14 December 2011 World Citizen Day at the Amersfoort PABO Teacher Training College, part of Hogeschool Utrecht.

On Wednesday 14December the Amersfoort PABO Teacher Training College got to know MasterPeace. We had drafted an educational day programme during which first and second year students got a quick but thorough impression of the four phases of our educational project.Sixteen trainers got to work with 300 students.The morning slot was dedicated to Phase 1. Inner Peace and Phase 2. Peace around you. In the afternoon Phase 3. Peace in the world and Phase 4. Just do it – Peacemasters & Masterpeaces were dealt with.

The first Phase is definitely the most tricky one, so the students had to leap with us head-first. I noticed that the students attached great value to having a practical link to the schools where they were doing their training, which in the first phase (Inner Peace) can prove to be difficult.After all, it is all about “yourself”. By talking and sharing we came up with tangible examples and inner peace turned into something that can be applied quite easily in classrooms.
The plenary session presented a cross-over from inner peace to peace around you.This type of peace is much more accessible for most people. Loitering youths (kids that hang around) was one of the subject in the discussions. This was a nice workshop where questions could be asked and statements made, in order to see how well you know each other. This resulted in a lively discussion between the group, my fellow trainer and me.

As we went along, the students got more and more enthusiastic and they told me this was something that was easily applicable in the classroom.

After the lunch break a documentary was shown on the rebellion in Syria, initiated by children. Afterwards, Bram – my fellow trainer who works for Critical Mass and, hence, knows a lot about conflicts – asked the students what they thought.They said that they didn’t know what to say and that that did not happen very often in their class.

When we told then about the next step – creating a masterpeace – ideas came up immediately. Within 15 minutes we decided on a lipdub and within another 15 minutes the song was selected. (I found myself humming for three consecutive days) One of the students had a camera, Bram appeared to have a steady hand and whizzkid Patrick took care of linking it all into one piece. At 4.15pm all classes gathered in the auditorium and the best masterpieces were presented. Our timelines slipped quite considerably, but everybody wanted to stay on until all masterpieces had been presented. The teachers were very enthusiastic, some masterpieces were fun, funny, creative and others were simply moving. It all gave a very special atmosphere, which is exactly what MasterPeace aims for. A number of masterpieces have been uploaded to www.peacemasters.nl/mymasterpeace.

We wish to thank Studium Generale HU for getting us in touch with the Teacher Training College.Studium Generale works independently from any specific course and brings people from the entire Hogeschool Utrecht together during special activities.For more information, in Dutch and English, please see http://www.hu.nl/OverDeHU/Studium%20Generale.aspx