Conflict transformation education : a strategy to resolve schools and community violence in the Factreton area, Western Cape

Abstract

This study critically examined the subtle impact of slow violence on learners’ development in the Factreton community, Western Cape, South Africa, proposing an innovative generositybased educational framework as a conflict transformation strategy. Slow violence, characterised by its cumulative, invisible, and intergenerational effects, perpetuates structural inequalities that undermine educational equity and human development. This study examined how a pedagogy of generosity can position education as a vehicle for social transformation, equipping learners with the agency to navigate and counteract adverse conditions. Through a transformative participatory action research (TPAR) approach this study engaged a purposive sample of primary school learners in qualitative inquiry that included narrative writing, conversational interviews, and participant observation. The study reveals that slow violence is associated with food insecurity, limited educational resources, and psychosocial distress, which affect learner apathy and motivation, disruptive classroom climate, selfperception, and overall well-being. The findings verify that these conditions perpetuate intergenerational cycles of marginalisation. In response, the study proposed a generosity-based educational framework that emphasises relational support, critical dialogue, agency and humanitarian engagement within the school environment. By centring generosity as a guiding principle, the framework challenges traditional deficit-based interventions and offers a critically reflexive, agentic, and contextually relevant approach to mitigating the effects of slow violence. The study’s findings contribute to broader discussions on education’s role in conflict transformation and social justice, highlighting the need for pedagogical models that address structural violence through relational and transformative means.