Celebrating Christina’s Legacy and Contribution
20 Years of Peace Education with Christina Barruel
Written by Valentin Ruschmeyer (Intern/Interviewer)
As Head of Peace Education, Christina Barruel led the Peace Foundation’s school programmes in Aotearoa New Zealand for 20 years. In this role, she oversaw the Cool Schools Peer Mediation Programme in the primary sector and Leadership through Peer Mediation (LtPM) in the secondary sector. These programmes are designed to help school communities handle conflict in ways that strengthen relationships rather than damage them.
Christina trained as a primary school teacher and in the early 1990s, she encountered the Cool Schools programme through its founder Yvonne Duncan. She quickly realised how important safe, respectful, constructive relationships are if learning is to be maximised. When ākonga (learners) do not feel safe, their ability to learn is affected, and when kaiako (teachers) are challenged by strained relationships, their teaching also suffers. For her, peer mediation skills are essential life skills for the school community and beyond.
One of the stories that captures peer mediation’s impact is the journey of a student she calls Tom. As a young student, Tom struggled with bullying and other challenging behaviour. Later, at secondary school, he joined LtPM peer mediation training and discovered a sense of purpose in supporting others. He went on to become Outstanding Peer Mediator of the Year for two consecutive years, later studying conflict resolution at AUT and contributing to programmes for kura kaupapa. Today, he is a primary school principal promoting constructive conflict resolution.
Another moment that stayed with Christina came years later in a carpark. A truck driver noticed the Cool Schools logo on her car and asked if she was the “Cool Schools lady.” He shared that he was “still married” because of the skills he learned as a peer mediator at school. Those skills continue to shape how he listens, communicates, and understands others. Christina describes this as one of those small but meaningful reminders of the long-term impact of this mahi.
Christina reflects that this work has shaped her personally as well as professionally. She has learned to listen with empathy, reflect understanding, and use clear ground rules to support respectful conversations. She describes learning to “be my own mediator,” applying these tools in her own life and relationships.
Christina’s approach:
Collaborative Relationships Restoring Community Wellbeing (CRRCW).
At the heart of Christina’s approach is a simple idea: peace education works when people build strong connections, approach conflict in a restorative way, and support the wellbeing of the whole community.
Three key messages
- Conflict is normal: it is how we respond that makes the difference.
- Feelings and needs are connected: understanding both helps build empathy and clarity.
- Use a talking tool: structured communication creates safer, more respectful conversations.
Christina believes that when people embrace these ideas, their relationships are better supported, especially during times of conflict.
We warmly welcome Dianna Cotter to The Peace Foundation whānau
Whakanuia Te Rongo! The Peace Foundation's 50th Anniversary Celebration
The panellists (left to right): Joleen Turu, Helena Kāho, Dr William McInerney, Fahad Shehzad, and Dr Cherie Taylor-Patel.
October 2025 marked the 50th anniversary of Te Rōpū Rongomau o Aotearoa – The Peace Foundation. To celebrate, we hosted a special panel discussion, “Where on Earth is Peace?”, facilitated by award-winning educator and peace advocate Dr Cherie Taylor-Patel, and featuring Joleen Turu (Deputy Principal of Culture and Pastoral Care, Papakura Normal School), Helena Kāho (co-founder of HIVĀ, ADR lawyer and mediator), Dr William McInerney (global peace educator and researcher), and Fahad Shehzad (former Peace Foundation Youth Ambassador and leadership award recipient). Each shared how peace education is practised in their communities.
For five decades, The Peace Foundation has supported kura across Aotearoa to create safer environments by empowering kaiako and ākonga to manage minor conflict through peer mediation. Peace education and conflict resolution skills, when nurtured from an early age, help young people develop empathy, resilience and the confidence to navigate challenges constructively. These lifelong skills continue to strengthen wellbeing, leadership and peaceful relationships in schools and beyond.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to our funders and sponsors, board members, Peace Foundation staff, facilitators, and all the whānau who have supported us over the past 50 years.
Moments from The Peace Foundation’s 50th anniversary celebration.
Youth Peace Week and Youth Peace Symposium 2026: Peace and Sustainability - Rangimārie me te toitūtanga
Youth Peace Week takes place each August, coinciding with Hiroshima Day (6 August) and Nagasaki Day (9 August), reminding us of the importance of peace and the consequences of conflict. As part of this kaupapa, The Peace Foundation provides a free toolkit for schools, filled with practical and creative ideas such as community activities, art projects, and ways to promote kindness and connection across kura and communities. Once registered, schools will receive this toolkit to support their Youth Peace Week activities.
In 2026, Youth Peace Week will run from 3–9 August, bringing together kura and communities across Aotearoa to take part in activities that promote peace in meaningful and practical ways. This year’s theme “Peace and sustainability – rangimārie me te toitūtanga”, will guide both Youth Peace Week and the Youth Peace Symposium, encouraging rangatahi to explore how caring for people, communities, and the environment are all connected.
The Youth Peace Symposium will return in August 2026 as part of Youth Peace Week, providing a space for rangatahi to come together, share their ideas, and learn from one another. The symposium builds on the week’s activities, offering an opportunity to reflect, connect, and continue the conversation around rangimārie me te toitūtanga. Stay tuned for registration details.
1. Wellington Cool Schools Coordinator’s Workshop
Join us for an enriching Cool Schools Coordinator’s Two-day Workshop in Wellington, designed specifically for primary school kaiako. This workshop strengthens conflict-resolution capability and equips you with practical tools to empower your ākonga to manage their own disputes and become positive role models for their peers.
Across the two days, you will explore effective strategies to build independence, empathy, and constructive communication among tamariki — fostering a peaceful and resilient school culture.
By the end of the workshop, participants will be confident in training and supporting a team of school peer mediators and will understand how to establish a successful peer mediation service at their kura.
For more information and registration:
Click here
2. Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Cool Schools Network Meeting
Join fellow Cool Schools coordinators across Auckland to share successes, challenges, and practical ideas to strengthen peer mediation in your kura.
More information and registration:
Click here
3. Waitaha Canterbury Big Mediators’ Day Out
The Peer Mediators’ Big Day Out is for all schools participating in the Cool Schools or LtPM programme.
This FREE event is an excellent opportunity to recognise and celebrate the efforts of mediators, inspiring both experienced and new members alike.
Get ready for an exciting day filled with fun games, prizes, engaging activities, and insightful presentations!
More information and registration:
Click here
Our Special Pick for Primary School Children:
The Smeds and the Smoos
Author: Julia Donaldson
and illustrated by Alex Scheffler
ISBN 978 1407 18889 8
Alison Green Books, 2019
Famed author of Gruffolo, Julia Donaldson tackles the issue of cross-cultural intolerance. On an imaginary planet young Janet Smed befriends young Bill Snoo. Their friendship blossoms but so too does their grandparents’ disapproval. Janet is sternly told to never play with the blue Snoos, because ‘they sleep in holes, they wear strange shoes, they jump about like kangaroos.’
Likewise Bill is admonished, his grandparent telling him that red Smeds ‘have strange hair upon their heads, they sleep in funny things called beds.’
Janet and Bill resolve to run away, flying off in Grandfather Smed’s rocket. The Smed and Smoo families pursue the young lovers. However, with only one rocket left, they are forced ‘suspicious and scowling’ to go together. Thrown into close proximity and facing shared challenges, they begin to understand and help each other.
The book concludes with a delightful twist. Unsuccessful in their mission to find Janet and Bill, the blue Smoos and red Smeds return to their planet. On touch down, they discover not only a very happy Janet and Bill but a beautiful baby ‘purple from head to toe’. A quick google with take teachers to some useful teaching ideas linked to this book.
Our Top Pick for Secondary Students and Adult Readers:
The Meeting Place
Written by Vincent O’Malley
ISBN: 9781869405946
Early in February 2026, we again celebrated the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. However, recently there has been increasing political debate about the relevance of this document. Te Tiriti/The Treaty cannot be understood in isolation from the social and political context from which it emerged. Vincent O’Malley’s book, The Meeting Place, is highly regarded as a fair and objective account of early Māori and Pākehā encounters and relationships.
The Meeting Place: Māori and Pākehā Encounters, 1642 – 1840 was first published in 2012 by Auckland University Press. The revised 2025 version, published by Bridget William Books, has more detail about Te Waipounamu (South Island) encounters and early journeys across the globe by Māori. The author, Dr. Vincent O’Malley is a respected Pākehā historian. He has researched and published extensively about early Māori and Pākeha relationships and worked on the Treaty of Waitangi Tribunal.
O’Malley takes historian Richard White’s concept of ‘the middle ground’. He describes this as an early stage in the colonisation process, where survival, need and expediency force the new arrivals (in this instance Pākehā) and the native population (Māori) to negotiate, accommodate, compromise and adapt. White describes this as a place ‘in between cultures’, where neither party is the dominant power. Indeed, in the New Zealand context, early Pākehā arrivals were frequently dependent on Māori for their survival and successful engagement was of necessity.
O’Malley does not deny that violent encounters occurred. His book documents some of these, and the factors that gave rise to conflicts. However, his key point is that for the most part, Māori and Pākehā recognised advantages (and challenges) in their early encounters and somehow managed to find some common ground and mutual benefit. He groups areas of engagement into different chapters. These include trading relationships, sexual, religious and political encounters. The book also includes illustrations depicting this period, such as John Webber’s 1777 painting of Cook’s encounter with Māori in Queen Charlotte Cove (see below).
The chapter on trade is fascinating. This details how early Māori quickly recognised the needs of the new arrivals and began to supply goods and services. Goods included timber, flax, fish and agricultural produce. In turn, Māori recognised the value of the newcomers’ goods. Over time, both parties adapted their understandings and practices related to exchange, finding ‘middle ground’. By 1840, some iwi had so successfully taken on and adapted new technologies and practices that they built ships that carried their produce within New Zealand and to Australia.
The final chapter looks at the post 1840 period and the subsequent erosion of the ‘middle ground’. This, O’Malley attributes to the influx of migrants, following the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. With the shift in population balance to Pākehā advantage, the period of negotiation and a relatively balanced relationship came to an end.
Recent Comments