SCm-courses on bullying
Since the publications of my first book on tackling bullying in Swedish (Pikas, Anatol 1975) I have given courses for teachers, school psychologists, counselors and parents in tackling bullying. 
After one or two days' role playing treatment of school bullying the participants of the course are asked to evaluate the SCm. Most of them write spontaneously: "The idea of Shared Concern can be used for more than just dealing with bullying." This comment is the best reward I know because I do not start by explaining the general philosophy of the Shared Concern method, I just give the participants a rather technical know-how.

The basics of Dewey's  doctrine is confirmed with satisfaction:

The insight that emerges from doing gives the best learning.

During the last years I also have led courses for teachers in native language training peer mediators. 

My recent interest is devoted to a university course for administrators about bullying amongst adults: Mediation of conflicts and bullying at the place of work. It was first given as a one month full time course at the Department of Education at Uppsala University in Spring 2000. I will give it only once again in Autumn 2000 with some younger colleagues attending it with the intention to give something similar when I will accomplish some commitments abroad.

Usually, a university student easily gets lost in the abundant literature on conflict resolution. His original idea of making the real world a better place to live in ends too often up as just another dissertation about the social aspects on mediation. A student who in the beginning aims at making altruistic contribution becomes one of the learned persons whose number exceeds those who practice professional mediation in the field.

The analytical part of my course was based on the question: What psychological driving force can a mediator trigger off and what is the best technique for that? (What makes a good resolve "tick"?) The emotional-experience-part and know-how was provided in role plays. The course followed these steps:

 1. Gathering the students' own ideas of conflict resolution
At our first meeting I asked the students to write a one-page essay about their observations of a conflict and their proposals of its solution. They were told to emphasize: only own ideas or possibly ideas borrowed from others that they could stand for! No quotations or names from literature!

 2. Summarizing good insights and practices already existing in the participants
I read the essays of the students with attention and presented to the whole class of each  individual contribution a summary of 4-8 lines. We asked: Had these any common structure? And if we found this: Which means could lead to its application? My experience was that the students have plausible goals but they disclose a lack of know-how in going from sounds to things.

 3. What is supposed to "make it tick" in some favored methods in conflict resolution? It is impossible in our culture with its abundant flow of information to maintain that a certain selection of literature is the best to disclose the sources of constructivness in conflict resolution or transformation. Still, the leader of a course needs to have his/her own vision to make a selection. My selection of literature on my mediation course follows an educational idea presenting the first popular approaches whose weaknesses are apparent and ending with those whose shortcomings reveal challenges of greater dignity.
 

4. Role-plays with expanding task difficulties
We begin the role-plays on mediation within an area where the results are easily achieved and where general remedial elements in conflict resolution are simple to discover: SCm dialogue with the individual members of a group suspected of bullying.

The area of dealing with group bullying is easy because the group is simpler than any of its members; the individual talks carried by a kind attitude reveal hidden fears of the bullies for being attacked by the other group members; many have guilt feelings of being many against one; the mediator needs not to dig into the personal background of the bullies or the victim, the topic is: What has happened and what can we do about it?

The remedial element, which becomes one of the ingredients for education for conflict resolution, occurs at the discovery of the mechanism of demonizing the other side in conflict. Everyone knows already the moral sentence: "Don't be prejudiced!" but nevertheless, we break against this when we hear the words "bully" and "bully group". These words itself trigger our readiness for fear, contempt, and attack.

The SCm emphasizes the difference between the concept and the concrete persons suspected of taking part in group bullying. SCm does not want to change the concept of bullying, it may designate all kinds of evil qualities. On the other hand, the individuals can be either evil or innocent or anything in between and we can be open for all these variants. It is important to keep in mind that our expectations contribute to elicit their behavior.
Here is the neutral but constructive approach of a mediator conveyed in the education of mediators. If you become a partisan and start bullying the bullies your involvement may be considered OK by your friends but you are no longer a mediator.

The SCm dialogue in role-plays with the parties in so called "common conflicts" is trained after solving the group bullying cases. because the background of the participants is more complex. This is a challenge for the judgement of the mediators to decide how far to listen to the explanations of the parties on the credentials and when to present their own mediating proposition.

5. The students present a draft of how to solve the conflict described in their first essays
As you remember, the course started by asking the students to write about their conflict observations and ideas of solution. Four weeks later, at the end of the course, the students are asked to go back to their old stories. They have to deal with the general question what makes it tick in mediation and the specific:  "How could I have mediated in that conflict if I had known then what I know now?".

When discussing the contributions, also self-critical questions are put. The main theme is: "How to improve the SCm?"