Transformative peace education in a plural society through the Gus Dur School for Peace

Peace education is a pedagogical effort to realize peace. Peace education in a pluralistic society requires a transformative approach. The Gus Dur Peace School (GDSP), a non-formal youth cadre program under the Wahid Foundation, offers one such model, grounded in the thinking of KH. Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur). Gus Dur's humanist pluralism, this study argues, is not merely a local ethical tradition but a practical instantiation of Galtung's positive peace one that addresses structural and cultural violence through values education rather than conflict resolution alone. This study examines how the GDSP conceptualizes peace, implements its educational stages, and produces observable transformations in participants. Using a qualitative case study approach with interpretive analysis, data were collected through in-depth interviews, participant observation, and document analysis involving senior Wahid Foundation staff, GDSP facilitators, participants, and alumni. Findings indicate that the GDSP operates through nine core values ​​derived from Gus Dur's thinking, including humanity, justice, equality, and liberation, which are realized through a structured series of selection, training, social project implementation, evaluation, and co-living activities. Alumni reported concrete changes: one alumnus described a shift from passive awareness to actively building a tolerant youth community in his hometown; Others noted that the GDSP's gender equality material fundamentally changed their understanding of women's roles in public life. These outcomes align with a three-dimensional typology of peace education cognitive, affective, and active operating as an integrated cycle rather than separate stages. GDSP demonstrates that locally grounded, values-based peace education can function as a vehicle for genuine social transformation a finding that speaks not only to this program but to ongoing debates about whether non-formal, culturally embedded peace education models can offer alternatives to the Western-centric frameworks that dominate the field.