The aily application of the manual of coexistence and its relation to educational policy

Abstract

Abstract In El Salvador, the manual of coexistence was introduced in 2007 as part of an international initiative to promote educa- tion from the human rights approach. In 2018, 92.66% of public schools already had a MC (MINED, 2018, p. 14), which, according to MINED, should be applied as a resource to build a culture of peace. Its function is key in guiding schools in conflict prevention and resolution through formative strategies. However, scholarship in the field of educational policy reveal how schools in their daily lives uses the MC from a punitive approach that is not linked to the peace approach promoted by the Ministry of Education. However, in the 13 years of existence, little is known about the application of MC in the daily life of schools. Given this, this research seeks to understand the disconnection between the peace approach of the promoted by the education policy and the daily application of MC in public schools. On the one hand, the education policy establishes that the MC should be formative, promote values and creative responses to conflicts; on the other hand, schools implement the MC from a punitive approach. Although the education policy requires schools to develop a MC with a formative approach, there are no concrete guidelines on how these formative strategies can be developed from the immediate context of each institution. As a result, schools build their protocols based on what has worked for them before, with the goal of protecting the institutional image and the work of teachers. This research presents qualitative evidence on the implementation of MC, linking the day-to-day experiences of public schools with education policy. The results show that the pressures generated by different social groups have led schools to develop their own rules on applying MC, aimed at maintaining control of behaviour within the institution and coping with these pressures.

ECA Estudios Centroamericanos, Vol. 77, No. 771, 2022: 67-80.