University as an Ethical Space
peace Pedagogies and the Construction of Critical Citizenship Agents
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24310/cpe.1.2.2026.22970Keywords:
Peace pedagogies, Higher education, University ethics, Critical citizenship, Culture of peaceAbstract
This study aims to analyze three specific and relevant aspects of the impact of the program Sembradores de Paz (Peace Sowers), implemented at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL), Mexico, and replicated in other higher education institutions in the country, at the University of Murcia in Spain, and in public secondary schools in Nuevo León. The purpose is to examine how critical and restorative pedagogies contribute to the formation of peace agents and critical citizenship within the university context. A mixed-methods, experimental, and explanatory design was employed, integrating a qualitative approach through focus groups conducted before and after the course to explore students’ expectations and perceptions, and a quantitative approach through the application of a pre-test and post-test structured around categories related to perception, peacebuilding strategies, and skills as peace agents. The findings reveal a significant shift in perceptions of peace and conflict. Initially, most students understood peace as the absence of conflict and conflict as a negative phenomenon; after the intervention, peace was redefined as a chosen behavioral style, while conflict was reframed as an opportunity for learning and growth. Students’ reflections further confirmed the usefulness of the course, highlighting the need to strengthen dynamism, mediation practices, and active participation across all modules, the university can be consolidated as an ethical and transformative space, where peace is internalized as a daily practice and projected toward the construction of more just and inclusive societies.
References
Barreto-Mantilla, Y. M., Cuenca-Camacho, F. E., Díaz-Caldas, M. P., & Cruz-Díaz, J. A. (2024). Palabras de paz: un ejercicio de diseño participativo que promueve la educación para la paz en la escuela. Educación y Ciudad, 1-20.
Cabello-Tijerina, P. A., & Vázquez Gutiérrez, R. L. (2018). Cultura y Educación para la Paz. Una perspectiva transversal. México: Tiran lo blanch.
Cabello-Tijerina, P. A., & Vázquez-Gutiérrez, R. L. (2024). Nodos de paz: Propuesta para operacionalizar la investigación para la paz. México: Tirant lo Blanch. Paz, Seguridad y Defensa.
Erazmo Cruz, C., & López Noreña, G. (2024). Pedagogías Críticas y Trasmodernidad Dusseliana. Una Revisión Bibliográfica en Busca de Encuentros. Ciencia y Educación, 59-73.
Gutiérrez Díaz, A., Saenger Pedrero, C. B., & Lugo Villaseñor, E. (2023). Cultura de Paz y Formación Integral en la Universidad: La Mirada de los Docentes Bajo el Enfoque de las Capacidades. EDETANIA, 137-170.
Hans Hagelsieb, F. (2025). Integrando la ética en la formación universitaria: un imperativo contemporáneo. Revista Iberoamericana para la Investigación y el Desarrollo Educativo, 15(30), 1-19. doi:https://doi.org/10.23913/ride.v15i30.2337
Izaguirre-Sotomayor, M. H. (2025). Ética en la educación superior: Un análisis de principios y prácticas en la gestión, docencia y sociedad. Agora, 30-36.
Martínez Quinteros, A. S. (2025). Pedagogía crítica y transformadora de la realidad social y educativa de los estudiantes de tercer nivel. INVECOM. Estudios transdisciplinarios en comunicación y sociedad, 1-12.
Ochoa Rocha, J. M. (2021). La transversalidad de la cultura de paz en la educación superior como eje principal para la formación integral de profesionistas. Eirene. Estudios de Paz y Conflictos, 93-112.
Rodríguez Ramos, J., & Ramos Soto, A. L. (2023). Inclusión y derechos humanos en la educación superior. Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, 632-646.
Vázquez-Gutiérrez, R. L. (2019). Transversalidad práctica de la educación para la paz. En P. A. Cabello-Tijerina, & R. L. Vázquez-Gutiérrez, Investigación para la paz: teorías, prácticas y nuevos enfoques (págs. 50-63). Valencia: Tirant lo blanch. Paz, Seguridad y Defensa.
Downloads
Published
Dimensions
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Reyna Lizeth Vazquez Gutierrez, Paris Alejandro Cabello Tijerina
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
All contents published in Contrapuntos en Educación are protected under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. All about this license is available in the following link: <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0>
Users can copy, use, redistribute, share and exhibit publicly as long as:
- The original source and authorship of the material are cited (Journal, Publisher and URL of the work).
- It is not used for comercial purposes.
- The existence of the license and its especifications are mentioned.
There are two sets of authors’ rights: moral and property rights. Moral rights are perpetual prerogatives, unrenounceable, not-transferable, unalienable, imprescriptible and inembargable. According to authors’ rights legislation, Contrapuntos en Educación recognizes and respects authors moral rights, as well as the ownership of property rights, which will be transferred to University of Malaga in open access.
The property rights are referred to the benefits that are gained by the use or the dissemination of works. Contrapuntos en Educación is published in an open access form and it is exclusively licenced by any means for doing or authorising distribution, dissemination, reproduction, , adaptation, translation or arrangement of works.
Authors are responsable for obtaining the necessary permission to use copyrighted images.
