Section 1 Definition Context and Knowledge of School Violence

VISTA/VISTOP

School Bullying and Violence: Taking Action

Project 129352-CP-1-2006-1-DE-COMENIUS-C21

www.vistop.org

Section 1: Definition, Context and

Knowledge of School Violence

Chapter 1.1: Understanding the Definition and Context of School Violence

Rosario Ortega1, Virginia Sanchez1, Luc Van Wassenhoven2, Gie Deboutte2 and

Johan Deklerck2,1Spain 2Belgium

Chapter 1.2: What We Know About School Violence: Findings From Research and Practice

Sigrun K. Ertesvåg and Anne Sofie Samuelsen, Norway

1

VISTA/VISTOP School Bullying and Violence: Taking Action Project 129352-CP-1-2006-1-DE-COMENIUS-C21 www.vistop.org

© Cowie, H., Jennifer, D., Chankova, D., Poshtova, T., Deklerck, J., Deboutte, G., Ertesvåg, S. K., Samuelsen, A. S., O'Moore, M., Minton, S. J., Ortega, R. & Sanchez, V. (2006)

Definition, Context and

Knowledge of School

Violence

The two Chapters in this Section raise

awareness of some of the key issues regarding

school violence, an understanding of which

forms the basis of the VISTA training approach.

Definitions of school violence are problematic

with no consensus reached, as violence is

socially constructed from a range of viewpoints

with meaning varying according to the

individuals, culture and environment

concerned. This means that finding a definition

of school violence requires an awareness of

perspectives from a range of disciplines,

including psychology, sociology, criminology,

education, political science and social policy.

This multiplicity of viewpoints also includes the

notion that children do not share an adult

conceptual understanding of bullying and

violence, therefore, basing educational

practices and policies for children solely on

adult definitions of violence is counter-

productive; we need to complement adult

perspectives with those of young people.

In Chapter 1.1, we offer the opportunity to

reflect critically on a multiplicity of definitions of

violence that take into account individual

factors, interpersonal relationships and the

social context of the school and its community;

and that include both adult and child definitions

of the phenomenon. In this Chapter

participants will be able to construct a definition

of school violence that takes into account the

different types of violent behaviour within their

school setting. We also consider the particular

contexts in which violence may flourish and

those where it is prevented or reduced. We

take account of the idea that in order to

understand the complex phenomenon of school

violence, a thorough understanding of the

economic, cultural, school and family factors

that contribute to the problem is necessary.

This Chapter makes appropriate links with

current debates and dialogues on emotional

literacy, resilience, moral panics, young people

and crime, school exclusions, disruptive

behaviour and gangs.

There is a widespread popular view, fuelled by

the media and by governments, and not

necessarily supported by empirical evidence,

that violence in schools has increased. This

sense of 'moral panic' is a counter-productive

form of social control that does not address the

underlying causes of the problem. Our view is

that there is a need to disseminate the

available information on violence including, for

example, incidence and causes. In Chapter

1.2, we take account of high-quality research

findings on the nature and origins of school

violence and the impact of best practice,

innovative interventions and whole-school

policies on reducing or preventing it. This

Chapter offers participants the opportunity to

increase their knowledge and understanding of

the concept of school bullying and violence; to

identify violent behaviour and differentiate it

2



from less serious behaviour; to increase their

understanding of the characteristics of

perpetrators and victims; and to familiarise

themselves with the role of new technology in

preventing school violence.

Understanding the

Definition and Context of

School Violence

Objectives of Chapter 1.1

• To be aware of a range of

interpretations of school violence

• To be able to consider the key factors

involved in a definition of school

violence from a variety of perspectives

• To understand the social and cultural

contexts where school violence takes

place

• To interpret violent behaviour within a

complex social system

• To evaluate and integrate different

theoretical perspectives of school

violence

Facilitation skills to be

developed through this

Chapter

Knowledge and understanding of:

• current thinking about definitions of

school violence

• the relationships between social context

and school violence

• the links between school climate and

school violence

• the importance of creating a supportive

and caring school community

Personal qualities and attributes include:

• being able to adopt a critical and

reflective stance in the analysis of

complex social phenomena

• being able to reflect on others’ ideas

through open debate

• being able to integrate different

theoretical perspectives on school

violence

Pre-Chapter reading

Council of Europe. (2002). Violence in schools –

A challenge for the local community.

Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publications.

http://www.coe.int/...community.pdf Smith, P. K. (2003). Violence in schools: An

overview. In P. K. Smith (Ed.), Violence in

schools. The response in Europe(pp. 1-14).

3

http://www.coe.int/t/e/integrated_projects/violence/06_Our_publications/Violence%20in%20schools%20a%20challenge%20for%20the%20local%20community.pdf



London: RoutledgeFalmer,

Vettenburg, N. (1999). Violence in schools:

Awareness-raising, prevention, penalties.

General Report. Luxembourg: Council of Europe

Publications.

World Health Organization (WHO). (2002).

Violence - a global public health problem.

Chapter 1, pp. 3-21, World Report on Violence

and Health. Geneva: Author.

www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violen

ce/world_report/en/index.html

Summary of current

thinking and knowledge

about the definition and

context of school violence

Definitions of school violence

What is school violence? In general, the

definition can cover the following categories:

verbal, physical, sexual and psychological

violence; social exclusion; violence relating to

property; violence relating to theft; threats;

insults; rumour-spreading (Smith, Morita,

Junger-Tas, Olweus, Catalano, & Slee, 1999;

Smith, 2003). Olweus (1999, p.12) defines it as

‘aggressive behaviour where the actor or

perpetrator uses his or her own body or an

object (including a weapon) to inflict (relatively

serious) injury or discomfort upon another

individual’. Definitions which go beyond

physical harm include the one given by the

World Health Organization (WHO, 2002) which

includes threats as well as actual violence,

while Debarbieux (2003) identifies ideological

and historical influences on the ways in which a

society chooses to define the phenomenon of

violence. As he writes:

‘What we call violence is ideologically and

historically determined. Our current

concern about violence in education also

reflects our changing relationship to violence.

From being accepted, if not actually

encouraged, it has become intolerable to us in

Europe. This is not a universal phenomenon but

it is an indication of a new shared vision of

childhood. This vision oscillates between the

continuing notion of totally uncivilised children

requiring a form of orthopaedic [sic] correction

and the consequences of what in 1900 the

Swedish educationalist Ellen Key called the

century of the child, with affection preferred to

restraint, and prevention to punishment’

(Debarbieux, 2003, pp. 43-44).

In her report to the Council of Europe,

Vettenburg (1999) concluded that there was no

clear definition of school violence, which made

it difficult, amongst other things, to ascertain

whether school violence was on the increase or

to make valid comparisons between different

countries’ rates of school violence. However,

as Debarbieux (2003) points out, there is now

greater awareness of the need to accept a

multiplicity of definitions of school violence

from a range of perspectives, including those of

children and young people. This enables

4

http://www.vistop.org/ebook/www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/index.html

http://www.vistop.org/ebook/www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/world_report/en/index.html



researchers and practitioners to build up a solid

base of knowledge and to accumulate

hypotheses which can be retained or discarded

in the light of research findings as they

emerge.

The context of school violence

In order to be able to understand the complex phenomenon of school violence, a comprehensive

analysis of the economic, cultural, school and individual context in which it is generated is necessary.

The VISTA analysis adopts a bio-ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Bronfenbrenner &

Morris, 1998). (See Figure 1).

Figure 1. Bio-ecological model for understanding the prevention of school violence (adapted from

World Health Organization, 2002)

Most researchers in the field now take account

of social-cultural factors, such as race, gender

and social class in their analysis of the problem.

Risk and protective factors relating to violence

are found at each level in the model, including

the individual, the interpersonal, the school and

the wider social context. Risk factors are those

factors that render an individual more likely to

develop problems in the face of adversity; they

do not in themselves necessarily cause

difficulties. Protective factors are those factors

that act to protect an individual from

developing a problem even in the face of

adversity. It is very hard to unravel specific

causative factors since the interacting variables

are multiple but longitudinal research studies

that follow children’s development from an

early age can identify those risk and protective

factors that appear in chains of causation, so

offering an evidence base for the design of

interventions.

In order to understand why school violence

occurs, VISTA recommends an open and

flexible approach rather than a simple cause-

and-effect analysis. In the next section,

following Bronfenbrenner’s model, we explore

5



ways in which different contexts – individual,

interpersonal, school and the wider society -

can either promote or reduce the phenomenon

of school violence (Farrington, 1998).

Individual context

Researchers have studied in depth the

individual characteristics of boys and girls who

become aggressors, as well as those who

become victims. Aggressive boys and girls are

impulsive, with low self control and low

resistance to frustration (Baldry & Farrington,

2000). In addition, several studies have shown

that aggressive children display important

cognitive deficits relating to the interpretation

of social events, giving hostile attributions to

ambiguous social situations (Dodge & Frame,

1982). Recent research has also found that

differences with regard to social and cognitive

skills between girls and boys, can help us

understand the gender differences found in

children involved in violent and criminal

behaviour. Key social and cognitive skills seem

to protect girls from getting involved in these

kinds of actions, compared to boys (Bennett,

Farrington, & Huesmann, 2004).

Theory of mind explains why some children

bully their classmates (Smorti, Ortega, &

Ortega, 2002; Sutton, Smith, & Swettenham,

1999). Bullies seem to be good cognitive

strategists, able to sense the details of their

actions and, in consequence, are able to notice

others’ pain, although with limited empathy

(Menesini, Sánchez, Fonzi, Ortega, Costabile, &

Lo Feudo, 2003). With regard to victims,

studies have shown that they tend to have low

self esteem, are shy, and have difficulty in

making friends.

Interpersonal contexts

At the same time, violence must be considered

in the context of interpersonal relationships.

For example, friends can be either a protective

or a risk factor for being victimized, depending

on the quality of the friendship (Adams,

Bukowski, & Bagwell, 2005). Fundamentally,

the nature of family relationships plays a

critical role in the development of peer

relationships at school (Smith, Bowers, Binney,

& Cowie,1993). Farrington (1998) indicates

three family factors linked to the risk of

engaging in school violence:

• Absence of affection and emotional

warmth between fathers and mothers

and in general in the family group

which is apparent in the first years of

school life.

• Existence and use of physical or

psychological violence in the family

group; living in a family setting where

domestic violence is common.

• Absence of rules, guidelines and

reasonable controls, coming from

adults, about conduct, attitudes,

childhood activities.

Regarding parenting styles, Baldry and

Farrington (1998) found that boys who bully

tended to have authoritarian and punitive

parents, whereas victims tended to have

authoritarian parents with low self-esteem.

Other studies found a relationship between

6



mothers´ over-protectiveness and male

victims; for female victims, there was a

significant relationship with perceived mother

rejection (Finnegan, Hodges, & Perry, 1998)

Attachment theory suggests that early on

children develop an internal working model of

relationships which explains, for example, the

victim’s psychological defencelessness and the

perpetrator’s unjustified aggression. Studies

aimed at exploring the relationships between

bullying problems and attachment have also

found that insecure children are more likely to

be involved in bully/victim problems (Smith &

Myron-Wilson, 1998), especially for being a

victim of bullying. Attachment theory can help

to explain, for example, the high probability

that children from families where abuse occurs

(between parents as well as from parents to

children) are likely to repeat the same insecure

patterns in the relationships they have with

peers.

School context

Interpersonal relationships, grounded in the

family, are further developed at school.

Violence flourishes in institutional

environments, such as schools, in which

frequent contact among the participants can

perpetuate stereotypical roles of dominance

and submission (Ortega, 1994). Stable contexts

like schools have the potential to create

conditions that encourage positive relationships

through the process of convivencia, the action

of living with others, with “…a spirit of

solidarity, fraternity, co-operation, harmony, a

desire for mutual understanding, the desire to

get on well with others, and the resolution of

conflict through dialogue or other non-violent

means” (Ortega, del Rey, & Mora-Merchán,

2004, p. 169). It is essential to know how the

social networks that support convivencia are

established, as well as the counteracting forces

that undermine convivencia.

No school is the same as another, just as no

pupil is the same as another. Some pupils lack

motivation, or are bored at school, or resent

rules and regulations; some have difficult

family backgrounds, or may be abused or

bullied at home. An important source of

conflict between teachers and pupils involves

the system of discipline that the school

adopts.In this sense, several programmes to

combat bullying and violence in schools

emphasise the importance of discipline systems

for the containment of school violence (e.g.,

Olweus, 1999; O´Moore & Minton, 2004;

Ortega, 2003; Ortega, del Rey, Sánchez,

Ortega-Rivera, Mora-Merchán, & Genebat,

2003; Ortega & Lera, 2000; Smith, 1997)

Additionally, it is the social networks formed by

pupils and teachers, and their particular ways

of behaving towards one another, that underpin

convivencia. Conflicts are an inevitable part of

social life and schools are no exception.

Relationships amongst peers, and between

teachers and pupils are a common source of

conflict in schools. Teachers often complain

about the behaviour of their pupils while not

considering the impact that their own behaviour

may have on the school climate. However,

there is no better way to create convivencia

7



and a non-violent culture than to face up to

conflicts in an honest and problem-solving way,

whether they occur amongst the pupils or

amongst the teaching staff. Those conflicts

must be resolved in a positive way since they

provide pupils and teachers with a source of

real learning and of a chance to change.

Unresolved conflicts and unchallenged bullying

behaviour can be self-perpetuating and so

contaminate the processes of convivencia in the

school. The concept of convivencia allows us to

explain the phenomenon of school violence

within the framework of interpersonal

relationships that take place at school. At the

same time, the idea of convivencia can help us

with the prevention and reduction of school

violence by harnessing those very interpersonal

processes that are embedded in the life of the

school. If we grasp this idea, we may not need

to employ outside agencies to resolve the

problem of violence since the solution lies

within the structures and networks of the

school itself.

The wider context

Sociologists and criminologists offer a wider

perspective by charting the influence that

culture, society and politics exert on school

violence. From this point of view, school

violence is regarded as a result of social

pathology and “social vulnerability”

(Vettenburg, 1999; Walgrave, 1992) since

there are certain sectors of the population that

are particularly at risk of engaging in violence.

These particular groups “benefit less from the

positive things institutions have to offer”

(Vettenburg, 1999, p. 38) since too often they

only confront the authority exerted by society

(as represented in this case by the school) but

rarely experience the benefits that society has

to offer. They frequently have negative

experiences within the educational system (for

example, learning difficulties, suspension and

exclusion, lack of respect from staff, under-

achievement, low morale) which can result in

poor motivation, disaffection and a general

sense of hostility towards the school as a

system.

Hargreaves (2003) underlines the impact of

globalization on the educational system and on

the origins of violence. In capitalist societies,

people tend to behave in an individualistic,

competitive way which perpetuates social class

differences and highlights the situation of

disadvantaged groups. Potentially, these

cultural differences can have an impact on

levels of violence in different countries (Ortega

et al., 2003). In fact, recent surveys have

shown how communities with a strong

commitment to equality of opportunity have

lower levels of direct aggression (Bergeron &

Schneider, 2005). It is all the more important

for the education system to promote the values

of collaboration, cooperation and creativity by

actively working to develop a positive school

culture in schools.

8



Responsibilities of the

Chapter facilitators

Your tasks within this Chapter are to:

• send to all participants information

about when and where the session will

be held and details of preparatory

reading to be done

• familiarise yourself with the Chapter

text and the facilitators’ notes

• plan the session to meet the needs of

the participants

• ensure that all relevant

resources/materials are copied and/or

prepared

• lead the session and all the activities

Sequence of activities for

Chapter 1.1

This Chapter represents a one-day training of

five hours plus breaks.

Activity 1 Icebreaker: The

name game (15 minutes)

Purpose

• To get to know everyone’s names

• To begin to interact positively and

purposefully with other members of the

group

Materials

None

Procedure

One person begins by saying their name. The

person beside them then has to say the first

person’s name and their own. The third person

says the first and second person’s names and

then their own. This goes on until everyone

has said their own name and all the others

preceding them. The facilitator goes last in

order to show that taking the risk of not

remembering a name is valued and that it is all

right to make mistakes.

Debriefing

The activity does not need debriefing but the

facilitator can point out that some people found

it easier than others to remember names.

However, the memory process was also

enabled through the co-operation, helpfulness,

empathy and support of the group. An

additional benefit is often that people begin to

help others when they cannot remember the

person’s name and the process of valuing

individuals’ different strengths, so crucial to

group cohesion, begins.

9



Activity 2 Introduce your

neighbour (30 minutes)

Purpose

• To begin to feel more comfortable in

the group by interacting purposefully

with one member

• To discover your own level of skill in

questioning someone else and in talking

about yourself and in listening

• To get everyone speaking in the large

group, even those who would normally

avoid it

Materials

None

Procedure

Ask the participants to get into pairs, preferably

with someone they do not know. Ask each

person to find out some interesting or amusing

things about their partner – for example, what

they like to do, where they live, unusual places

that they have visited, whether they own a pet,

etc. The information should not be too

personal or revealing. Each participant has a

short time (3-5 minutes) to do this. Then they

must come back to the large group and each

person must introduce their partner to the

group based on the information they have

gathered.

Debriefing

Without pointing out individuals, it is worth

noting that some people seem to have listened

well and remembered the information given

them whilst others did not. If you discuss it in

the group, you will probably find that some

people took up more than their share of time

talking. This can be pointed out without

judgement by saying that one of the things you

hope each person will learn is which skills they

need to work on.

Activity 3 Defining school

violence (70 minutes)

Purpose

• To be aware of a range of

interpretations of school violence

Materials

Resource 1 Individual examples of school

violence

Resource 2 The essential characteristics of

these examples of school violence

Resource 3 Our definition

Flipchart

Procedure

First, hand out Resource 1 Individual examples

of school violence which participants complete

individually. Allow 10 minutes for the individual

10



task. Then form groups of 4 or 5 and give each

group one copy of Resource 2 The essential

characteristics of these examples of school

violence. Ask the groups to complete as a

group a summary of the essential

characteristics and the distinctive elements of

these individual examples as shown in

Resource 2. Allow 30 minutes for this task.

Bring all the small groups into the plenary and

ask a representative of each group to present

their findings. These are summarised by the

facilitator on a flipchart. Finally, in plenary, the

large group tries to formulate a possible

definition of school violence, based on the

characteristics and elements identified by the

small groups. The definition is documented by

the facilitator on Resource 3 Our definition.

Allow 30 minutes for this part of the discussion,

including the debriefing.

Debriefing

Key discussion points are noted by the

facilitator and participants are invited to

comment on the process of arriving at the

group definition (or definitions if the plenary did

not reach consensus). Perhaps some people

took up more than their share of time talking.

Perhaps some opinions were discounted. The

process of attempting to reach consensus can

be discussed without judgement by saying that

the next activity will illustrate the difficulties

that experts experience when trying to arrive at

a common definition of school violence.

Activity 4 School violence as

defined by international

experts (70 minutes)

Purpose

• To understand the definition of violence

from a range of perspectives

Materials

Resource 4 Definitions by international experts

Procedure

Ask participants to return to their small groups

and hand each group a copy of Resource 4.

Ask the groups to compare ‘Our definition’ with

the definitions of the international experts.

Allow 30 minutes for the small group

discussion. Ask participants to return to the

plenary where the facilitator notes key points

on a flipchart. Allow 40 minutes for this part of

the activity, including the debriefing. Points for

discussion could include the following

questions, adapted from Smith (2003):

1. Is violence necessarily physical?

2. Is violence necessarily against a

person?

3. Does violence actually have to be

manifested as behaviour that damages

someone or something, or is just the

threat of this sufficient?

4. Is violence still violence if it is legal?

11



5. Does violence have to be done by

somebody, or can it be done more

impersonally by a social group or an

institution?

6. Has the definition of violence changed

over time?

Debriefing

The facilitator ends the activity by pointing out

that by thinking, discussing and working with

definitions we are enabled to understand how

different opinions and perspectives arise across

cultures and over time. Not only that: the way

people look at school violence determines their

attitudes and reactions to it.

Activity 5 The context of

school violence (115

minutes)

Purpose

• To get participants to identify what they

know about the context of school

violence and to listen to the

perspectives of others

Materials

Resource 5 Case study of a violent incident

Resource 6 Types of school violence

Resource 7 Summary of case studies

Resource 8 Model of the school system

Procedure

Individual task: The facilitator gives each

person a copy of Resource 5 Case study of a

violent incident. Each person is asked to think

about and write down a specific case of school

violence that they have experienced or

observed. They are asked to describe the

protagonists, events and contexts where this

violence took place and to complete as many of

the boxes as they can. Allow 30 minutes for

this part of the activity.

Group task: Participants form small groups of

4-5 people. Each member of the group shares

the example of school violence that they have

entered into Resource 5 Case study of a violent

incident. The facilitator then gives each group

a blank copy of Resource 6 Types of school

violence and Resource 7 Summary of case

studies. Once each example has been shared,

the group task is to reach consensus about how

to complete Resources 6 and 7 collectively,

taking into consideration their individual cases.

Allow 40 minutes for this part of the activity.

Plenary: Each small group reports back to the

plenary session on their process of reaching

agreement about the content of each of the

boxes in Resources 6 and 7. The facilitator

summarises the responses from each group on

a flipchart (Resource 7 Summary of case

studies). Allow 25 minutes for this part of the

activity.

Debriefing (20 minutes)

For this part of the activity the facilitator may

find it helpful to use the theoretical content

12



described in the summary of current thinking

(individual, interpersonal, social, school

contexts). It is important to conclude with

reference to the links and influences of different

related factors, not only the simple influence of

one of them on school violence. The analysis,

using Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological model,

should be continued in the plenary session.

Finally, for the analysis of school context,

Resource 8 Model of the school system can be

used to synthesise the findings of the activity

with the theoretical points about convivencia as

described in the Summary. The facilitator can

indicate how convivencia is facilitated in schools

or how it may be inhibited.This is also an

opportunity to share commonalities and

differences in the ways in which the groups

have interpreted the task. Explore what are

the most common themes and those that are

least common. Discuss what each person will

take away with them to their own school

setting. Compare findings and discuss how

they confirm or disconfirm the VISTA model.

Key aspects of the debriefing should include the

following:

• School violence is a complex

phenomenon which requires complex

interventions.

• It is important to have a clear definition

of violence (Chapter 1.1)…

• … and an analysis of what is happening

in our schools (Section 4).

• We need to select the most relevant

and whole interventions for our schools

(see again Sections 4 and 5, for

different examples of preventative and

integrative practices)….

• … and share responsibilities inside and

outside schools (see Section 2).

• We need to provide interpersonal and

organisational support …

• … and to reflect about the schools we

want, and about the education we want

to give our students.

References

Adams, R. E., Bukowski, W. M., & Bagwell, C.

(2005). Stability of aggression during early

adolescence as moderated by reciprocated

friendship status and friend’s aggression.

International Journal of Behavioral

Development, 29, 139-145.

Baldry, A. C., & Farrington, D. P. (1998).

Parents’ influences on bullying and

victimisation. Legal and Criminological

Psychology, 3, 237-254.


Bullies and delinquents: Personal

characteristics and parental styles. Journal of

Community and Applied Social Psychology, 10,

17-31.

13




Individual risk factors for school violence. In A.

Serrano (Ed.), Acoso y violencia en la escuela

(pp. 107-133). Ariel: Centro Reino Sofia.

Bennett, S., Farrington, D. P., & Huesmann, L.

R. (2004). Explaining gender differences in

crime and violence: The importance of social

cognitive skills. Aggression and Violent

Behavior, 10, 263-288.

Bergeron, N., & Schneider, B. H. (2005).

Explaining cross-national differences in peer-

directed aggression: A quantitative synthesis.

Aggressive Behavior, 31, 116-137.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of

human development. Experiments by nature

and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University

Press.

Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (1998). The

ecology of developmental processes. In W.

Damon (Series Ed.) & R. M. Lerner (Vol. Ed.),

Handbook of child psychology: Vol.

1.Theoretical models of human development

(5th ed., pp. 993-1028). New York: John Wiley

& Son.

Debarbieux, E. (2003). School violence in

Europe – Discussion, knowledge and

uncertainty. In Council of Europe Violence in

schools – A challenge for the local community.

Luxembourg: Council of Europe Publications.

http://www.coe.int/...community.pdf

Debarbieux, E., Blaya, C., Vidal, D. (2003).

Tackling violence in schools: A report from

France. In P. K. Smith (Ed.), Violence in

schools: The response in Europe (pp. 17-32).

London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Depuydt, A., &. Deklerck, J., (1998). An ethical

and social interpretation of crime through the

concepts of “linkedness” and “integration-

disintegration”. Applications to restorative

justice. In L. Walgrave (Ed.), Restorative

justice for juveniles. Potentialities, risks and

problems (pp. 137-156). Leuven: Leuven

University Press.

Dodge, K., & Frame, C. (1982). Social cognitive

biases and deficits in aggressive boys. Child

Development, 53, 620-635.

Farrington, D. W. (1998). Individual differences

and offending. In M. Tonry & M. H. Moore

(Eds.), Youth violence (pp. 421-475). Chicago:

University of Chicago Press.

Finnegan, R. A., Hodges, E. V. E., & Perry, D.

G. (1998). Victimization by peers: Associations

with children's reports of mother-child

interaction. Journal of Personality and Social

Psychology, 75, 1076-1086.

Hargreaves, A. (2003). Teaching in the

knowledge society: Education in the age of

insecurity. New York: Teachers College Press.

Huybregts, I., Vettenburg, N., & D’Aes, M.

(2003). Tackling violence in schools: A report

14




from Belgium. In P. K. Smith (Ed.), Violence in

schools: The response in Europe(pp. 33-48).

London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Menesini, E., Sanchez, V., Fonzi, A., Ortega, R.,

Costabile, A., & Lo Feudo, G. (2003). Moral

emotions and bullying. A cross-national

comparison of differences between bullies,

victims and outsiders. Aggressive Behavior, 29,

515-530.

Olweus, D. (1999). Sweden. In P. K. Smith, Y.

Morita, J. Junger-Tas, D. Olweus, R. Catalano,

& P. Slee (Eds.), The nature of school bullying:

A cross-national perspective (pp. 2-

27).London:RoutledgeFalmer.

O'Moore, M. (n.d.). Defining violence: Towards

a pupil based definition. NoVAS RES CONNECT

Initiative. Retrieved June 14, 2006, from

http://www.comune.torino.it/novasres/newviol

encedefinition.htm

O´Moore, M., & Minton, S. (2004). Dealing with

bullying in schools: A training manual for

teachers, parents and other professionals.

London: Paul Chapman Publishing.

Ortega, R. (1994). Violencia interpersonal en

los centros educativos de enseñanza

secundaria. Un estudio sobre maltrato e

intimidación entre compañeros. Revista de

Educación, 304, 253-280.

Ortega, R. (2003). Enseñanza de Prevención de

la Violencia en las Escuelas. Informe Sobre la

Violencia en las Escuelas de Centroamérica.

Washington: BID.

Ortega, R. (2006). Convivencia: A model to

prevent violence. In A. Moreno (Ed.), La

convivencia in the classroom: Problems and

solutions (pp. 29-44). Madrid: Ministry of

Science and Education.

Ortega, R., del Rey, R., & Mora-Merchán, J. A.

(2004). SAVE model: An anti-bullying

intervention in Spain. In P. K. Smith, D. Pepler,

& K. Rigby (Eds.), Bullying in schools: How

successful can interventions be? (pp. 167-

185).Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Ortega, R., del Rey, R., Sánchez, V., Ortega-

Rivera, J., Mora-Merchán, J., & Genebat, R.

(2003). Violencia escolar en Nicaragua.

Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deportes de

Nicaragua.

Ortega, R., & Lera, M. J. (2000). The Seville

Anti-bullying in School Project. Aggressive

Behavior, 26, 113-123.

Smith, P. K. (Ed.). (2003). Violence in schools:

The response in Europe. London:

RoutledgeFalmer.

Smith, P. K. (1997). Bullying in schools: The

UK experience and the Sheffield Anti-Bullying

project. Irish Journal of Psychology, 18, 191-

201.

15

https://outlook2003.surrey.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.comune.torino.it/novasres/newviolencedefinition.htm




Smith P. K., Bowers, L., Binney, V., & Cowie, H.

(1993). Relationships of children involved in

bully/victim problems at school. In S. Duck

(Ed.), Understanding relationship processes.

Vol. 2: Learning about relationships (pp. 184-

212). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Smith, P. K., Morita, Y., Junger-Tas, J., Olweus,

D., Catalano, R., & Slee, P. (1999). The nature

of bullying. London and New York: Routledge.

Smith, P. K., & Myron-Wilson, R. (1998).

Parenting and school bullying. Clinical Child

Psychology and Psychiatry, 3, 405-417.

Smorti, A., Ortega, R., & Ortega, J. (2002). The

importance of culture for a theory of mind: A

narrative alternative. Cultura y Educación,

14(2), 147-159.

Sutton, J., Smith, P. K., & Swettenham, J.

(1999). Bullying and theory of mind: A critique

of the 'social skills deficit' view of anti-social

behaviour. Social Development, 8, 117-127.

Vettenburg, N. (1999). Violence in schools.

Awareness-raising, prevention, penalties.

General Report. Strasbourg: Council of Europe

Publications.

Walgrave, L. (1992). Délinquance systematisée

des jeunes et vulnérabilitité sociétale.

Paris/Génève: Méridiens/Médecine et Hygiène.

World Health Organization (WHO). (2002).

World Report on Violence and Health. Geneva:

Author.

Further reading and

additional materials

Books and articles

Gittins, C. (2006) (Ed.). Violence reduction in

schools – How to make a difference.

Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publications.

Websites

Council of Europe Violence in Schools – A

Challenge for the Local Community.

Luxembourg: Council of Europe Publications.

http://www.coe.int/...community.pdf

Council of Europe Responses to violence in

everyday life in a democratic society

http://www.coe.int/T/E/Integrated_Projects/vio

lence/

UK Observatory for the Promotion of Non-

Violence www.ukobservatory.com

16

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/fias/cye;jsessionid=srm60bl8husz.alice


http://www.coe.int/T/E/Integrated_Projects/violence/

http://www.coe.int/T/E/Integrated_Projects/violence/

http://www.ukobservatory.com/



Resource packs

Resource 1 Individual examples of school violence

Note down, individually, one or two situations in your school in which violence occurred.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

17



Resource 2 Group discussion of the essential characteristics

of these examples of school violence

Tell one another, in small groups, about your experiences noted in Resource 1

What are the essential characteristics? What are the distinctive elements?

ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS DISTINCTIVE ELEMENTS

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………

18



Resource 3 Our definition

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Resource 4 Definitions by international experts

DEFINITIONS OF SCHOOL VIOLENCE GROUP

COMMENTS

“Violence is defined as behaviour intended to cause injury, but it also includes threats”

(Baldry & Farrington, 2006, p. 107).

“Violence is not only an exceptional, brutal, unpredictable fact originating outside

school, but also the result of frequent banal irritating, small aggressions… Violence will

be viewed through three groups of variables: crime and offences, micro-violence and

the feeling of insecurity” (Debarbieux, Blaya, & Vidal, 2003, p. 18).

“De-linquency denotes the absence of an experienced link with the victim(ized

environment), which can be found in the etymological root of the word itself.

19



Developing, reinforcing or repairing a link of an existential quality with the environment

is therefore a key issue. Persons who are developing a feeling of linkedness with their

environment will deal with it in a different, more respectful way” (Depuydt & Deklerck,

1998, p. 137).

“Antisocial behaviour in schools refers to the full spectrum of verbal or non verbal

interactions between persons active in or around the school and involving malicious or

allegedly malicious intentions causing mental, physical or material damage or injury to

persons in or around the school and violating informal rules of behaviour” (Huybregts,

Vettenburg, & D’Aes, 2003, p. 35).

“Violence or violent behavior is aggressive behaviour where the actor or perpetrator

uses his or her own body or an object (including a weapon) to inflict (relatively serious)

injury or discomfort upon another individual” (Olweus, 1999, p.12).

“Violence is aggressive behaviour that may be physically, sexually or emotionally

abusive. The aggressive behaviour is conducted by an individual or group against

another, or others. Physically abusive behaviour, is where a child, adolescent or group

directly or indirectly ill treats, injures, or kills another or others. The aggressive

behaviour can involve pushing, shoving, shaking, punching, kicking, squeezing, burning

or any other form of physical assault on a person(s) or on property. Emotionally

abusive behaviour, is where there is verbal attacks, threats, taunts, slagging, mocking,

yelling, exclusion, and malicious rumours. Sexually abusive behaviour is where here is

sexual assault or rape” (O’Moore, n.d.).

http://www.comune.torino.it/novasres/newviolencedefinition.htm

“Interpersonal violence and bullying are an illegal way of confronting motives and needs

where one person, group or institution has a dominant role and forces others to submit

to it, being physically, socially and morally harmed” (Ortega, 2006, p. 31).

“The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself,

another person, or against a group or a community, that either results in or has a high

likelihood of resulting in injury, death or psychological harm, maldevelopment or

deprivation” (WHO, 2002, p. 5).

20




Resource 5 Case study of a violent incident

You can represent the case with a drawing or diagram if you want:

Resource 6 Types of school violence

* e.g. social exclusion

*

*

*

*

*

21



Resource 7 Summary of case studies

22



Resource 8 Model of the school system

23



What We Know About

School Violence: Findings

From Research and Practice

Objectives of Chapter 1.2

• To increase knowledge and

understanding of the concept of school

bullying and violence

• To increase knowledge of how to

identify violent behaviour and separate

it from less serious (e.g. disruptive)

behaviour

• To be familiar with knowledge about

the incidence of school bullying and

violence in Europe

• To increase knowledge of the

characteristics of perpetrators and

victims of school bullying and violence.

• To be familiar with the role of new

technology in school bullying

Facilitation skills to be

developed through this

Chapter

Knowledge and understanding of:

• up-to-date knowledge of main

characteristics of perpetrators of

school bullying and violence

• the complexity of school bullying and

violence

• the range and causes of aggressive

and challenging behaviour

• the importance of a research based

approach to intervention

Personal qualities and attributes include:

• being an effective communicator

• having a good understanding of the

complexity of school bullying and

violence

• having a good understanding of

implementation strategies

• being an effective trainer of all

members if the school community

Pre-chapter reading

“An introductory story” (see Appendix 1)

Read the introduction and your country’s or a

neighbouring country’s report in:

Smith, P. K. (Ed.). (2003). Violence in schools.


RoutledgeFalmer.

Summary of what we know

about school violence

School bullying and violence is a problem in

many nations. Throughout Europe, violence

has become a major concern for educational

policymakers and professionals who work in

schools. The exposure of children to various

forms of violence at school has become a

24



frequent topic of discussion in the media in

recent years. It has also attracted increasing

interest among researchers studying forms

and prevalence of violence in various settings,

usually the school and community (e.g.,

Smith, 2003). Increasing evidence points to

the negative effects of exposure to violence on

children’s development and everyday

functioning (see different national reports in

Smith, 2003). There is no doubt that living

under conditions of insecurity and the threat of

extreme violence is detrimental to children’s

development.

Many schools have responded to the problem

by implementing strategies to prevent and

reduce school violence. Some of them report

positive results, however, too many are of

limited or unknown efficacy. Therefore, it is

imperative that schools be aware of effective

preventions and interventions. An important

first step is knowledge of school bullying and

violence.

As discussed in Chapter A1 the concept of

school bullying and violence is diverse and

covers a variety of incidents and situations.

Exposure to violence at school is a significant

problem for European pupils, although

seriousness might differ both in frequency and

in how damaging it is for pupils and/or staff

involved. Every day there will be fights, pupils

hitting and kicking each other, in schools all

over Europe. For some students this is a single

fight never happening again and with limited

damage. Others might be involved in repeated

incidents of harassment, terror and physical or

psychological abuse over longer periods of

time. From time to time we hear about

extremely serious incidents at school, such as

hostage taking, pupils that are stabbed or shot

with fatal results. Witnessing violence and

experiencing threats of violence is also related

to a high level of trauma symptoms (Flannery,

Wester, & Singer 2004). Therefore, school

bullying and violence affect more pupils and

teachers than those directly involved.

The purpose of this chapter it to provide some

background information and context related to

school violence. It should help professionals in

school to understand the complexities of the

issue when making a decision about what to

do about violent situations they may

encounter. A central point of this chapter is

that the phenomenon of school violence draws

upon a range of policies and actions used to

respond to school violence or threats of

violence. In other words, a fight between two

pupils is one aspect of school violence; but

other aspects include the policies that are in

place to deal with the fight and the responses

to the fight by adults in school. Knowing how

to handle bullying and violence in schools

takes knowledge of the phenomenon.

Violence in schools and communities is no

longer an urban school problem; it is every

school’s problem (Garbarino, 1999). What

factors cause children to interact with

increasingly violent and anti-social behaviours?

What strategies can teachers and schools use

in order to help these childhood bullies who

grow up to be violent youths?

25



Many promising options are available to

schools to address violence and other

inappropriate pupil behaviour; some of them

are presented in Section 5. The very breadth

and diversity of these options may pose a

problem in attempting to develop a

comprehensive local policy on this topic.

Effective school bullying and violence

prevention requires comprehensive planning

involving documenting the effects of best

practice programs, preventive strategies, and

effective responses to any violence that may

occur. Since research documentation is

inconsistent, it is incumbent upon schools to

consider carefully which programs best meet

the needs of their local situation, and to

monitor the effectiveness of new programs in

improving school safety and reducing

disruption and incivility.

Responsibilities of the

Chapter facilitators

Your tasks within this Chapter are to:

• send to all participants information

about when and where the session will

be held and details of preparatory

reading to be done

• familiarise yourself with the Chapter

text and the facilitators’ notes

• plan the session to meet the needs of

the participants

• ensure that all relevant

resources/materials are copied and/or

prepared

• lead the session and all the activities

Sequence for activities for

Chapter 1.2

This Chapter represents a half-day training of

2.5 hours plus breaks. Please note that this

Chapter is accompanied by a power point

presentation. The slides are referred to in the

text. The text is not intended as a fixed

manuscript for the Chapter. However, it will

provide the facilitator with sufficient

background material to lead the session. This

offers flexibility together with the opportunity

to extend the introduction if necessary. The

Chapter consists of two parts. Part 1 is an

introduction providing knowledge about the

extent and nature of school bullying and

violence. Part 2 introduces a case study and

activities based on the case study.

Activity 1 Lecture: What do

we know? (20 minutes)

Procedure

It is intended that the text that follows will be

used as a reference to guide the presentation

of the PowerPoint slides.

26



Slides 2 and 3

School bullying and violence ranges from

incidents of bullying (Ertesvåg & Vaaland,

2006; Roland, 1998) and threats (Flannery et

al., 2004) to weapon carrying, murder, spree

shooting and fatalities (Barta, 2000). Although

more violence perpetration and victimization

occurs away from school, schools have not

been immune to the severest forms of

violence. While the risk of being a murder

victim at school is extremely low, pupils and

teachers are not isolated from other types of

violence and threats of being a victim of

bullying or violence might be as harmful as

actually being affected by violence (Flannery

et al., 2004). This Chapter will mainly focus on

the types of violence all teachers might expect

to meet in their work more or less on a daily

basis and on the prevention of these types of

violence.

How we interpret school bullying and violence

is influenced by the ideas we have about

violence. Among the pre-reading texts there

is a story about school professionals discussing

a fight between two pupils and what to do

about the situation. Certainly, it is difficult to

discuss a situation without more information.

However, even if we got the so-called facts of

the incident, we would still face ambiguities

based on our own thoughts about the situation

and may disagree on how the problem should

be solved. This occurs partly because we all

have different ideas about violence and

different definitions of what is and is not

violence, we have different feelings about

young people and how they should be treated,

and we also have different levels of

understanding about the responsibilities of

schools (see Chapter 1.1). In Chapter 2.2 the

need for schools to develop a shared

philosophy of school bullying and violence to

succeed in implementing sustainable change

will be discussed. In Chapter 5.5 an example

of how this might be initiated in a school is

discussed. However, for the time being we

look into what we know about the topic from

research and theory.

Because of increasing reports of incidents of

bullying and violence in schools, by

professionals in school, by media and

politicians, in most countries throughout

Europe governments have stressed the

importance of safe, violence-free schools. A

number of programs have been implemented

in schools and some report positive results.

However, a lot of them have limited or

unknown efficacy. School bullying and violence

represents a real threat to the safety of pupils

and staff and the belief that it is proliferating,

as well as the perceived lack of knowledge of

what actions to take by professionals in school

might increase the interest in the topic in

schools throughout Europe.

Incidence

Slide 4

There is great variation in the extent of our

knowledge base about school violence.

Although a range of statistics is available,

27



many country reports deplore the lack of

systematic data gathered on a large scale over

time. As Smith (2003) outlines, this is partly

an issue of definition and partly a lack of data

on violence. Furthermore, statistics on school

violence are based on a variety of instruments,

mostly pupil questionnaire self-reports, but

also structured interviews, teacher reports or

observations. One of the most extensive

reviews of school violence in European

countries was reported through the EU-funded

Connect projects and presented by Smith

(2003). All countries in the European Union (at

the time), Norway and Iceland reported the

situation in their country. Participants in the

VISTA course are advised to read their

country’s (or a neighbouring country’s) report

as part of the Chapter. In the report Smith

points out that most countries provide some

data on violence among pupils; other dyads

(e.g. pupil to teacher violence or teacher to

pupil violence) however are less frequently

reported.

Slide 5

School violence is a major problem affecting

pupils’ learning environment around the world

and the gross inadequacy of official data on

school violence has stimulated an important

growth in empirical research on the

phenomenon, be it violence or bullying. One

extensive report on school violence was based

on survey data exploring the amount of school

violence in 37 nations worldwide (Akiba,

LeTendre, Baker, & Goesling, 2002). In this

study school violence was measured through

self-reference victimization reports by pupils.

Slide 6

When looking at pupils’ reports as victims of

school violence in European countries relative

to other nations, most countries reported

about or below average. However, there were

large differences among European countries.

Pupils in Denmark reported the lowest

percentage (ca. 7%) of pupils in all nations

who became victims of school violence at least

once during the previous month of the survey.

Countries like Switzerland, Belgium, Sweden

and Norway reported 15% or less, and Ireland

and Spain were among countries reporting

between 15% and 30%. At the other end of

the scale, in Romania and Hungary about 65%

and 75% of the pupils reported being victims

of school violence. Not all European countries

were part of the survey, for example, the

United Kingdom was not included.

An interesting result from the TIMMS survey

data was that school violence rates were not

related to general crime rated in these 37

nations. Furthermore, school violence rates

were related to some social indicators such as

absolute deprivation and age distribution but

not to others such as income inequality or

social integration. School violence rates were

related to school-system variables and the

effect of these variables was independent of

social variables.

28



What do we know about school bullying

and violence?

Slide 7

The concept of school bullying and violence

was defined and discussed in Chapter 1.1.

Here we do not go further into the discussion

about definition. Working on school bullying

and violence is closely linked with working on

less serious behaviour, such as indiscipline,

disobedience and disruption (see Chapter 2.6).

Bullying, violence, harassment and disruptive

classroom behaviour are serious and

interrelated problems in schools throughout

Europe and the rest of the world. A disruptive

pupil, however, is not necessarily a violent

one. “Class clowns” can have a devastating

effect on instruction but may in no way cause

pupils or teachers to worry about their safety.

This does not imply that disruptive behaviour

is not related to school bullying and violence

(Roland, 1998). Classrooms characterised by

disruptive behaviour might experience a

cumulative effect which eventually leads to

more serious incidents if the disruptive

behaviour is not reduced. Furthermore,

teacher style is related to the amount of

school bullying and violence (Roland &

Galloway, 2002). Thus, less serious violence

carries major psychological weight through its

cumulative effect. This should be taken into

account when evaluating policies and

programs in the devising of which actions to

take. Most researchers into school violence

and bullying agree on its social implications

and on some inner aspects of the aggressive

situation.

A danger in focusing on school violence and

bullying might be to paint a picture of teachers

and administrators who do not care about the

problem of bullying, or seemingly about the

pupils at all. In daily life we can hear teachers

described negatively as “lazy”, “indifferent”

and “unaware”. Some of the features reveal an

unfavourable and unfair bias against teachers

and administrators as a whole. These kinds of

descriptions will certainly not encourage

teachers or administrators to improve their

professional development. However, it might

sometimes seem as if teachers, and other

professionals, are reluctant to intervene in

incidents of violence or bullying. Probably it is

not because they are indifferent, but more for

the reason a Norwegian head teacher stated

during an informal observation:

“I think some of the teachers at our school

turn away from incidents of bullying, but it is

not because they don’t care, it’s because they

don’t know what actions to take”.

A first step in knowing what to do is basic

knowledge of the phenomenon. We will now

look into some summarised knowledge about

bullying. There is some evidence that at least

some of this knowledge also relates to violence

in general (Akiba et al, 2002).

29



What do we know about victims of

bullying?

Slides 8 and 9

• No clear gender differences. Boys are

somewhat more likely to become

victims of bullying than girls in some

studies (e.g., Roland & Galloway,

2002). The opposite is found in other

studies and countries (e.g., Ortega,

del Rey, & Fernández, 2003)

• Occurrence of bullying decreases the

older the pupils become. However the

decrease is smaller for boys than girls.

• The most frequent type of bullying is

verbal bullying both for boys and girls.

• Boys are more often victims of

physical harassment and bullying, girls

are more often victims of social

exclusion.

• At least 5% of pupils in primary and

secondary schools are bullied weekly

or more often in countries all over the

world

(Based on Roland & Galloway, 2002; Cowie,

Jennifer, & Sharp, 2003; Ortega et al., 2003;

O’Moore & Minton, 2003).

What do we know about perprators of

bullying?

Slides 10 and 11

• Boys are more often offenders of

bullying than girls. These gender

differences increase with age

• Rates of offenders of bullying among

boys (in percent) show marked

increase with age

• Rates of offenders of bullying among

girls (in percent) are relatively stable

over age. Boys’ bullying contains,

more than girls’ bullying, physical

harassment; girls more often use

social exclusion

• Both boys and girls use teasing

• At least 5% of pupils bully others

every week or more often (differs from

one country to another)

(Based on Smith & Sharp, 1994; Everett &

Price, 1995; Roland & Galloway, 2002; Ortega

et al., 2003).

Bullying by mobile phone – studies from

Norway

Slides 12 and 13

In recent years new technology has brought

about new types of bullying. Roland (2002)

and Auestad and Roland (2005) have studied

bullying by mobile phone among a

representative sample of pupils in Norwegian

schools.

• About 15% of pupils using mobile

phones have experienced bullying.

30



• There are more reports of bullying

others and be victim of bullying by

SMS than by calls.

• More boys than girls are victims of

serious (every week or more often)

bullying by mobile phone. However,

more girls than boys are victims of

less serious (sometimes) bullying.

• Being the victim of bullying by mobile

phone is not related to grade level

• More pupils have mobile phone in

higher grades, therefore the problem

increases with age.

• From 2001 to 2004 there was a

decrease (about 50%) in the most

serious bullying, the less serious

bullying also decreased. However, the

decrease was less.

• Recently, photos taken by mobile have

become a problem. 4.5% of boys and

2.2% of girls admitted they had taken

photos of other in the locker room

once or more.

To sum up:

What do we know about school violence?

Slides 14 and 15

• School violence, like all violence,

cannot be explained simply by a single

cause but is complex and multi-

determined

• The educational literature makes it

abundantly clear that school violence

prevention and school improvement go

hand-in hand, yet there is also a

reluctance to discuss many of the

sensitive topics associated with school

bullying and violence (Midthassel &

Ertesvåg, 2006).

• School violence is not limited to one

country. It is international in scope

(Akiba et al., 2002; Smith, 2003)

• In many countries, significant research

has been done in the past 25 years

(Smith, 2003)

• Bullying is a major component of

school violence yet bullying is not a

well-understood phenomenon in all

countries throughout Europe, although

we gradually increase our knowledge.

How we understand school violence and

bullying partly depends on what theoretical

approach we have. There is a multitude of

different theoretical approaches to school

violence. We have chosen an ecological

approach, a perspective well suited for

approaching the complex aspects of school

violence and bullying. Bronfenbrenner’s bio-

ecological perspective (Bronfenbrenner, 1979,

1995; Bronfenbrenner & Morris 1998) offers a

framework integrating the various factors

associated with school violence. In this

framework we can describe school violence

and bullying as an interplay among several

relevant subsystems (i.e pupil, family school

and neighbourhood). This type of nested

ecological theory can be described as an

interactionist theory that tries to understand

human behaviour as a “duet” between a

31



person’s individual biological and psychological

characteristics and contextual and

environmental variables, both social and

physical (Ertesvåg & Bø, in press). This

environment may include other human beings

who are involved in the situation (other pupils,

teachers) and includes the physical

environment (class and school size, school

structure). As obvious as this may seem,

many interventions to prevent or reduce

school bullying and violence overlook the

multilevel nature of the phenomena, focusing

either on pupils or the school as an

organization. Interventions will benefit from

addressing school bullying and violence both

at individual, class and school level.

Factors related to school violence range from

those concerning the individual pupil to social

factors – school organization, the community

in which the school is embedded, the

characteristics of the pupil’s family, including

their culture and country of residence. These

factors follow many levels of hierarchy –

individual pupils within their classes, classes

within schools, schools within neighbourhoods,

and neighbourhoods within societies and

cultures (Duncan & Raudenbush, 1999; Lee,

2000). One important question concerning

school violence is the degree to which these

nested ecological factors contribute to pupil

victimization in the school grounds and

furthermore, how to prevent and reduce

school bullying and violence.

There are many recommendations from

schools and school psychology services on how

to approach school bullying and violence based

on research and practice. We will attend to

these later in the course. For the time being

we will look into some recommendations for

work on school district level based on this

theoretical approach (see also Chapter 4.3).

The school district administration has a unique

opportunity to initiate collaborative approaches

to interventions aimed at preventing and

reducing school bullying and violence including

different schools in a community. A broad-

based project group might be organized and

serve as the facilitative body to guide schools

through the program. An example is the local

educational board of Oslo that in cooperation

with the Centre of Behavioural Research,

University of Stavanger, initiated a

comprehensive program involving 30 primary,

secondary and combined schools in the

ConnectOSLO program, a continuation of the

Norwegian branch of the European Connect UK

001 project.

The Local Educational Board of the city of Oslo

had the responsibility for administration of the

project and played an important role in

promoting non-violence in the Schools of Oslo

(Ertesvåg & Vaaland, 2006).

In order for a school district to choose a

conceptual model and to prioritise the order of

the components of a comprehensive violence

prevention and intervention program it might

be helpful to construct a procedural scaffolding

to guide the planning and implementation of

the initiative. The procedures need to be based

32



on theory and research on innovation and

adjusted to the country in which it is carried

out. (In a Norwegian setting a guide to

implementing intervention is presented in

Ertesvåg, 2001, 2002). The relative usefulness

of such a plan is a function of its capacity to

organize the effort along a pathway that brings

order to the process and understanding to the

participants.

We will return to the role of the school district

administration in implementation of prevention

and intervention programs in Chapter 2.2.

Activity 2: Classroom level

(30 minutes)

Purpose

• To reflect on how we interpret and

understand school bullying and

violence

• To provide the opportunity to

recognise that we might understand

the nature and concept of school

bullying and violence in different ways,

that is. based on professional position,

education and the ideas we have about

life in general

• To be able to identify different types of

problem behaviour in a classroom

context and to separate violent

behaviour from disruptive behaviour

• To reflect on teacher style as part of

preventing and reducing school

bullying and violence

Materials

Resource 1 The classroom

Resource 4 Suggestions for systematizing

measures

Procedure

Read the story described in Resource 1 The

classroom. Discuss the following question in

groups of about 5 people:

- What is violent behaviour and what can be

considered as disruptive behaviour described,

discussed or actually happening in this

classroom setting?

- What are the problems related to preventing

and reducing school bullying and violence in

the classroom described?

- What measures will you implement on

classroom level? (See Resource 4).

Activity 3 The school level

(30 minutes)

Purpose

• To provide an opportunity to reflect on

the necessity of a shared

understanding of school bullying and

violence

33



• To understand possible reasons for

different opinions of school bullying

and violence among actors at school

Materials

Resource 2 The school

Resource 4 Suggestions for systemising

measures

Procedure

Read the case described in Resource 2 The

school individually. Discuss the following

questions in the same groups as in exercise 1.

- Why is there a need for a shared

understanding of what behaviour to expect

from the pupils among staff in a school and

among staff and parents?

- How can schools work on creating a shared

understanding of school bullying and violence?

- What measures will you implement to create

a shared understanding of school bullying and

violence? (See Resource 4 Suggestions for

systemising measures).

Activity 4 A whole school

approach (40 minutes)

Purpose

• To be able to recognise action needed

at individual, class and school level

• To be able to identify problem areas

and decide on possible measures

Materials

Resource 3 John

Procedure

In the same groups as before and based on all

the information you have from Resource 1, 2

and 3 discuss the following questions.

Emphasis the individual level and discuss the

interrelation between the three levels.

Measures will mutually strengthen each other

if they have the same focus.

- What kind of measures would you use at

classroom, school and individual level?

- Who is responsible for carrying out the

measures?

- Which target group(s) do you have for your

work?

- Is there any particular circumstance you

have to take care of?

- For how long will you work before you do an

evaluation?

Activity 5 Debriefing (30

minutes)

At the end of the discussions, there could be a

plenary discussion of how best to respond to

the problems presented in Activities 2, 3 and

4. This is an opportunity to share different

34



views and relief measures at all three levels of

school bullying and violence. The facilitator

summarises the results of the activities,

drawing upon the examples arising in the

group work and the plenary session, and

making links with the theoretical issues raised

in the pre-reading and the summary. Finally,

the facilitator should allow time for participants

to raise any questions or make any comments

regarding the power point presentation and

the results of the activities.

References

Akiba, M., LeTendre, G. K., Baker, D. P., &

Goesling, B. (2002). Student victimization:

National and school system effects on school

violence in 37 nations. American Educational

Research Journal, 39, 829-853.

Auestad, G. & Roland, E. (2005). Mobbing og

mobiltelefon. [Bullying and mobile phone]

Spesialpedagogikk, 4, 4-11

Barta, M. T. (2000). Death in the classroom:

Violence in schools. In. D. Capuzzi & D. R.

Gross (Eds.), Youth at risk: A prevention

resource for counsellors, teachers and parents

(3rd ed., pp. 385-408). Alexandria, VA:

American Counselling Association.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of

human development. Experiments by nature

and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard

University Press.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1995). Developmental

ecology through space and time: A future

perspective. In P. Moen, G. H. Elder, & K.

Lüscher (Eds.), Examining lives in context (pp.

619-647). Washington, DC: American

Psychological Association.

Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (1998).

The ecology of developmental processes. In R.

M. Lerner (Ed), Handbook of child psychology,

Vol. 1, (5th ed., pp. 993-1028). New York:

Wiley.

Cowie, H., Jennifer, D., & Sharp, S. (2003).

School violence in the United Kingdom:

Addressing the problem. In P. K. Smith (Ed.),

Violence in schools. The response in

Europe(pp. 265-281). London:

RoutledgeFalmer

Duncan, G. J., & Raudenbush, S. W. (1999).

Assessing the effects of context in studies of

child and youth development. Journal of

Educational Psychology, 34, 29-41.

Ertesvåg, S. K. (2001). Prosjektorgansiering

av lokale utviklingsarbeid – rettleiing for

prosjekt i PPT og skule. [Project management

in schools improvement project – a guide for

schools and school psychology services].

Trøndelag kompetansesente

Ertesvåg, S. K. (2002). Prosjekt som

arbeidsmetode i SAMTAK.[Project managenent

in SAMTAK] Spesialpedagogikk, 6 pp.

35



Ertesvåg, S. K. (2003). ConnectOSLO. Centre

of Behaviour Research, Stavanger University

College.

Ertesvåg, S., & Bø, I. (in press). Gjensyn med

Urie Bronfenbrenner - etter hans ”arbeidsdag”

på 60 år [Urie Bronfenbrenner revisited – after

his 60-years’ of work] Nordisk Pedagogikk.

Ertesvåg, S., & Vaaland, G. K. (2006).

Prevention and reduction of behavioural

problems in school: A pilot evaluation.

(Manuscript submitted for publication)

Everett, S. A., & Price, J. H. (1995). Students’

perception of violence in the public schools:

The MetLife Survey. Journal of Adolescent

Health, 17, 345-352.

Flannery, D. J., Wester, K. L., & Singer, M. I.

(2004). Impact of exposure to violence in

school on child and adolescent metal health

and behaviour. Journal of Community

Psychology, 32, 559-573.

Garbarino, J. (1999). What children can tell us

about living with violence. In M. Sugar (Ed.),

Trauma and adolescence. Madison, CT:

International Universities Press.

Lee, V. E. (2000). Using hierarchical linear

modelling to study social context: The case of

school effects. Educational Psychologist, 35,

125-141.

Midthassel, U. V, & Ertesvåg, S. K. (2006).

Schools Implementing Zero. The process of

implementing an anti-bullying program in six

Norwegian compulsory schools. (Manuscript

submitted for publication)

Olweus, D. (1993). Bullying in schools: What

we know and what we can do. Oxford:

Blackwell.

O`Moore, M., & Minton, S. (2003). Tackling

violence in schools: A report from Ireland. In

P. K. Smith (Ed.), Violence in schools. The

response in Europe(pp. 282-297). London:

RoutledgeFalmer.

Ortega, R., del Rey, R., & Fèrnandez, I.

(2003). Working together to prevent school

violence: The Spanish response. In P. K.

Smith (Ed.), Violence in schools. The response

in Europe(pp. 135-152). London:

RoutledgeFalmer.

Roland, E., (1998). School influences on

bullying. Unpublished doctoral dissertation,

University of Durham, UK.

Roland, E. (2002). Mobbing gjennom

mobiltelefon. [Bullying by mobile phone],

Spesialpedagogikk, 3, 3-8.

Roland, E., & Galloway, D. (2002). Classroom

influences on bullying. Educational Research,

44, 299-312.

Smith, P. K. (Ed.). (2003). Violence in schools.


36



RoutledgeFalmer.

Smith, P. K., & Sharp, S. (1994). School

bullying: Insights and perspectives. London:

RoutledgeFalmer.

Resource packs

Resource 1 The classroom

Introduction

John is nine years old, a grade 4 boy at a primary school. You met him in the pre-chapter

reading story (Appendix 1). His form teacher has reported concerns about John due to

disruptive behaviour and repeated incidents of harassment and bullying of other pupils.

The teacher has also told the observers that there have been repeated incidents of verbal

bullying of a girl in class and John seems to be very active in this harassment. The School

Psychology Service is supervising the school in this case. A preliminary inquiry reveals that

the case is not limited to John and his problems. Based on an ecological perspective,

measures at the class-, school-, and individual level are recommended. Along with

individual measures, classroom initiatives are made to strengthen the social climate of the

class. As part of classroom measures colleagues from the School Psychology Service do an

observation in the classroom.

The students are returning from break. It is noisy, pupils are talking loudly and shoving chairs and

desks. The lesson starts with a twenty minute lunch break in the classroom. While the students are

eating, the teacher is talking about a school outing and a fight between two boys, Brian from grade 5

and John. While the teacher talks, some pupils make comments to the teachers and he responds.

Four of the boys are talking loudly to each other. They leave their desks and walk around in the

classroom. The teacher acts calmly and does not pay attention to their talking, but he comments that

they are walking around in the classroom. The pupils pay no attention. However, after a while they

return to their desks.

John is seated at the front of the classroom. He is very loudmouthed and makes many cheeky

comments to the teacher: “ Peter (the teacher), why are you saying that....”, “That was stupid,

Peter”. The other boys have comments on John, “You are stupid, John”, ”You always mess up”, “You

are the reason we will never have an outing again”...

37



The class has now finished the meal break and is going to work on English language. John starts to

pull the curtains in such a way that the teacher gets the sun in his eyes. The teacher does not

comment, but moves away from the sun.

John starts calling a girl: ” bitch, witch...” The girl responds by raising her hand, calling for the

teacher’s attention. It takes a long time before she gets a response. The teacher is listening to the

girl and then asks John to stop.

While this is happening the teacher is instructing the class to listen to a story on the CD-player. When

he goes to insert the CD he discovers that he left it in the staff room and has to leave the classroom

too fetch it. While he returns to the classroom half of the boys are gone and the rest of them are

running around in the classroom, hiding themselves behind the curtains or standing on the desks. The

girls are sitting quietly at their desks. The teacher finds the pupils that have left the classroom, but

has to struggle to get them back as they were making objections. John did not interact with any of

the other pupils. He was standing at the top of his desk yelling into the classroom. At last the teacher

gets all the pupils into their places and the lesson can continue...

Resource 2 The school

The head teacher and the form teacher in John’s class are interviewed by the educational

psychologists about the situation at the school and within John’s class in particular.

The situation in John’s class was not special, several classes at the school were in the same situation

especially concerning disruptive behaviour in the classroom. The head teacher was aware of the

situation in John’s class, since both the form teacher and parents had discussed the situation with

him.

The head teacher had participated in class parent meetings, but overall shown little interest in

arranging for practical measures that the form teacher had suggested to solve the problem.

The head teacher spent overall little time at the school and the form teacher did not think he knew

him very well either. He had the impression that most of the staff felt the same way.

John’s class had several teachers during the school week. There was little or no cooperation between

the different teachers. There was no discussion about how to address the pupils’ disruptive behaviour

38



in the classroom, no procedures on how to handle incidents of bullying or other types of violence.

Accordingly, there was no consensus about what behaviour they expected from the students. Some of

them thought it was acceptable for students to walk around in the classrooms or go to the toilet

without asking for permission, others did not think this was good pupil behaviour.

The form teacher of the class had tried to cooperate with the parents at parent meetings and parent

conferences. The parents had attended school activity days but they were now more and more hostile

against teachers, the head teacher and the school because they did not handle the class well.

Resource 3 John

In the interview the head teacher and form teacher also revealed:

John has serious academic difficulties, with his behaviour and with peer relations at school. He is

struggling both with reading and mathematics. He is falling behind the academic development of the

rest of the class’. He has repeatedly been in fights with other pupils in and outside the school. John

also had problems in kindergarten.

John has the same problems outside school. The school explain the boys’ difficulties through trouble

in the family. Johns mother has been addicted to drugs and Social Services have taken care of the

family since John was a baby. John’s father has a steady job and has managed relatively well. After

the boy tried to set a garbage container on fire, the school asked for help.

39



Resource 4: Suggestions for systemising measures

A visual presentation of (possible) goals and measures in a whole school approach to the

problems described might help you to systemise individual measures (Resource 4 will be

further developed in Chapter 2.2).

Goal

Classroom

level

Measure Date

(done

within)

Target

group

Responsible Comments

Goal

School level

Measure Date

(done

within)

Target

group


Example:

Map the school

situation according

to disruptive

behaviour at

classroom level

To give an

account of

the problem

at school

level

January

15th

Those

employed

at the

school

The head

teacher

A step towards

shared

understanding of

school violence at

school level

Goal

Individual level

Measure Date

(done

within)

Target

group


40



Appendix 1 An introductory

story…

In a meeting teachers, school leaders and

school psychologists discussed an incident that

had occurred in a primary school. Two boys,

John and Brian, had fought on a school outing,

and though nobody was hurt, both boys had

thrown punches. Brian was a star pupil, with

excellent grades and a promising athlete.

John did not perform well academically and his

form teacher had asked the school psychology

service for classroom observation due to the

boys’ disruptive behaviour. After the fight,

John claimed the other pupil had taunted him

in the past. Brian claimed that he had never

spoken to John before, let alone taunted him.

When the group of professionals discussed the

incident, important issues were raised about

youth violence and responses to violence in

schools. One teacher wanted to suspend John

for starting the fight, and another insisted that

both boys be expelled because each had

violated the school’s zero-tolerance policy. One

teacher felt that the boys should be required

to attend peer mediation and perform some

type of community service but not be

suspended or expelled. Another felt that they

should be arrested and charged with “breach

of the peace”. The one who recommended

peer mediation and community service felt

that John should be offered a second chance

because he was “disadvantaged” and had

academic problems, a second teacher

responded that the boy would never “learn his

lesson” if he “got away with it”. Some teachers

wanted to explore whether Brian had taunted

John. One teacher wanted to let the whole

thing blow over, stating “it was only a tussle

between two boys”.

How we interpret this incident is influenced by

the knowledge and ideas we have of violence.

Certainly, we could do with more information

about the incident and about the boys.

However, even if we got the so-called facts of

the incident, we would still face ambiguities

based on our own thoughts about the situation

and may disagree on how the problem should

be solved. This occurs partly because we all

have different ideas about violence and

different definitions of what is and is not

violence, we have different feelings about

young people and how they should be treated:

and we also have different levels of

understanding about the responsibilities of

schools. Chapter 1.2 aims to introduce some

key knowledge to professionals to increase

their knowledge of school bullying and

violence. The pre-reading text is meant to give

background information and context related to

school bullying and violence. It should help

readers understand the complexities of the

issue when deciding how to approach school

bullying and violence at their own school.

41

Section 1 Definition Context and Knowledge of School Violence

Documents

Transcript of Section 1 Definition Context and Knowledge of School Violence