"Active Citizenship is a key theme of the citizenship curriculum. Peace One Day as an organisation, the UN resolution, the resource pack and Peace Day itself are all the result of one person's idea and determination to see it become a reality. The Peace One Day Resource Pack capitalises on this and uses this, and other examples, to allow pupils to discover the opportunities for individuals and bring about social change. This concept fits in directly with the participation and responsible action section of the citizenship curriculum and could also be used to emphasise the importance of voting and participation in the democratic process. There are many lesson plans which link with other areas of the Citizenship Programmes of Study for Key Stages 3 and 4 including teaching pupils to think about topical political, spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues, problems and events. Pupils are also encouraged to contribute to group and exploratory class discussions, and take part in debates. Several of the lesson plans look at the workings of the United Nations, which could be used as a starting point to explore other democratic institutions. There is also a wealth of information and ideas to deal with the issues of bullying, learning to resolve conflict fairly, human rights and criminal justice."
Elaine Sweeney, UK Government, Department for Education & Skills, PSHE & Citizenship Team, UK
"CISV International is a global Peace Education organisation, working in over 60 countries worldwide. We have been so impressed with the Peace One Day Global Resource that we will be using the lesson plans and other resources on Conflict and Resolution in all of our Peace Education programmes next year. Our volunteers around the world are extremely excited about using the Global Resource, as it is of a high quality and can be readily adapted for use in an informal, non-classroom situation for children and young people from a diversity of national and cultural backgrounds. That the Global Resource is available in different languages helps ensure that it is truly accessible."
Kiran Hingorani, Education Officer, CISV International
"Thanks you very much for making this very important resource material available to us. The issues contained in these lessons (peace, non-violence, conflict resolution, global citizenship, intercultural cooperation etc.) are very important for us Somalis."
Ahmed Ibrahim Awale, Somali Education Promotion Network
"The education resource was extremely helpful and thought-provoking and we used it as the basis of two days of solid seminar work with our secondary students, as well as inspiration for activities our primary students were involved. It proved to be the ideal catalyst for raising awareness."
Mark Angus, Principal, The British International School, Nanxiang, Shanghai
"Here in our school district we focus on creating relevant and rigorous learning opportunities with our students. Activities are often project based and have social, academic and technology expectations. Students in 8th and 12th grade are required to complete a community based service learning project. This curriculum goes a long way in reinforcing this kind of work and connects to many aspects of our curriculum in social studies – (history, geography, economics, religion, cultures, civic responsibility etc.) and literacy"
Aron Merrill, Teacher, Williston Central School, Burlington, VT, USA
"In Port Glasgow High School we observed the UN International Day of Peace on 21 September. One of the most dramatic outcomes of the day was the massive drop in behaviour referrals that day, to just one referral, as a result of staff and pupils ‘being nice to one another."
Lorna Anderson, Teacher, Port Glasgow High School, Scotland, UK
"Viewing the DVD changed, broadened and deepened my views on Peace. Seeing my students react as they have, was a wonderful experience. These are tough kids, kids that have little to support their growth. They do not live in a peaceful world. But this material touched them, gave them courage to speak their minds and has changed their attitude for the better…I honestly found this material to be the best I have encountered in my years as a teacher."
Debora Ghoreyeb, Teacher, Capital High School, Santa Fe, NM, USA
"Peace One Day…allows 21st-century children to scrutinise specific issues of peace and war and of peace and justice in open debate, without limiting their study merely to theories of pro or anti-war."
Terence Copley, TES Teacher, UK
"Teachers here have been asking after it [USA Resource]. Their excitement is pretty thrilling, and makes spreading the word enjoyable. I’ll make sure it gets to the education undergraduate and graduate students here, too. I suspect it will spread like wildfire, to be honest."
Stefanie Kendall, PhD Student, Michigan State University, MI, USA
"One lad at school (and bearing in mind these children are from an Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties school, all with violent tendencies) told me instead of getting angry with his Dad, which is what he usually does, he now takes himself away and meditates! These kinds of breakthroughs are achieved through the hard work of initiatives like yours. It really does work."
James Cootes, Teacher, Mount Tamar School, UK
"Thank you Jeremy for making us one of your stops in New Hampshire. The kids are still talking about Peace One Day. Paul and I have already registered on the education site and downloaded the resource. It looks terrific. We are starting advisories next year and plan to use some of the lessons in the advisories starting the first day of school to get the students psyched for September 21st. We are sharing the website with the entire staff as well as those we know outside of the school."
Tricia Taylor, teacher at Stevens High School, Claremont, NH, USA
"You see war, gang crimes and murders on the television all the time. I think Peace Day would mean less bullying and it would cut crime because the day would raise awareness. Now if I see anyone being bullied I would want to go over and stop it."
Ayman Khokhar, aged 13, UK
"My hope is that all schools across the US will begin to use these lessons to promote POD. Even if we can start with the month of September – doing one lesson a day until Sept. 21st – that would be a great start."
Christyn Pope, Teacher, Chula Vista Community Charter School, San Diego, CA, USA
