EFFECTS OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION TRAINING

TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS IN A SINGLE SCHOOL DISTRICT

Heitler (1990) has reported that debilitated capacity for conflict resolution is the core of emotional distress and lack of productivity in all interpersonal relationships be these family, business, financial, political or any other forms of relationship. As Heitler (1990) puts it:

...we live in paradox, functioning simultaneously as we and as I. Neither alone is sufficient. Either without the other can jeopardize our emotional well-being. Somehow we need to negotiate competing interests in a manner that gets us what we want without sacrificing our membership in significant groups. (p.4)

In the educational profession, there is often conflict. This point has been made by Margolis (1986) in his discussion of conflicts faced by school administrators. In particular, Margolis asserts that administrators often must deal with angry parents, teachers, and superiors, and that they frequently misunderstand the etiology of anger and thus mismanage situations.

Margolis recommends conflict resolution training as a tool to help administrators better understand and successfully work with angry people. Such training, he reports must focus on the causes of anger, the negotiating process, trust building, problem solving, confrontation strategies, and deadlocks.

Conflict in the educational setting was also ob

. . .
to develop teaching students' abilities to spot issues and frame problems as a new teacher in a highly factionalized school environment. The case opens with a confrontation between a senior student, Jeanne Campbell, and school vice principal Frank Leyden. According to Jeanne, Leyden told her that young women who dressed provocatively were "asking for it" when she suggested that he sponsor a rape awareness workshop. The vice principal asserts that Jeanne had misinterpreted his remarks. Austin Nickerson, a new English teacher, is asked to witness the confrontation and must make a public statement about the meeting when Jeanne's parents consider bringing suit against Leyden. Nickerson is also witness to a host of other gender-related problems involving students, faculty, and administration at the school. Questions following the case report encourage extensive discussion regarding the high school staff's responses to gender-related problems both in the school at large and in the classroom. Two exercises ask teaching students to analyze Nickerson's reading requirements and assess his classroom techniques for possible gender bias. Plante (1987) also designed a conflict resolution training program based on actual occurrences; al
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Approximate Word count = 8937
Approximate Pages = 36 (250 words per page)

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