Building Peace Schools Through Learning Organizations in Post-Conflict Areas: a Psychosocial Perspective from...

This article investigates how peace-minded schools can function as learning organizations conducive to psychosocial recovery and sustainable peacebuilding in post-conflict societies. Using the case of Sukma Bangsa School from Aceh-Indonesia, this study investigates how five disciplines of a learning organization: mental models, shared vision, personal mastery and systems thinking are integrated in an educational setting for trauma recovery and community rebuilding. Using a qualitative research design incorporating purposively selected interviews (administrators, teachers, students, community members), document analyses and participant observations the study investigates how a trauma-informed, culturally grounded and community-engaged approach supports emotional recovery identity reconstruction collective resiliency. Each field is examined in `psychosocial' terms and it is argued that the more reflective practitioners, inclusive curricula and participatory decision-making mechanisms of each sector are contributing to longer term peacebuilding. Results indicate that by applying the learning-organization model to post-conflict conditions schools can move outside of traditional instruction toward a shared relational space for healing and renewal. This understanding of the experience of Sukma Bangsa School has practical implications for educators, policymakers and peace-building practitioners concerned with relationally based approaches to developing education alongside emotional and social justice in divided communities.