Violence in school : some studies, some exemples
Letter n°4, march 2003

Putting forward research on students and assaults in the Netherlands, Ton Mooij (1989) examined the environmental variables of anti-social behaviour. Amongst them, we noted:

Family relations and the educational process during prime childhood. For example, Mooij raised the notion of the mother-baby relationship, and in particular the tendency of the mother to be positively interested in the child and support its development towards independence. In contrast, the tendency to dominate and inflict harsh punishments on children leads to the development of anti-social behaviour.

The methods used to evaluate a student’s learning, didactic devices and pedagogical approaches influence the behaviour of students. When the evaluation method is based on the comparative performance of students, underlines Mooji, the negative results signify that some amongst them will not succeed. The feeling of isolation that ensues will constitute a fertile ground for the development of violent behaviour.

The influence of friends and the group dynamic.

The characteristics of the area in which the school is based : the socio-cultural and economic make up, the nature, the characteristics and the quantity of social monitoring.

The importance accorded to power and performance, to virility (chauvinism) and to sensationalism.

Mooji adds that, in the light of research employing different types of analysis, it appears that being a boy, being more extravert, being more importunate, not encountering many teachers who possess a positive comportment and being educated in a secondary school of a lower standard are pertinent variables which explain why and how one can become an instigator of violence.

Research conducted in Sweden (Lindström and Campart, 1989) indicates that boys are a lot more numerous than girls as victims and instigators of violence, also a substantial percentage of instigators of violence say they do not have a positive relationship with their parents.

A study based on German primary and secondary school students identifies the principal determinants of violence in school :

• The student’s personality traits : the more he or she feels isolated the more the student is involved in arguments; however the more a student is conscientious, the risk of committing violent acts is lessened;

• Parental attitudes: the more parents offer a good upbringing to their children, the less the chances are that they will develop a violent comportment;

• The neighbourhood and area: the more students have a positive perception of their social environment, the less likely they are to commit acts of vandalism at school;

• Groups of pairs: acts of vandalism are more frequently committed by informal groups of pairs than by students ascribed to structured school-related activity groups.

• Students who feel they are succeeding at school have less of a tendency to be violent than those who feel they are failing at school.
  
  

Finally, W. Funk tackles the question of the influence of the media on behaviour. There seems to be a clear correlation between being exposed to violence through films, videos, etc., and being violent at school (insults, fights, vandalism, bullying and sexual harassment). And for its part, the Council of Europe states that before reaching adolescence a child will have witnessed thousands of murders and violent acts, simply by watching television (1).

In the United States, many studies on school violence have been executed, several of which, over the past few years, have dealt with the manifestations of criminal violence (2). What we can say on this respect is that, in the light of recent investigations, adolescent males belonging to an ethnic minority chiefly commit violent acts of this nature. Even if criminal acts appear to be in regression in the United States (3), this statement does not deal with the question of school violence in its various and less dramatic situations. On this subject it has been said that reliable data must be collected on a local scale, this would allow authorities to establish effective plans of action to counteract school violence (4).

In Japan, a country that for a long time was admired by many occidental observers for its student discipline, the situation appears to have changed to the point where some go to the extreme of talking about “classroom collapse”. A recent report by the National Institute for Educational Policy Research indicates that half of the country’s secondary schools have known acts of violence, problems of juvenile prostitution and an increase in the number of students abandoning school altogether (5). The explanatory causes of this phenomenon seem to lend themselves to differing interpretations. Parents point the finger at the teachers for their lack of authority, others determine that the inability of teachers to handle the situation is due to a lack of training. Some teachers, however, reproach the parents for their lax attitude towards their children who are now rebelling against parental authority.

 

 

 

Image : de Jipad, from the Website Jipad

http://www.jipad.fr/violence-a-lecole.php