Student training is best conducted in four sessions over a two-week period. The training sessions last two hours at the elementary level and three hours at the secondary level. Once student mediators complete their training, faculty then take part during the program's sixth phase. This three-hour introduction to mediation concepts and skills gives faculty members the opportunity to learn about mediation and to observe what their students have already learned. Newly trained student mediators help supervise the faculty role plays during this training session.
Most teachers are surprised and impressed to see what their students know about mediation.
Additional goals of the faculty training are to obtain appropriate referrals from the faculty for the mediation program and to create an awareness that mediation concepts and techniques can be taught by classroom teachers as part of the regular school curriculum. Many schools are now using their team of trained student mediators to teach mediation skills to all students in the school, a seventh phase of the program. With support and assistance of the faculty, sessions emphasizing 'being your own mediator' are conducted during class time. In addition to teaching problem-solving concepts to others, student mediators reinforce the skills and concepts they have learned in their initial training. CRU's mediation model is comprehensive since it provides a core group of intensively trained faculty and students and ultimately reaches the entire school population to educate and inform them about mediation as a dispute resolution tool.