VIOLENCE IN SCHOOL · Autor: STEVAN VOJNOVIĆ, učenik IV godine Gimnazije Zaječar Mentor: ANITA MIKIĆ, profesor engleskog jezika, Gimnazija Zaječar ABSTRACT Violence in school

Regionalni centar za talente Bor , 3.oktobar 71, 19210 Bor , www.talentibor.com , [email protected]

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VIOLENCE IN SCHOOL

-Student safety-

Author: STEVAN VOJNOVIĆ , IV grade Gymnasium student, Zajecar

Mentor: ANITA MIKIĆ, professor of English language, Gymnasium Zajecar

NASILJE U ŠKOLI

-Bezbednost učenika-

Autor: STEVAN VOJNOVIĆ, učenik IV godine Gimnazije Zaječar

Mentor: ANITA MIKIĆ, profesor engleskog jezika, Gimnazija Zaječar

Centar za talente Bor



VIOLENCE IN SCHOOL -Student safety-

Author: STEVAN VOJNOVIĆ , IV grade Gymnasium student, Zajecar Mentor: ANITA MIKIĆ, professor of English language, Gymnasium Zajecar

NASILJE U ŠKOLI -Bezbednost učenika-

Autor: STEVAN VOJNOVIĆ, učenik IV godine Gimnazije Zaječar Mentor: ANITA MIKIĆ, profesor engleskog jezika, Gimnazija Zaječar

ABSTRACT

Violence in school is a problem that is present in the whole world. Violence in school violates the safety of a child and can severely jeopardize their normal psychophysical development. School teachers and parents can help in violence prevention in schools. The goal of this written work is to examine how many schools are a safe place in relation to: sense of safety in students; less secure places in school; period of time when is the sense of safety lowered; standpoints on forms of violence present in school and standpoints and opinions about school as a safe/unsafe environment. Work methodology: The research was done in elementary school “Djura Jaksich” in Zajecar in a form of opinion poll for students, teachers and children’s parents. (number of students from second to seventh grade was 158; students’ parents number was 130; and 46 teachers). Opinion poll was in a form of closed and open type questions for all of the examinee categories. Significance of this written work on both theoretical and practical field is to point out the current security situation of students in schools and how can it be improved through proposed measures and student’s activity in the school environment. Keywords: violence, school, safety of children, parents, teachers.

APSTRAKT Nasilje u školi je problem prisutan u celom svetu. Nasilje u školi narušava sigurnost deteta i može ozbiljno ugroziti njegov normalan psihofizički razvoj. Nastavnici škole i roditelji mogu pomoći u sprečavanju i zaustavljanju nasilja u školama. Cilj rada je da se ispita koliko je škola bezbedno mesto u odnosu na: osečaj sigurnosti učenika; na manje sigurna mesta u školi; na vreme dana kada je smanjen osećaj sigurnosti;stavove o obliku nasilja prisutnog u školi i stavova i mišljenja o školi kao bezbednom/nebezbednom okruženju. Metodologija rada: Istraživanje je obavljeno u Osnovnoj školi ,,Đura Jakšić,, u Zaječaru putem anketnog upitnika za učenike,nastavnike zaposlene u školi i roditelje učenika.( broj učenika od II do VIII razreda 158 ; roditelja učenika 130 ; i nastavnika škole 46 ). Korišćen je upitnik koji sadrži pitanja otvorenog tipa i pitanja zatvorenog tipa za sve kategorije ispitanika. Značaj rada i na teorijskom i praktičnom planu je u tome da ukaže na postojeće stanje bezbednosti učenika u školi i unapredi kroz predložene mere i aktivnosti bezbednosti dece u školskom okruženju. Ključne reči: nasilje, škola,bezbednost dece,roditelji,nastavnici



INTRODUCTION ,,Violence against children is a general problem which is apparent in all of the societies, cultures, and regions of the world. Millions of children are victims of violence daily. Violence against a child represents a serious violation of child's rights. Violence causes suffering in a child, severely endangers their development, their well-being, even their life, and consequences are hard and long,, (National strategy for violence prevention and protection of children from violence )

The right for protection from any form of violence presents a basic right of every child which is provided in Convention on child’s rights and other United Nations’ documents, Europe council and other international organizations which are accepted by the state of Serbia as a member of those organizations.Violence among children and young people, and within the educational institutions in the region, presents a global phenomenon and is a subject of concern to all educational systems throughout the world. However, the adverse social and economic circumstances and related crises in families, have additionally exposed children to violence in the Republic of Serbia. Existing data indicates the increase of family, especially peer violence among children and young people in Serbia.

Educational institutions, and other systems that work with children and young people, have a task to lower the effects of this kind of condition with their professional activities. On the other hand, the range of impact of educational policy through the institutions of the system is relatively limited due to many difficulties which system is facing against: educational institutions aren’t available to children at all times, tolerance towards violence has increased, interest towards education is lowered, intercultural tolerance isn’t developed enough, discrimination and segregation is almost always denied in the educational system. The sources of difficulties also come from insufficiently developed inclusive education policies, low rates of education in the population, but also from severe poverty in some regions and social groups.

According to the Law on Elementary Education (article number 3) realization of the educational work in accordance with the objectives and tasks, is accomplished by development of tolerance, making the trust stronger, keeping and taking care of the friendship, prevention of conduct that violates the right to diversity, respecting children’s rights and other. Threats to the other, themselves and property, creating negative relationships and lack of a secure environment in an institution or a school, has direct negative consequences on students, teachers, parents and community as a whole. Hence the need to constantly worry about the safety and security in educational institutions is a priority.

Violence research in institutions which is shown in National strategy for prevention and protection of children from violence (www.savetzapravadeteta.org), shows the following :

- Existence of violence and widespread violence, especially violent communication which easily leads to escalation of violence,



- Peer violence consists of different forms of violence (from physical violence to electronic violence also known as cyberbullyng), and it becomes harsher and more brutal by the day,

- Children and young people often experience peer violence as a much bigger problem than adults,

- Violence is present in all age groups and among all of the participants in the process of education, also in institutions and families,

- Existing methods, techniques, resources and mechanisms which are used to eliminate violence in educational institutions aren’t, usually, applied or they aren’t efficient enough,

- Children and young people lost their trust in adults and institutions, they don’t believe they will be protected when they’re a violence victim, so when violence occurs it is almost never reported, it is poorly recorded and students often hide it,

- There aren’t any clear indicators to monitor violence in educational institutions, there aren’t any established instruments to properly record violence occurrence, no mechanisms of prevention and intervention, there isn’t enough coverage at all levels of jurisdiction and no trends are followed,

- Children and young people don’t participate in designing the prevention and intervention programs, and this can also be one of the reasons why administered programs for violence reduction aren’t effective enough.

Prevalence of violence The first major initiative to examine violence in schools was created in 1970’s in Scandinavian countries and it was provoked by tragic cases of student suicides. Norwegian ministry has conducted extensive research whose goal was to implement intervention programs and the research was headed by Dan Olveus which included 130 000 students aged 8 to 16 years from 715 different schools from around the Norway (Olweus,1993). During the 1980’s and 1990’s school violence is recognized as a major problem in a number of European and non-European countries, and there have been massive researches and numerous intervention programs were constructed (Smith & Brain,2000). In Olweus’ study it is estimated that about 15% of students from first to ninth grade in Scandinavian schools were involved in the interaction of perpetrator-victim: 7,6% were victims, 5,6% were bullies and 1,6% were both victims and bullies (Olweus,1993). In the national research in the USA, in about 16 000 students from sixth to tenth grade, the study shown that about 30% percent of students were involved in repeated violence: 13% as bullies, 10,6% as victims and 6% as both victims and bullies (Nansel and sar., 2001). The review of research in Austria (Atria and Spiel, 2003) showed that the number of students involved in any form of violence goes from 16% and 34%, number of victims from 3% to 16% and number of those who are both victims and bullies goes from 8% to 25%. The extensive research in Serbia which included 600 students aged 11-18 years from 12 primary schools and 12 secondary schools, students were asked: “Have you experienced violence from any of the children in school (in other question: outside of school)…?” and then eight forms of violence were listed. The most common forms of violence in school were insults and student ridiculing (36% of students have experienced it), then beating threats (21,3%), dispossession and destruction of things (9,5%). A significant finding was that: “school, not only it wasn’t safe environment for children in terms of exposure to violence from peers, it appeared that students



are even more exposed to some forms of violence in school than outside.” (Gasich-Pavisich,1998) Recent research conducted through questionnaires to 26 628 students from third to eighth grade in 50 elementary schools throughout the Serbia during spring in 2006 showed that in the period of three months 65,3% of the students, judging by their statements, have experiences some form of violence (depending on the school it ranged from 48% to 80%). If we analyzed the cases of repeated violence, then 20,7% of students could be classified as victims, 3,8% as bullies and 3,6% as both bullies and victims. To adult violence 35,7% of students have complained, and 42% of students witnessed students’ verbal aggression towards teachers. The most common forms of peer violence were insults (45,6%) and machinations (32.6%). Boys were slightly more declared as bullies than girls and were slightly more exposed to violence from peers and adults. Older students were more likely to be violent and they complained to adult violence more often while the age differences in exposure to violence were minimal. Violence in educational institutions includes failures and omissions of adults (employees of the institution, parents and guardians, appropriate services), in relation to children, which prevents a healthy development of the child. It manifests in a form of inadequate care and physical, medical, emotional and educational neglect of a child.

CASE STUDIES AND OBJECTIVES

The subject of this study is to examine the existing situation in terms of safety and security of students as well as their statements and opinions about school as a safe place and problems which are present. The research was conducted in elementary school “Djura Jaksich” in Zajecar through a survey questionnaire for students, teachers and students’ parents. (student number from second to eighth grade was 158; students’ parents 130; and there were 46 teachers) The aim of this study was to examine if the school is a safe place in relation to: sense of safety in students; less safe places in school; time of the day when the sense of safety is lowered; views on the present form of violence at school and attitudes and opinions about the school as a safe/ unsafe environment. Type of research and its importance By its nature, research has an explorative character with the aim of getting as many different data as possible and providing better insight into the problem itself. The importance of this written work in the theoretical and practical plan is to show the current security situation of students in schools and to improve it through the proposed security measures and activities of children in the school environment.

RESEARCH METHODS

The study used a questionnaire (for students, parents and teachers) which had closed type questions and open type questions for all categories of respondents referring to the following variables:

a) School safety b) School space (safe and less safe places) c) Time of the day when students’ safety is threatened d) Opinions about problems in school



e) Measures and activities to improve student safety at school Method of processing the data Data obtained in this study were processed through analysis of respondents' answers, in other words through analysis of response distribution to each question. Sample The research was done in elementary school “Djura Jaksic” in Zajechar during February 2010 on a sample of 158 students, 130 parents and 46 teachers.

ANALYSIS AND THE INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS

As already stated, the study included 158 students from second to eighth grade , 130 parents and 46 teachers employed in the elementary school of “Djura Jaksich” in Zajechar. All categories of respondents responded to closed type questions and open type questions which refer to: safety in school; school space; time of the day when students’ safety is threatened; opinions about problems in school which refer to violence and students’ safety; measures and activities to improve student safety at school. Safety at school When asked: “How safe do you feel at this school?” students answered: very safe 18,95%; mostly safe 41,67%; somewhat safe 24,36%; not so safe 10,90% and unsafe 4,49%. Considering the answers given most students feel safe and secure, while a small number of students feel unsafe at this school. Parents, when asked: ” What do you think, do most of the students of this school feel safe?” they answered: very safe 7,69%; mostly safe 50,77%; somewhat safe 32,31%; not very safe 6,92% and unsafe 2,31%. Parents' responses indicate that most of them believe that the students of this school feel safe, while a smaller number of parents believe that most students feel unsafe at this school. Teachers and school employees, when asked: “What do you think, do most students feel safe at this school?” answered: very safe 0.0%; mostly safe 43,48%; somewhat safe 39,13%; not very safe 17,39% and unsafe 0.0%. Based on the answers given, most of the teachers consider school a safe place for most of the students. (chart number 1) Chart 1. Student safety at school Grafikon 1. Sigurnost učenika u školi

When it comes to areas where students feel "less than safe" in school the results showed that most of the respondents (students) said that the area behind the school is where their safety is at



the highest risk 29,07%; then comes the school yard 15,4%; area in front of the school 10,40%; empty classroom 10,40%; parking lot 8,80%; toilet 9,07%; school hall 7,20%; school staircase 6,67% and teacher's office 2,93% of the students. It is important to emphasize that in the research I obtained data for the other two categories of respondents (parents and teachers): - that 22,16% of parents considers school yard as the place where their children feel "less than safe"; then 26,76% - area behind the school; 20,00% - area around the school and 10,27% area in front of the school. - that 25,21% of the teachers considers area behind the school where their students feel "less than safe"; then 23,53% - school yard and 18,94% - area around the school. (Chart number 2) This data is important for planning for preventive measures and activities in the meaning of a secure environment and to increase students' sense of security in schools, especially because all categories of respondents (students, parents and teachers) in this research said that the area behind the school, school yard, area around the school and area in front of the school are places where students feel less safe. Chart 2. School and students’ safety Grafikon 2. Škola i sigurnost učenika

The data from the survey in terms of "during the day at school, at any place, when is the sense of safety of students reduced" for all categories of respondents show that in the afternoon after classes (afternoon shift) is the time when students feel the least safe and feel that their safety is threatened. (53,54% of the students; 61,69% of the parents; 56,58% of the teachers). Also, the data indicate that the time between two shifts (15,35% of the students; 12,44% of the parents; 15,79% if the teachers), is the time when the sense of safety is significantly lowered. (Chart number 3) Chart 3. Time of day when the school students feel that their sense of security is lowered Grafikon 3. Vreme dana kada je u školi smanjen osećaj sigurnosti učenika



Data obtained from the survey from all categories of the respondents, which are related to the time of day at school when the safety of students is decreased as well as information on areas of the school where students feel less than safe are very important for planning of preventive (improvement of existing policies and activities) activities in the meaning of a secure environment especially in area behind school, school yard, area in front of the school in the time of between two shifts, the afternoons after classes and the time of large break. In addition to the data obtained in the survey related to the safety of pupils at the school for all categories of respondents, I wanted to find out what problems are in their opinion present in school, and how severe is the problem itself: somewhat severe, somewhat isn't a big problem and it isn't a problem at all. Table 1. Attitudes about the problem representation at school Tabela 1. Stavovi o zastupljenosti problema u školi

STUDENTS PARENTS TEACHERS

Average rating

Standard deviation

Average grade

Standard deviation

Average rating

Standard deviation

Theft of personal items 1.8 1.00 2.0 0.99 2.2 0.95 Stealing school property 2.0 1.05 2.1 1.02 2.2 1.04 Vandalism of school property

1.7

.91

1.5

.78

1.6

0.81

Bullying 1.6 .98 1.7 0.86 1.6 0.79 Fights 1.7 .77 1.6 0.81 1.5 0.69 Weapon carrying 2.0 1.30 2.3 1.32 2.8 1.34 Consummation of alcohol 1.9 1.13 2.2 1.26 2.6 1.26 Consummation of drugs 1.9 1.28 2.1 1.31 2.6 1.33 Disrespect among students

2.0

0.87

1.8

0.79

1.7

0.81

Disrespect of students by teachers

2.2

1.18

2.3

1.15

3.0

1.17

Disrespect of students by teachers

2.1

1.10

1.9

0.94

2.1

0.98

Corrupt teachers 2.4 1.28 2.7 1.26 3.4 1.11 Student protection 2.3 1.14 2.3 1.04 3.0 1.05 indifference to the safety by teachers in school

2.1

1.26

2.3

1.17

2.8

1.08

uncontrolled visitor arrivals in the school yard

1.9

1.00

1.8

0.95

2.0

0.93



From table number 1 (statistical data processing - average scores and standard deviations) and based on the percentage analysis of given responses (severe problem - 1; somewhat severe problem - 2; somewhat not severe problem - 3; isn't a problem at all - 4) we can see that a severe problem and the somewhat severe problem for students presents the following: bullying; fights; vandalism of school property; theft of personal stuff; alcohol consummation; drug consummation; uncontrolled visitor arrivals in the school yard/school building; disrespect among pupils. With the same statistical methods of processing the data obtained from parents we can see that for parents severe and somewhat severe problem presents the following: vandalism of school property; fights; bullying; disrespect among pupils; uncontrolled visitor arrivals in the school yard/school building; disrespect of students by teachers. As for teachers, based on data obtained and processed, we can see that for teachers severe and somewhat severe problem presents the following: fights; bullying; vandalism of school property; disrespect among students; uncontrolled visitor arrivals in the school yard/school building. The results and separating some problems as serious and the ones present in the school are of great importance in creating an action plan in suppression of bullying, fights, vandalism of school property and education of students, parents and teachers for successful conflict resolution, and development of communication, cooperation, mutual respect and tolerance. The questionnaire contained questions relating to the situation when students' safety is threatened in terms of where they would turn for help which suggests the possibility that there is a person who is responsible for the safety of students. Obtained data shows that the students would ask teacher who is in charge of the class for help (33,58%); parents (20,05%); principal (22,56%); person who's responsible for safety (16,54%); their friend (4,51%) and their friends from the neighborhood (2,76%). (Chart number 4) Based on the research results, parents believe that their children should, if their safety is threatened, ask their teacher who is in charge of the class for help (52,02%); their parents (20,20%); person who is responsible for students' safety (15,66%) and their principal(12,12%). (Chart number 4) As for teachers, obtained data shows that students should ask their teacher who is in charge of the class for help (48,61%); person who is in charge of security (27,78%); parents (15,28%) and principal (8,33%). (Chart number 4) Chart 4. Who would you go to for help, if your security was compromised in any way? Grafikon 4 . Kome bi se obratio/la u slučaju da ti je bezbednost na neki način ugrožena?



I also wanted to find out how many respondents knew the fact that Rules of Conduct exist in school. Data were obtained separately for students, parents and teachers (chart number 5; chart number 6; chart number 7). Students: Yes 47,4%; I don't know 46,8% and no 5,8%. Parents: yes 26,4%; I don't know 65,1%; no 8,5%. Teachers: yes 69,6%; I don't know 30,4% and no 0,00%. Chart 5. Rules of Conduct-Students Chart 6. Rules of Conduct-Parents Grafikon 5. Pravilnik o ponašanju-učenici Grafikon 6. Pravilnik o ponašanju-roditelji

Chart 7. Rules of Conduct-Teachers Grafikon 7. Pravilnik o ponačanju-nastavnici

Based on obtained results when asked open type question "What could be done so the students' safety in school could be improved?" the answers (from students, parents and teachers) can be grouped in relation to: - Students – dismiss from school students who cause problems; troubled students should be subjected to psychological analysis; troubled students should be punished; rules of conduct should be respected; parents should pay more attention to upbringing of children; children should be familiar with the rules of conduct and sanctions; tighten discipline and sanctions; more meetings between the teacher-parent-student; lead conversations more often with parents' troubled children; more conversations and education in the family and then more education at school, so the rules of conduct could be respected; provide specialized classes for students; educate students and introduce the advisory work; educate parents about the proper upbringing of children... Etc. - School yard and school space: schools need renovation; school yard should have a fence; set up video surveillance cameras and security; school yard should be illuminated more efficiently at night; control the arrivals of people in the school yard; prohibit the retention in the school courtyard after evening classes... Etc.



- people who would be responsible for the safety of students: establish security officials to be on duty throughout the day; provide a police officer in school; teachers who are on duty to be responsible for security in school; appoint a person to be in charge of safety at school; the policeman on duty should be always available outside the school at all times; form a team of security; police officer in school should be available the whole 24 hours; security guards should be hired; recruit and activate as many employees as possible... Etc. This data is considered to be very important to investigate the problem considering the possibility that the respondents (students, teachers and parents) have answered the questions freely and have listed their solutions and suggestions so the safety of students could be improved in school and schoolyard.

CONCLUSION

Examining the aims and objectives of the research we can formulate the final review through the generalized type of student safety priorities in the elementary school of "Djura Jaksic" in Zajecar. Based on the results obtained we can conclude that the school is mostly a safe place for students with the elimination of problems that exist which are related to bullying, fights and vandalism of school property. Area behind the school and school yard are the areas where students' safety is threatened the most and we can see numerous problems there which are related to violence and endangering the safety of students. Time of the day when students could possibly be exposed to violence and when their safety is threatened is the time in the afternoon after classes. It is really important that results obtained in this research show a high degree of congruence for all of the respondents - students, parents and teachers in terms of the safety of students, school premises where students' safety is at risk and also in terms of separation of existing problems and time of the day when these problems are visible the most. Based on the research results, the following measures and activities are suggested:

- Education of students, parents and teachers on violence as well as training on how to react

in situations that are recognized as violent; - A need to intensify cooperation and information exchanging between school, Center for

Social Work and the Ministry of Internal Affairs; - Creating a database (of student records who broke the rules of conduct concerning the

security and the safety of students); - Amending the existing Rules of behavior in school; - Setting up a video surveillance, especially in places that are considered as problematic; - Illumination of school area (especially areas in front and back of the school); - Setting up a fence around the school and the school yard; - Engagement of people who work in the agency for security and - Permanent monitoring and evaluation of results achieved in terms of safety after one year

(in the period of 4 years) These researches should be continued especially because the violence in school and safety of students is in large part determined by social conditions and the current process of transition in our society.



LITERATURE: Atria, M. & Spiel, C. (2003). The Austrian Situation: Many Initiatives, Few Evaluations. U: P. Smith (Ed.) Violence in Schools: The Response in Europe. London, Routledge Falmer. Craig, W. M. & Harel, Y. (2004). Bullying, physical fighting and victimization. U C. Currie, C. Roberts, A. Morgan, R. Smith, W. Settertobulte, O. Samdal, & V. Barnekow Rasmussen (Eds.) Young people’s health in context. Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study: international report from the 2001/2002 survey. WHO Policy Series: Health policy for children and adolescents, No. 4. Copenhagen, WHO Regional Office for Europe. Gašić-Pavišić, S. (1998). Violence against children in schools and function of educational institutions in prevention and protection of children from violence. U M. Milosavljević (Ur.) Violence against children. Beograd, Fakultet političkih nauka. Olweus, D. (1993). Bullying at school. What we know and what we can do. Oxford, Blackwell. Olweus, D. (1999). Sweden, Norway. U P. K. Smith, Y. Morita, J. Junger-Tas, D. Olweus, R. F. Catalano, P. Slee (Eds) The Nature of School Bullying: A Cross- National Perspective. London, Routledge. Ma, X., Stewin, L. L. & Mah, D. L. (2001). Bullying in school: Nature, effects, and remedies. Research Papers in Education, 16, 247-270. Nansel, T. R., Overpeck, M., Pilla, R. S., Ruan, W. J., Simons-Morton, B. & Scheidt, P. (2001). Bullying behaviors among U.S. youth – prevalence and association with psychosocial adjustment. Journal of American Medical Association, 285(16), 2094–2100.

Documents

VIOLENCE IN SCHOOL · Autor: STEVAN VOJNOVIĆ, učenik IV godine Gimnazije Zaječar Mentor: ANITA MIKIĆ, profesor engleskog jezika, Gimnazija Zaječar ABSTRACT Violence in school