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The 'partial' mediator: balancing ideology and the reality
When justifying their interventions, most mediators describe themselves as being ‘impartial’. Indeed, this attribute is considered to be vital to the effective practice of mediation. Yet, there does not appear to be a shared understanding of what the term means nor why it is deemed essential. With reference to the accounts of 43 experienced Australian mediators, and to the presenter’s own experience, this paper will describe the situations which appear to challenge this elusive quality. These challenges may arise not only from the mediator’s own biases, but also from the ideology and implementation of the practice itself. Through integrating this research with the current literature, the presenter will explore how impartiality may be treated as a competency rather than as an attribute, and will identify the skills and strategies which might support this competency. |
Dr Pat Marshall
Dr Patricia Marshall MA Dip Ed Dip HR PhD is an experienced educator and mediator, having taught at secondary and tertiary levels over many years. Since 1995, her consultancy has offered mediation, facilitation and ADR training services to government departments, private businesses, and not-for-profit organisations.
For 12 years, she has lectured in the Masters subject, ‘Managing Conflict in Educational Settings’ and in other subjects dealing with interpersonal and group processes offered by the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne.
She is accredited with LEADR as an advanced mediation practitioner, and gazetted by the Department of Justice Victoria to work as a sessional mediator with the Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria.
Her PhD thesis on stress and coping among mediators has been published.
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