Language in Use 247-248

One crucial use for language in a democracy is to provide the medium through which major differences of opinion over a basic issue can be resolved through negotiation. The aim of this unit is to show a class, through their participation in a negotiation of their own devising, both the value and the limitations of the process. The hope is that the understanding so gained will result in a tolerance for procedures without which a democracy cannot function.

[1] Ask the class to choose an issue which divides them strongly and which lends itself to a negotiating situation. Let the class divide into two opposing groups. Each group should appoint a few of their number as representatives who will negotiate with the other side. It is necessary that one of these groups assume the role of the authority concerned. The rest of the session should be devoted to each group briefing its representatives for the negotiations to follow. Before the close they should appoint one member of the negotiating team as a leader. The subject of the negotiation should be realistic, should engage the class's feelings strongly and should provide the basis for a genuine disagreement. Giving examples is difficult as suitable issues are likely to be very much a matter of time and place. The following were topical in 1970:
(a) students demanding better pay and conditions for domestic staff
(b) pupils demanding freedom to choose their own games activities
(c) workers demanding abolition of separate facilities for staff
(d) low streams demanding equal treatment with examination streams
(e) students demanding a say in the planning of their work programmes.

[2] In this session, the two teams should conduct their negotiations. The rest of the class should observe the course that they take and be ready to comment on it. Although put down as one session, the proceedings may easily run to two or even three, depending upon the skill and degree of involvement shown by the class.  Towards the end, the teacher should ask two members of the class to approach the leaders of the team as though for a television news flash. Their request for some comment on the course of negotiations should come as a surprise to the leaders. Points for the class to watch out for include:
(a) the control over temper exercised by both sides
(b) the degree to which different members of the two teams have specific parts to play, such as preventing certain kinds of     information from coming out or asking awkward questions
(c) the way in which the representatives of the 'authority' present their reasons for saying 'no' initially and how they     subsequently modify them
(d) where any 'breakdown' comes and what aspects of the issue lead rapidly to this point
(e) what aspects of the issue most readily lead to acrimony and a loss of rational control over the responses of the two     teams. Are these the same for both sides of the table?

[3] For this session, the class need a collection of press reports about any major current public negotiation. Circulate the material and ask the class to consider the reports in the light of what they have observed over the previous sessions. In particular, they should consider such points as:
(a) what pressures bear upon public negotiations
(b) what happens when negotiation ceases to be possible
(c) what kind of common ground is necessary for negotiation to have any real chance of success
(d) what terms are used to report successive stages in the negotiations.

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