Peer mediators help keep the peace in schools. They help students in dispute resolve conflicts, but do not make decisions about which student has the winning argument. Peer mediators seek to move students in dispute from blaming each other to finding a mutually satisfactory resolution to their dispute. Peer mediators help students with issues such as cheating, stealing, classroom and/or extracurricular disputes, rumor spreading/gossip, relationship problems, harassment, racial and cultural conflicts, and fighting. Problems that are more serious, for example, sexual abuse, assault, suicide, drug use, and possession of weapons require professional intervention.
Children more readily speak to their peers than to adults. Peer mediators mirror the diversity found among the students with whom they will mediate, for example, culture, gender, and race. Peer mediators learn communication skills which help them help their peers prevent and resolve conflict. Students with more serious conflicts may be helped by peer mediators to keep disputes out of the judicial system.
Peer mediation seeks to empower students, help them listen to one another, put themselves in the shoes of another student involved in the dispute, discuss the dispute, and think critically. Peer mediators help students improve self-esteem. Additionally, peer mediators help students gain communication and conflict management skills which are used both in and outside of school.
