Children everywhere grow up in communities shaped by social tension, personal conflicts and emotional challenges. In many parts of the world, especially in areas marked by division or turmoil, young people often absorb these realistic emotional weights in their daily lives. Educators and researchers are now exploring ways to not only help children cope with difficult experiences, but also develop emotional strength and healthier ways to respond. A promising approach focuses on teaching forgiveness and empathy through specially designed school curriculum.
Professor Tali Gal from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Laiki Saban from the University of Haifa brought together researchers from around the world to work with Professor Robert Enright from the University of Wisconsin-Madison to develop a program for Israeli emotional and social learning. Emotional and social learning means helping children understand and manage emotions, build relationships, and make responsible decisions. The first results of their work were published in the journal Educational Science.
Children in the fifth grade classrooms of Arab and Jews took a specially designed set of educational programs called Forgiveness and Agape Love. Agape Love refers to unconditional care and kindness to others, even if it is difficult. These children are about ten years old and come from many different backgrounds and beliefs. The purpose is to explore how they understand forgiveness and learn to care more. Weekly classes include stories, open conversations, and creative projects like painting or writing. To understand the impact, the team gathered ideas from students and teachers and observed their classroom experiences.
The changes in the students are obvious. Many of them say the plan is fun and even life-changing. They become more open to their feelings and more thoughtful to others. Teachers see their students calmer and better resolve conflicts. One student said they used to think forgiveness of someone means weakness, but now they see it as a sign of strength. The program sparked new conversations about feelings and respect in the classroom.
Obviously, learning to understand other people’s perspectives makes a big difference. “When you consider the other person’s point of view, you may realize that they have no intention of hurting you… Looking at things from their perspective can alleviate pain and promote forgiveness.” Another student, Abir, shared that she once thought that forgiveness means surrender. Through the program, she discovered how to speak for herself and try to understand others. These changes show the depth of lessons learned to children’s way of thinking and their relevance.
Building a stronger connection between students is another success. The program helps break down walls between different groups by building friendliness, reducing tensions and encouraging students to share. The teacher noticed how much the children changed. One of the teachers, Mona, said: “The child who had difficulty in other classes I taught to collaborate with… expressed feelings through painting…a girl who never spoke, drew, drew and wrote for bullying victims.” Her observations show how these lessons can make children express themselves safer.
From the overall results, the project shows that when children are instructed to recognize unfairness, talk about their feelings and express them clearly, they feel better and connect more with others. Forgiveness is not about forgetting or pretending nothing has happened. Instead, it proves to be the option to let go of anger and find peace. Many teachers said they changed, and even one person even described how she spoke to students with more care and understanding.
Making forgiveness a part of everyday life, this model connects emotional learning with academic goals. In this case, emotional learning means helping children grow as much emotionally as intellectually. Professor Gal and Ms. Saban believe that such programs can help reduce problems such as bullying, while encouraging children to grow into more peaceful and respectful adults. In conflict and politicized societies, the skills of forgiveness and agape love are particularly important and can act as antidotes to aggression, violence and hatred.
Journal Reference
Saban L., Gal T., Xu JW, Song JY, Rapp H., Evans M., Lee D., Enright R. “Education of Forgiveness in Conflict Society: Life Experiences of Arab and Jewish Fifth Grade Children in Israel.” Educational Science, 2024; 14(12): 1300. doi:
About the Author
Professor Gal He is the Chairman of Children and Youth Rights and Academic Director of Children and Youth Rights Program at the Hebrew University School of Law and Criminology Institute in Jerusalem. She holds a PhD (Law, Australian National University, under the supervision of criminologist John Braithwaite), LLM (University of Washington Law School), and LLB (Hebrew University). Her scholarship in finance combines legal, criminology and psychosocial knowledge and involves restorative justice, child rights and therapeutic law. She is the author of Child Victims and Restorative Justice: The Right to Need (OUP, 2011), and co-editor of International Perspectives and Experienced Discoveries on Child Participation (OUP, 2015) (with Benedetta Faedi-Duramy). Before joining Hebrew University in 2022, she was a faculty member at Haifa University and has been the president of the Crime Academy since 2018. Professor Gal has published extensively in her field of expertise in journals of peer review and legal review. Tali holds an editorial role in The Frontiers of International Restoration of Justice, Youth Justice and Psychology; is a member of the founding committee of the Israel Victims Society. Prior to joining academia, Tali was legal counsel to the Israeli Children’s Council. [email protected]
educate:
School of Law (Central Laude), Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1995
Washington Law School American University (GPA 4.0), 2000
Australian National University, School of Social Sciences, PhD D (Law), 2006
Laiki Saban is an educator, group facilitator and criminologist (MA). She is a social activist who believes in the power of individuals to promote change, influence their surroundings and promote healing in openness, trust, collaboration and dialogue. She managed the mediation center on an acre way and promoted restorative justice process. She recently co-founded Maagan Meche Center, the accessibility center for restoring judicial methods.
