Education in the culture of peace, pre-mediation stage

Introduction. Russia has become one of the first countries who declared formation of the culture of peace also as its national priority. Unfortunately, culture of peace is not a part of mass consciousness yet, and people united in one interdependent world have not learnt peaceful coexistence. Education in the Culture of Peace is a new subject of the curriculum of educational sciences faculty at University of Granada (Spain). In 2018-2019 academic year it was suggested to introduce an innovative educational project aiming to create the space for practices of culture of peace and provide the students with empirical tools for further building of epistemological basis for the conception of the peace considered in three dimensions: social, internal and Gaia. The purpose of the paper is to inform the reader about theoretical fundamentals of the subject “Education in the Culture of Peace” as the space for interaction prior to mediation. Materials, Results and Discussion. The work with the students was carried out via the problem learning method. A complex assessment of seminars was made, the diary of peace as the tool of continuous assessment and the report with final assessment data were employed. The work over the project increased the students’ motivation to theoretical and practical development of the basis for education in the culture of peace, their knowledge in interdisciplinary instruments for practice of the culture of peace, they showed themselves as active, reflexive, prone to elementary research activity, gained the experience in emotional education which can be applied in their further teaching practice. Conclusions. Participation in seminars of democratic, emotional and transpersonal education increased the students’ attention and motivation; the students developed competencies of creative approach to the conflict based on the knowledge, skills and abilities in the culture of peace.