De Vreedzame Wijk: Verwachtingen en Resultaten

Abstract

In 2008, the programme De Vreedzame Wijk (The Peaceable Neighbourhood) was launched in Utrecht as an extension of a school citizenship programme De Vreedzame School. There they learn to take responsibility for their school and the neighbourhood. It also teaches children to solve their conflicts peacefully through mediation. The aim of De Vreedzame Wijk is to encourage children to use those Vreedzame School competences into the children's in neighbourhood activities. Furthermore, the programme promotes parenting skills by familiarising parents with the pedagogical principles of the programme. This includes promoting informal mutual support among parents. Finally, the programme aims to increase professionals’ pedagogical competences and to cooperate in this neighbourhood wide policy. Worldwide there are a few programmes with goals similar to De Vreedzame Wijk. These programs did not always have democracy or citizenship as their basis. A programme took advantage of parent’s desire to want a better future for their children. That programme motivated parents to work on a personal level on all obstacles to this goal (such as addiction, judicial problems, etc.). All these programmes shared responsibility with children, but none provided children with training in competences like conflict resolution. The study found that the programme was successful in expanding De Vreedzame School programme to the neighbourhood. Children who had been taught responsibility and conflict resolution were able to deploy these skills in the children's activities of the welfare foundation. Professionals felt more competent and saw mutual cooperation and speaking 'the same language' as the main strength of the programme. Parents were not sufficiently reached at this stage of the programme’s development, but those who got to know the programme were mostly positive in their appreciation. In addition, changes in behaviour seemed to depend on the extent to which it was possible to actively involve a significant part of the target group in the programme. After the introduction of the programme, a change in behaviour occurred in children and professionals, but hardly in parents. The research shows that it is complex to realize the goals of De Vreedzame Wijk that parents’ parenting skills improve with the principles of De Vreedzame School and that they cooperate with other parents and educators in the neighbourhood. Yet achieving these goals is seen as important for the proper development of children, but also for a sound development of neighbourhoods. The future challenge of the programme is the realisation of goals for parents. A barrier seems to be the ability to connect with parents. An improvement could be that professionals join existing initiatives and communities where parents already come together. Another reinforcement may be that De Vreedzame Wijk itself becomes a more democratic organisation where parents and youth become co-owners in the programme. Result could be that De Vreedzame Wijk fits in with the priorities of the parents. Parents' priority is almost always that their children have a better life. Parents often see a good school education as the means to achieve this.