School communities in Chile inspire a regional UNESCO and UNICEF methodology for addressing violence in education

The UNESCO Regional Office in Santiago and UNICEF Chile presented the Methodological Manual: Dialogues for Learning and Transformation (Manual metodológico Diálogos para el aprendizaje y la transformación), on 14 May 2026, a new regional tool to prevent and address violence in education through the participation of students, teachers, school leadership teams, families and educational communities. The publication transforms a pilot experience developed in Chile during 2025 with communities from 11 educational institutions in the Valparaíso Region into an adaptable and replicable structure for different contexts across Latin America and the Caribbean.

The experience was led by the Local Public Education Service of Valparaíso, in collaboration with UNESCO, UNICEF and the Research Centre for Inclusive Education of the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso. It also received support from the World Congress on School Coexistence, organised by the International Observatory for School Climate and Violence Prevention (IOSCVP).

Through spaces for intergenerational dialogue, the participating communities identified forms of violence present in school life, analysed protective factors and vulnerabilities, and developed contextualised proposals to strengthen coexistence and well-being.

The manual's main contribution is that it proposes moving from general diagnoses of school coexistence to participatory processes that allow each educational community to identify which forms of violence are present, how they affect school life, and what responses can be built collectively. The methodology places the voices of children and adolescents at the centre of the process, as a condition for designing relevant, sustainable solutions linked to institutional management.

The publication proposes organising the work in three stages: an intergenerational diagnostic workshop; a collaborative workshop to design action proposals; and a public session to present proposals and institutional commitments. It also offers tools to address five areas of violence: violence exercised by teachers or other adults in the educational institution; peer violence; violence in digital environments; violence in the family environment; and community violence that affects the educational community.

The document also incorporates ethical and safeguarding standards for the safe participation of children and adolescents, including informed consent and assent, response protocols for possible rights violations, the designation of a safeguarding focal point, confidentiality, and guidance to avoid revictimisation.

"One of the manual's main contributions is that it proposes moving from isolated or general responses to processes of diagnosis and action built from within educational communities themselves. Its methodology places the voices of children, adolescents and students as a central component in understanding how violence is experienced in each context, what its effects are, and what responses may be more relevant, sustainable and consistent with the reality of each school," said Esther Kuisch Laroche, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office in Santiago.

"The manual is an invitation to engage in dialogue on how to address and prevent violence, taking into account that different forms of violence cannot be explained by isolated incidents, but by dynamics that involve students, teachers, families and school leadership teams, and that take place in community settings and digital spaces. For this reason, the methodology invites all actors in the system to collaborate in designing solutions that address school safety, socio-emotional learning and strategies for conflict resolution from a preventive and participatory approach, placing students at the centre not only as passive recipients of strategies, but as co-constructors and agents of change in their schools and learning environments," said Violet Speek-Warnery, UNICEF Chile Representative.

The publication also warns of the risk that student participation may remain merely symbolic, without concrete consequences. For this reason, it proposes that educational authorities and organising institutions assume viable and verifiable commitments, including technical support, continuity of the process and follow-up of the proposals designed by educational communities.

During the launch webinar, institutions and technical teams from Latin America and the Caribbean were invited to adapt and implement the methodology in their own contexts. The manual also includes a form to report future experiences, document lessons learned and promote regional exchange.

The initiative forms part of the Regional Action Plan for the Prevention and Addressing of Violence in Education in Latin America and the Caribbean 2025-2030 (Plan de Acción Regional para la Prevención y el Abordaje de la Violencia en la Educación en América Latina y el Caribe 2025-2030), promoted by the Member States of the region together with UNESCO and its partners, in line with the Santiago Declaration and the Bogotá Call to Action of 2024.