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SCRAM

SCRAM stands for Student Conflict, Resolution and Mediation. It is a competition that is run by the Law Society of NSW for students in Years 9 and 10 in NSW and the ACT. At this stage it is a statewide competition but there are plans for it to become a national competition. Students prepare and perform mediation role plays before an adjudicator who is a practising lawyer( sometimes University lecturers also). They are evaluated on a series of criteria and receive a point score. The first three rounds are based on cumulative scores. The eight schools with the highest scores go into the quarter final. At this stage your scores are discounted and everyone starts on an even playing field. It becomes a knockout based on the highest scores in each of the three finals.

The schools don’t actually meet each other until the semi finals, and even then we are not allowed to watch each other’s performances because we would have access to confidential information. In some ways this is good, but in other ways it can be quite nerve wracking.

SCRAM is a combination of acting, problem solving, debating, public speaking and team work.

So, what actually happens?

Each school is sent the same hypothetical scenario about a conflict between 4 teenagers. Sometimes it is set in school, sometimes at home, sometimes they are friends, sometimes they just have to work together. We have about a week to analyse what the underlying issues for each of the parties are, and come up with some possible options.

Our task is to role play a mediation for the adjudicator. The conflict must be resolved in one hour and we will be judged on how well we act out the problem, whether we follow ALL the rules of mediation and how well the mediators lead the mediation without ever actually TELLING the combatants what to do. The mediators job is to ask the right questions so that the people in conflict actually come up with their own solutions to the problem.

We can practise and rehears all this beforehand, but then ten minutes before the mediation the combatants are given secret facts!! These secret facts MUST be revealed during the play BUT they must not come out too suddenly and this means that everyone must listen very carefully to each other so that these new pieces of information can become part of the solutions. Sometimes these facts can really throw the team because they might contradict what we had been planning to do!! This is where the thinking on your feet comes into play.

SCRAM is an excellent program for developing teamwork and listening skills, higher order problem solving, analysis and lateral thinking. What’s more student learning, as reported by both themselves and their parents, extends beyond the boundaries of the program and empowers students to look at their world and the role they play in it, quite differently.

Last Updated on 15/05/2009