About


Robyn Jacobson

Managing Conflict in Education was established by Robyn Jacobson to provide independent services for the education sector to manage conflict and resolve disputes.

Robyn Jacobson is a Conflict Management Consultant, who has extensive experience in Higher Education in senior positions on both faculty and staff: Professor, Assistant Dean, University Proctor (University Judical Affairs Officer), Academic Registrar, Director of the Law School.

Robyn lives in Canada and has worked and studied internationally. Robyn previously lived in South Africa where she was a lawyer, academic and university administrator. The years leading up to the democratic elections in South Africa were a time of great conflict in the country, especially in the universities. During this time, Robyn was on the executive of one of the largest universities and was frequently called upon to resolve disputes involving students, staff, the public, unions and service providers. From this experience in managing conflict on campuses, she recognized that educational institutions can greatly benefit from independent impartial expertise from outside the institution in order to better manage conflict and resolve disputes.

Robyn encourages those involved in conflict on campuses to understand that conflict and disputes are different and must be appropriately dealt with in order that they do not escalate with unsatisfactory outcomes developing. It is essential, especially at educational institutions, to understand that conflict must be managed and disputes must be resolved. Robyn provides services and expertise to achieve these goals.

Robyn served as the Executive Director of a private school in Toronto and in 2007 she co-authored a book, published by LexisNexis: Managing Conflict in Schools: A Practical Guide by Robyn Jacobson & Alan Rycroft.

Robyn holds the degrees of B.Com, LLB and LLM and recently completed a PhD focusing on conflict management and dispute resolution on campuses: “Managing Conflict and Resolving Disputes Involving Students on University Campuses: The Present and The Future” (PhD Dissertation, York University, 2012). Click here to view the full dissertation.

Managing Conflict in Education

  • conducts mediations, facilitations and restorative conferences and circles
  • offers courses, seminars and training in conflict management, dispute resolution and effective communication
  • provides coaching to individuals responsible for the management of conflict
  • undertakes conflict assessments and systems design to better manage conflict on campuses