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From Conflict to Recovery: Busan Holds Forum on Achievements and Future Directions of its School Violence Prevention and Response System

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The Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced that it successfully held the “Forum on Achievements and Future Directions of Busan’s School Violence Prevention and Response System” on June 24 at the Yangjeong Youth Training Center.

This forum aimed to share with citizens the outcomes and future vision of the “Busan Model for Zero School Violence” pilot project, which was jointly conducted by the city and the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education through the Busan School Violence Prevention and Restorative Mediation Center from 2022 to 2024.

The forum, attended by over 200 citizens including parents, featured discussions on the roles of the city and the education office in building a restorative community, reflections from participating teachers and parents, and institutional improvement measures.

The “Busan Model for Zero School Violence” pilot project encourages students to develop the ability and opportunity to resolve conflicts on their own by acting as peer mediators* when conflicts arise among students. The initiative has had a positive effect on improving awareness among both students and teachers.

* Peer mediators are students who help their peers in conflict understand each other and express their thoughts sincerely, playing a role in facilitating dialogue and reconciliation.

As a result of the pilot project, students showed improved moral attitudes and heightened awareness of school violence through education on nonviolent communication and peer mediation.

Teachers demonstrated:

• ●A deeper understanding of “restorative life education,” which focuses on relationship restoration rather than punishment in conflict situations

• ●Increased competence in classroom management and greater professional confidence and responsibility in building trust and resolving conflicts with students

In addition, the forum emphasized several key future directions:

• ●Development of content based on real-life school cases

• ●Implementation of tailored programs at each level

• ●Establishment of a training system for peer mediators

• ●Establishment of a training system for expert instructors

• ●Workshops for parental education

• ●Institutional and cultural foundations to support administrative and legal reforms

To expand the impact of the pilot project, the Busan Metropolitan City and the Office of Education will broaden the scope of participating schools from five to fifteen starting this year and continue to promote specialized initiatives through the Busan School Violence Prevention and Restorative Mediation Center until 2026. They plan to work closely with the local community to build a restorative response system to address school violence.

Park Seol-yeon, Director General of the Women and Family Affairs Bureau, stated, “The Busan Metropolitan City views school violence as an issue that must be addressed collectively by the entire community. We are implementing various policies and programs to this end, and we hope this forum will serve as a meaningful step toward making Busan a safer place for youth.”