (Global Education) embedded within and across all learning areas, the curriculum in Australia puts emphasis on developing five learning areas: Interdependence and globalization, identity and cultural diversity, social justice and human rights, peace building and conflict resolution, sustainable futures. Further, the curriculum of Hong Kong (Moral and Civic Education) aims at developing students at the self, social, national and global levels. Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes: Examination of the seven countries indicated that though peace education is not a part of their education system, peace-related elements exist in certain courses in their national curricula.

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