Section outline

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    Introduction

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    EUPeace is the European University for Peace, Justice, and Inclusive Societies. It is only too obvious that these values are fragile and heavily contested in Europe and all over the world. Our mission is to help future generations of citizens and policy-makers and provide them with the skills, knowledge, and experience to cultivate Peace, Justice, and Inclusive Societies. In order to achieve this, EUPeace focuses on a fruitful societal dialogue, reflecting the third mission of universities to engage with and contribute to society. By offering flexible and elective Soft Skill micro-courses on a wide range of topics, from critical thinking and intercultural awareness to problem-solving and mediation, EUPeace invests in capacities that transcend disciplinary boundaries. These Soft Skill courses for students, staff, and beyond, are designed to strengthen the competences needed for inclusive, ethical, and peace-oriented community engagement.

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    UNIT 0. Orientation and Baseline Check

    This short opening section introduces the course, its three soft skills and how the three hours are spent, and closes with an eight-item baseline self-check that records what you already think about conflict before the lectures start changing it.

    After completing this section, students will be able to:

    • Describe the scope, structure and workload of the course, and distinguish what it sets out to teach from what it deliberately leaves to other courses
    • Name the three soft skills the course develops, which are critical conflict awareness, reflexive positionality and ethical communication awareness, and recognise them as the thread running through the four units
    • Identify their own starting assumptions about conflict, power and neutrality, so that they can notice where the course challenges them
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    Unit 1. Conflict and Power in Everyday Contexts

    This section replaces the most common account of conflict, that it is a clash between personalities, with one that reads conflict as a situation organised by power.

    By the end of it you will be able to

    • identify how power, hierarchy and inequality shape a conflict,
    • distinguish its interpersonal, institutional and structural levels,
    • apply three questions to any situation: who set its terms, who carries the cost of disagreement, and what is being treated as normal.

    The section has three parts: a fifteen-minute video lecture, a ten-minute reading on hierarchy, norms and institutional authority, and a twenty-minute individual task in which you apply the three questions to one scenario. Allow forty-five minutes in total. The task is typed into a text box in Moodle and needs no preparation.

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    Unit 2. Communication, Voice and Exclusion

    This section examines communication as one of the places where a conflict is produced and decided, rather than as the neutral channel through which it is expressed.

    By the end of it, you will be able to:

    • recognise the mechanisms by which an exchange escalates from an issue to a position to a judgement about a person, 
    • separate being able to speak from being heard and from being believed, and 
    • read silence as something that has to be interpreted rather than counted as consent.

    The section has three parts: a twenty-minute video lecture, a fifteen-minute mapping exercise using a template you download, and a fifteen-minute annotation of a short email exchange. Allow fifty minutes in total. The annotation is one of the two pieces of work an instructor reads and responds to in writing.

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    Unit 3. Positionality and Responsibility

    This section turns the analytical tools around and applies them to you.

    By the end of it you will be able to:

    • describe your own position in a conflict, including the authority you hold and the risks you are not exposed to,
    • distinguish procedural impartiality from substantive neutrality, and
    • state a responsibility that is proportionate to your position rather than to the size of the problem.

    The section has three parts: a fifteen-minute video lecture, a fifteen-minute private checklist, and a written note of eighty to a hundred words. Allow forty-five minutes in total. The checklist is private reflection and is not marked. The note is the second of the two pieces of work an instructor reads and replies to.

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    Unit 4. Ethical Awareness in Conflict Situations

    This final section is about options, and about choosing between them responsibly.

    By the end of it you will be able to

    • name six courses of action available in a conflict, including deliberate non-action, and
    • apply five questions to any of them, of which the first and most important is whose risk changes and whether that person chose it.

    The section has three parts: a ten-minute video lecture, a ten-minute scenario decision check, and a closing reflection of one sentence. Allow twenty-five minutes. There is also a one-page checklist to download and keep, which compresses the whole course onto something you can look at before a difficult meeting.

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    Course conclusion

    In this final section, you are invited to reflect on the key knowledge and skills acquired throughout the course, revisiting the main learning outcomes and how they contribute to effective community engagement. You can consult your performance and progress via the Moodle gradebook, where all results from quizzes and activities are compiled. Once you have successfully completed all compulsory components, you will be able to download your attendance certificate directly from this section. To continue your learning journey, you are encouraged to explore further readings and additional resources provided, as well as to enrol in other courses from the EUPeace soft skills offer. You may also consider engaging with broader EUPeace initiatives, such as the European Track, the Virtual Exchange and Engagement Programmes (VEEPs), or the teacher training courses, with links provided to the relevant sections of the EUPeace website for easy access.