Which concept is most closely linked to peace education?

Peace education is the area of pedagogy that builds in learners the knowledge, attitudes and skills needed to prevent conflict, to settle disputes without harm, and to live together with empathy and justice. Its defining method is dialogue: learners are taught to express their own needs and feelings and to hear those of others without aggression, blame or coercion.

Applying this to the given choices

Non-violent communication is Marshall Rosenberg's four-step dialogue model - observation, feeling, need, request - through which a person voices a grievance and asks for change without blame or threat. This is precisely the dialogue competence that peace education sets out to develop, which is why UNESCO's peace-education curriculum guidance lists teaching non-violent communication among its core practices.

How the other choices differ

• Physical competition organises learners into contests decided by winning against an opponent; it is developed through games and athletics in physical education, where the measures are speed, strength and stamina.

• Strict discipline secures classroom order through externally imposed rules and sanctions; it is a classroom-management stance in which compliance follows from the teacher's authority and the consequences attached to breaking a rule.

• Technical innovation is the creation and adoption of new tools, devices and processes; in schooling it appears as ICT integration and design-and-technology work, judged by the usefulness of the tool produced.

Hence the concept most closely linked to peace education is non-violent communication.