Non‐formal peace education founded on European youth work: A practitioner's critical reflection

Abstract

AbstractThis article is a critical self‐reflection on this author's practice of non‐formal peace education. Such critical reflexivity is considered integral to avoid pitfalls that could lead to the peace education activity inadvertently perpetuating structural violence – a phenomenon known as poststructural violence. Examples include unexamined assumptions about key concepts such as peace, inclusion, and rights. The article drives at the idea of discussing a concrete practice against a theoretical framework of critical peace education, exposing tensions between the two to lay the foundations for an improvement of my peace education practice. The discussion is informed by a positionality description of my own journey to become a peace education practitioner, a thematic analysis of the Erasmus+ programme, which is a key funding source, and a description of a concrete peace education project, all of which highlight influencing factors of my practice.