School violence: a qualitative case study

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 2 (2010) 3165–3169 WCES-2010 School violence: a qualitative case study Sadegül Akbaba Altuna *, Özgür Erdur Bakerb a b Baúkent University, Faculty of Education, Ankara, Turkey Middle East Technical University, Faculty of Education, Ankara, Turkey Received October 26, 2009; revised December 2, 2009; accepted January 13, 2010 Abstract No school violence prevention or safety program can be succeeded without the inclusion of the related parties’ meaning-making strategies. This qualitative study examines how school violence is understood by students and teachers, who are the two primary parties in any school environment. 27 teachers, one vice principle, and 125 students from 4th to 8th grades from a private school were asked to respond to open ended questions about their perceptions on the nature of violence in their school including reasons and the possible ways of prevention. Content analysis was used while analyzing the data. Integration of the results into the existing school violence program was discussed. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. Keywords: School violence; qualitative study. 1. Introduction Violence is rapidly increasing in Turkey as well as throughout the world. Violence in schools causes a decrease in students’ academic success, decay in school climate, drop-outs and creates psychological ill-beings. In order to prevent violence and intervene appropriately, it is important to know how students, administrators and teachers define violence as well as how, when and how often violence is observed in schools. Moreover, it is essential to obtain administrators’, teachers’ and students’ views about the reasons for violence and their perceived precautions to prevent violence from happening at schools. Therefore, this study is designed to determine teachers’ and students’ views about violence in one school. 2. Literature Review School violence has been an international concern for more than a decade for now. Despite the remarkable efforts of research, prevention and intervention, school violence goes beyond school borders and becomes a larger concern that must be dealt with not only by school and mental health professionals but also by parents, policy makers, professionals working in the area of media and the community at large. Turkish school is no exception as these concerns have been substantiated by news in media (e.g., Akbaba-Altun, Güneri, Erdur-Baker, 2006) and the scientific research reports (Alikaúifo÷lu et. al, 2004; Eke & Ö÷el, 2006). For example a study by Alikaúifo÷lu et. al, * Sadegül Akbaba Altun. Tel.: +0-000-000-0000 ; fax: +0-000-000-0000 E-mail address: akbabas@baskent.edu.tr 1877-0428 © 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.03.483 3166 Sadegül Akbaba Altun and Özgür Erdur Baker / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 2 (2010) 3165–3169 (2004) on the prevalence of school violence in Turkey reported that 42 percent of 1,720 inner city public high school students reported having been in a physical fight within the last 12 months; 8 percent of female and 28 percent of male students had been in a fight with a friend; 7.5 percent had been bullied with a weapon on school grounds; and 8 percent carried a weapon with them in schools. Preventing school violence requires collaboration on the part of all school personnel. The perceptions of teachers and school counsellors with regard to school violence are perhaps the most important in terms of creating violencefree schools. According to Fisher and Kettle (2003), teachers and school mental health professionals have more experience and insight than anyone else in terms of what happens in school and how school systems function within a larger schema; in spite of this their understanding of school violence has not been studied sufficiently. Zeira, Astor, and Benbenishty (2003) claim that a comparison of viewpoints of teachers from different backgrounds may contribute to a deeper understanding of the issue, making this a vital element for developing meaningful interventions. A study by Schubarth (2000) utilized both qualitative and quantitative methodology to examine the perspectives of teachers, school administrators, and students on school violence. Each of the three groups in this study agreed in general when ranking violent incidences they had observed, with the three leading types seen as mental aggression against schoolmates, physical assaults and vandalism. However, the study found that both student and teachers perceptions varied according to gender and type of school (middle school, gymnasium and remedial school). Female teachers reported more incidences of violence, especially physical violence, than male teachers. Perceptions of the growth of violence in schools also differed between teachers and administrators. A qualitative study from Turkey also examined the perceptions of middle school and high school counselors in low-income areas in Ankara, Yerin-Güneri and ÇakÕr (2003) found that counselors defined violence mostly by physical terms (such as shoving, punching, or kicking other students) and in terms of damage to school property. Factors perceived to contribute violence by participants were grouped as individual (e.g., lack of social skills and life goals), family (e.g., violent parents, low SES, separated or divorced parents), school (e.g., use of corporal punishment, ineffective discipline practices), or community (e.g., exposure through media, political groups and cultures that reinforce aggressive behavior). Finally, Yerin-Güneri, Erdur-Baker, and Akbaba-Altun (2006) conducted three separate focus groups of nine students, 10 teachers and five school counsellors from a university-affiliated private high school. The researchers reported following themes as risk factors: (a) family factors (e.g., use of violence in family, limited support); (b) individual factors (e.g., low self-esteem, low academic achievement); (c) school factors (e.g., teachers’ use of verbal violence, inconsistent application of disciplinary rules), (d) media (exposure to violence through television, video games, movies) and (e) community (increases in violence in society). Themes emerging in terms of prevention were: maintaining positive discipline in the school; parent-school cooperation; training students on effective communication skills; training teachers on effective intervention skills; raising community awareness about violence. This study concluded that “It is unrealistic to expect zero-level violence at school.” In order to recommend preventive measures, further similar research is needed to generalize findings on the role and perceptions of school personnel, students and other related parties. In sum, as majority of the studies on school violence is quantitative in nature which provides important data on the prevalence, risk factors, and such. However, for the effective intervention and prevention programs, more qualitative studies are needed to evaluate the role and perceptions of the students and the school personnel who have first hand experiences of school violence. the detailed information because they have more experience and insight than anyone else in terms of what happens in school and how school systems Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine teachers’ and students’ views about violence in one school. Specifically, (1) how students and teachers define violence, (2) when and how violence starts? (3) Who employs violence? (4) How and from whom students get help when they face violence? (5) Who are exposed to violence the most at school? (6) What could be possible solutions preventing school violence? 3. Methodology The majority of the literature on school violence has been compiled using quantitative data gathered from student self-reports and statistics of violent incidences occurring in and around schools. Qualitative studies have the potential to provide a deeper understanding of the experiences, values and beliefs of both school professionals and students. In order to develop effective preventive programs, it is necessary to understand how the school violence construct is defined and how risk and protective factors are perceived. However, only a few studies examined the Sadegül Akbaba Altun and Özgür Erdur Baker / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 2 (2010) 3165–3169 3167 issue of school violence through qualitative methodology. This study is designed as a qualitative case study with a typical sampling method. The setting for the study is a school, which is run by a non-profit organization. The majority of the students are coming from middle-class families, majority of which are working at state organizations. A total of 27 teachers, 1 administrator, and 125 students from the grades of 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8, voluntarily participated in the study. Data were collected through open-ended questions. Data were transferred into a digital environment and were analyzed by content analysis with frequencies. 4. Findings (1) Students’ and teachers’ definition of violence: It was not observed a remarkable difference in students’ definition of violence across grades. The only difference was the 4th graders who used shorter sentences and statements. These definitions were narrated by students (a) by providing a generic statement, (b) by categorizing violence across its types, (c) by providing examples and exemplars for violence, and (d) pointing out the outputs of violence. Administrator and teachers’ definitions are in line with students’. When these definitions were examined, there were teachers who provided a generic definition for violence as well as providing examples and categorizing them across its types. (2) When and how violence starts: As to how violence starts at schools, there are different categories emerged from teachers’ and students’ data. These categories indicate that violence is initiated by (a) students, (b) teachers, (c) violence modeled from families, and (d) violence by the effect of mass media. When students explained the violence, lower graders experienced violence from upper graders, and those who were exposed to violence started to display violence to their lower graders when they grew up. Moreover, they also indicated that peer-violence also existed. In one of the open ended questions, students were directed a question about whether violence had a start and finish periods. 58 of the participants indicated that there was no such a period and 22 of them indicated there exist such a period. 11 of them perceived that violence could happen at any given time. On the other hand, some of the teachers indicated that violence could be observed at any age whereas some others said that it starts at very early ages with the effect of family raising practices as well as family setting where children also learn what violence is like. It is also noted by the teachers that violence starts as it was learnt and increases as children enters puberty. Another group of teachers mentioned that violence is not related with age but the setting in which children are grown up. (3) The reasons for school violence: According to students, the most obvious reason for violence is the dispute among students. Teachers explained the reasons as (a) students’ personality, (b) the role of the mass-media, (c) school administration, (d) families, (e) lack of democracy education, (f) lack of extracurricular activities, (g) environment and society, (h) lack of tolerance, and (i) lack of love and nurture. (4) Who are exposed to violence the most at school: According to students and teachers, violence could happen at any particular place within school. Violence is realized mostly by boys and upper graders. The most disadvantaged group who are facing the violence are weaker students and lower graders. (5) How and from whom students get help when they face violence? Students and teachers reported that those who are faced with violence receive help from their peer friends. Table 1 shows how and from whom students get help when they faced violence. Table 1. How and from whom students get help when they face violence? Students’ Opinions From friends From teachers From nobody/ only myself From upper class peers From elderly people From parents From my class From vice principle f 56 31 18 17 12 9 4 3 Teachers’ Opinions From their friends From their teachers From administration From their parents From strong, upper class friends From relatives, sisters, and brothers Themselves From the counselling office f 18 5 3 3 3 2 2 2 (6) What could be possible solutions preventing school violence? Majority of the students believe that violence at 3168 Sadegül Akbaba Altun and Özgür Erdur Baker / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 2 (2010) 3165–3169 schools cannot be demolished. Other prevention strategies mentioned by students were school dispel, increasing the discipline more, employing violence to those who already employ violence to others, giving seminars to students about violence, increasing the numbers of surveillants, and cooperating with parents. Besides, students’ opinion about prevention of school violence, teachers reported that training parents, students about violence, school administrators should support and encourage guidance services preventing school violence, increase students awareness about violence by giving seminars and train them about their developmental stages. 5. Conclusion and Recommendations It was observed that students tend to lean towards the violence after disputes among themselves. Thus, they believe that violence cannot be prevented. This finding indicates students’ learned helplessness. Therefore, it is important to teach students problem solving, conflict resolution, communication skills, self-protection in the violent situation, help seeking skills, which are the core life skills. Students perceive violence mostly as a physical one. Thus, students should be instructed on verbal and psychological violence types, as well. Majority of the students indicated that they performed violence since they were exposed to it. Thus, it is important to breakthrough this cycle in order to dispel the reasons behind the violence. Definitions of school violence provided by students, teachers and school counsellors participating in the study may serve as a reminder that the definition of violence may vary according to context; in other words, what is perceived as violence in one setting may not be perceived as such in another. It should therefore be reiterated that efforts to prevent violence must be tailored to the specific characteristics of a particular setting. Students believe that violence does not have a certain period of time. However, some related violence with puberty. It is important to provide seminal workshops for those students on anger-management and the characteristics of puberty period. Violence happens throughout the school, especially where there is no teacher around. This may indicate that our children lack from auto-control and they need to be trained on developing their auto-control skills. Otherwise, we will need a policeman for each individual. Violent acts have been performed by upper graders and by boys. This finding indicates that although students memorize the daily anthem saying that “our intention is to take care of our younger brothers and sister”, they do not turn this motto into their actions. Moreover, upper graders become a role model in negative ways and they train lower graders to be violence practitioner as well. Upper graders should be given certain responsibilities. Since lower graders are exposed to violence more, they request help from their elder brothers and sisters. Yet, they should also report this to their teachers and specialists. Coping strategies when exposed to violence should be taught to schoolage children. Another finding of this study indicates that those who use violent acts are usually nervous and impatient. There appears a need to provide personal and/or group counseling services for those actions which aim at behavior change such as anger management. In sum, this study could be regarded as one of preliminary attempt to investigate school violence in Turkish schools serving middle-to high SES students. The findings offer an important indication that while SES may be an important factor in school violence, even in a school with adequate physical facilities and safety measures, some level of violence still exists. In order to recommend preventive measures, further research is needed to generalize findings from this study and make direct comparisons between low-SES public schools and this and other high-SES private schools. References Akbaba-Altun, S., Yerin-Güneri, O., Erdur-Baker, Ö. (2006). BasÕndaki YansÕmalarÕ øle Okulda ùiddet. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, (6)24, 12-21. Alikaúifo÷lu, M., Ergingöz, E., Ercan, O., Uysal, O, Kaymak, D. A., & Ilter, O. (2004). Violent behavior among Turkish high school students and correlates of physical fighting. European Journal of Public Health, 14, 173-177. Eke, C.Y., & Ögel, K. (March 2006). østanbuldaki okullarda suç ve úiddetin yaygÕnlÕ÷Õ [Prevelance of crime and violence in schools in østanbul]. 1.ùiddet ve Okul: Okul ve Çevresinde Çocu÷a Yönelik ùiddet ve AlÕnabilecek Tedbirler Sempozyumu. [1st Symposium on Violence and School: preventive measures that can be taken inside and outside the school] Fisher, K., & Kettl, P. (2003). Teachers’ perceptions of school violence. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 17, 79-83. Schubarth, W. (2000). Incidents of violence from the standpoint of pupils and teachers. European Education, 32, 80-95. Yerin- Güneri, O. & ÇakÕr, S.G. (2003). A Qualitative investigation of violence among low-income Turkish Children and Youth: School Counselors’ perspectives. 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