“We must remember even if there will always be people looking to cause division and inflict violence, many will still choose peace and compassion at any cost, even their own lives.” This strong conclusion by pupils from Hungary on combating division and violence through peace and compassion ends one of the tours that make it possible to digitally experience places of special significance for peace and conflict around the globe. The map, which can be explored online, is one of the results of the Erasmus+ project “Schools joining up for communities of Peace” (SchoolCoPe), which ended at the end of August 2022 and was led by the global network of Protestant schools GPENreformation. In this project, pupils and teachers from six countries came together to exchange ideas about peace in their respective countries and all around the world. These reflections on the issues of peace and conflict are also reflected in the digital tours that have now been completed, which include a tour of Christchurch Cathedral in Dublin, of a Maltese centre for refugees in Hungary and of a boarding school in Michelbach in Germany. The pupils of the participating Protestant schools from Ireland, Germany, Slovakia and Hungary chose these places themselves and designed the tours.
On the so-called “Edumap” thus created, other Christian schools or other groups can now engage with the topic of peace in an innovative way. Either by exploring the tours and digitally travelling to places of peace and conflict in other regions and countries of the world, or by developing such a tour themselves for a place of their choice.
For the latter, teachers can benefit from a handbook that was jointly designed and developed by the pupils, teachers and experts involved in the project. This e-book is available as an online version and for download on the GPENreformation website. The e-book consists of a main chapter with instructions on how to create a digital tour and three supplementary content chapters on the topics of peace education, religion and worldviews, and digitalisation. Teachers can use this handbook for self-learning and training, but it also contains materials and learning activities that are suitable for direct use in the classroom. In all chapters, the topics can be explored through different media such as videos, audio input or text material. Furthermore, the manual is available in several languages (English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Slovak, Hungarian). Thus, this project can also be implemented in a simple way together with a partner school abroad – just like in the original project “Schools joining up for communities of Peace”. In current times of war and crisis, these encounters are more precious than ever.