Authors: Aizat Arystanbek, Nuraiym Seitova, Lynne Kaye Parmenter, Gulbagira Toleu

DOI: 10.62670/2308-7668.2025.52.2.005

Source: Issue: vol. 52 No. 2: 15 June 2025

Publisher: PE "Center of Excellence"

Document type: Research article

Abstract

This article examines how teachers in rural schools designed and led Positive Peace Education (PPE) Action Research projects in their schools and the transformative impact of their work in addressing direct, structural and cultural violence. The findings of our study show that rural teachers have a strong capability and capacity to identify local issues and inequities and address them in a context-sensitive way. In their Action Research projects, teachers shifted from punitive to more relational approaches, challenged structural practices such as student labelling, and questioned instances of cultural violence in their schools.
Supported by the research team, they did this by relying on their initiative, strengths, relationships, and values rather than following any external instructions or requirements to implement national reform.
Throughout this article, we argue that Positive Peace Education facilitates teacher agency, as it enables teachers to recognize and address the violence that is normalized in everyday life. The article demonstrates how PPE can serve as a low-cost, supportive, context-sensitive approach to promoting wellbeing, empathy, values, equity, and citizenship, especially in rural contexts where material and human resources may be limited, but relational capital and community cohesion are often strong.

Key words: positive peace, teacher agency, rural schools, inequality in education, Action Research

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