Content Analysis of Peace Education Themes in English Textbooks from Elementary Curriculum in Punjab

Abstract

Peace education is the transformation of behaviors, skills, and attitudes; this is why it is necessary to give it to those students who are in a phase of transformation such as the elementary level. This study is based on qualitative research in which deductive content analysis was done through coding text to trace the extent of peace themes demonstration in English textbooks of Punjab. For this purpose, thematic model of peace education curriculum was adapted which was proposed and presented in “Learning the way of peace –A teacher guide to peace education” comprising ten themes given by UNESCO and the expected characteristics of the personality from these themes. Next, for triangulation, an interview followed by thematic analysis was conducted to confirm the expected characteristics of the personality from these themes to yield a comprehensive and intricate explanation of content analysis. The sample included English textbooks of 6th, 7th and 8th grades at the elementary level. All these books were taught in the Public Schools of Punjab, Pakistan. The content analysis revealed that the English textbooks published by Punjab Textbook Board were aligned with the themes of peace education which are essential for inculcating peace in students. But some themes of the thematic model were found more frequent in content analysis of textbooks, while the others were less frequent. However, among the less focused themes was theme 3 “ discover inner peace” which was common among the three grades. Whereas theme 9 “building peace in the community” was least focused in 6 and 7 grades English textbooks. Consequently, less focused themes require more inclusion in the content of English Textbook of grades 6, 7, and 8 in Punjab.