Violence in schools is an everyday occurrence and, for the most part, it tends to be regarded as a male issue. There is little indication in media or research reports that female learners perpetrate violence in schools. Research suggests that school violence is caused by male teachers or learners, takes place amongst males and tends to be of a physical or sexual nature. There is, however, a less prominent body of international work, which has begun to explore female aggression and violence at schools. Thus far, there has been little comparable research in South Africa. The thesis is an exploratory study of female violence in schools. The subject is approached by examining the perceptions of male as well as female teachers in primary and secondary schools in Durban. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 172-182). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Acts of school violence exist on a continuum of severity, ranging from less severe to anarchy, occur in various locations throughout schools, and affect various stakeholders. School counselors play an integral role in responding to school violence. The purpose of this study was to assess school counselors' perceptions of the occurrence of school violence and their preparedness to respond to violent events. This study provides valuable information about school counselors' perceptions of their personal safety, current programs and services provided to target reducing the impact of school violence, and training needs of professional counselors. A survey was completed by 103 school counselors serving schools in the St. Louis metro area. Results from the survey indicate community setting and years of experience influence school counselors' perceptions of school violence and their preparedness to respond. Implications for school counselor training, school-based violence preparation and school counselors' response to violence conclude the manuscript.

Schools maintain a steady rate of violent crimes nationally with more than 1.6 million violent acts occurring towards teachers over a four year period (NCES, 2007). Nearly 35 percent of teachers report that school violence affects their teaching (NCES, 2009). Concurrently, teacher attrition rates are steady across school districts nationwide at nearly twenty percent and cost taxpayers billions of dollars per year. This study explored teacher's perceptions of school violence and its influence on their teaching performance and attitudes towards others. In addition, it investigated whether teacher's perceptions of school violence had an effect on teacher's intentions on attrition. A representative sample of teachers from Southeastern Pennsylvania was selected at random to participate in an on-line self reported survey. Five teachers were then randomly selected for unstructured individual interviews. Results indicated that there is a relationship between perceptions of school violence with teacher's performance, attitudes and thoughts on moving or leaving the profession. Both interpersonal non-physical violence (INPV) and group crime violence (GCV) were positively associated with negative teacher performance as well as negative teacher attitudes. Additionally, interpersonal non-physical violence (INPV) was positively associated with intended teacher attrition as more than half the teachers reported that they might transfer schools due to school violence. / Educational Psychology

The Prothrow-Stith violence prevention curriculum for high school students was adapted and presented to middle school students. An adaptation in materials, reading level and administration should not adversely effect the outcome of program participation, as the concepts that form the foundation of this curriculum are applicable to all ages. The essential question addressed in this study is as follows: Is the adapted curriculum effective? The evaluation instrument used for both pretests and posttest showed three distinct sections that were composed of general knowledge statements; statements that indicated an attitudinal predisposition toward violence; and statements that indicated a behavioral predisposition toward violence. After factor analysis the general knowledge section showed three grouping factors: factual knowledge, murder knowledge and alcohol knowledge. Factor analysis of the attitude section yielded two factors: a positive attitudinal predisposition toward violence and a negative predisposition toward violence. Seven hypotheses were tested. The analysis showed in a significant difference between the pretest and posttest for all respondents as an increase in factual knowledge; a decrease in negative attitude predisposition toward violence; and, a decrease in behavioral predisposition toward violence. There was a significant difference between the participating schools; there was no significant difference between the ages; and, results for females differed significantly from those for males. The findings imply that the adaptation of the Prothrow-Stith high school violence prevention curriculum is effective with lower grades. Designers of violence prevention, problem solving, peace making, conflict resolution and other prevention programs could look to the results of this evaluation when considering the factors that influence general knowledge, attitude and behavior toward violence. Differences between the sexes indicate an opportunity to tailor interventions and prevention strategies that stress the positive aspects of resolving conflict with peaceful, non-aggressive approaches. More detailed examination of the age differences may yield information about the influences that strengthen the quality of resilience or that indicate shifts in attitude and behavior in younger children.

Published Article / This article examines how South African newspapers report on the activities of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) regarding human rights violations in South African schools over a five-year period (1 January 2005 to 31 December 2009). The overarching research question that guided this study is: Can the media play a role in cultivating and creating a particular view of human rights violations in schools and advocate policy change through their framing of the activities of the SAHRC? McManus and Dorfman's guidelines were used to analyse the structural and content frames of 161 articles that were retrieved from the SAMedia database. These news stories provide a glimpse on the wide variety of human rights violations the SAHRC investigated during the five-year period. The interrogation of the two dominant content frames, namely school violence and infringements on learners' rights to basic education, reveals newspapers' superficial and sensationalised coverage of human rights violations. The analysis exposes the media's lack of policy advocacy.

This correlation study investigated the relationship between Africentric values (Collective work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics and Self determination) as measured by the Children’s Africentric Value Scale (CAVS) (Belgrave, Townsend, Cherry, & Cunningham, 1997) and attitudes towards violence reflected by Culture of Violence and Reactive Violence as measured by the Attitudes Towards Violence Scale: A Measure for adolescents (Funk, Elliot, Urman, Flores, & Mock, 1999) with a sample of 200 secondary school learners in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu Natal. There was no statistically significant relationship between the aforementioned Africentric values and attitudes towards violence. Gender was found to be a predictor of Reactive Violence with male participants being more prone to endorse reactive violence. Recommendations for school violence interventions based on Africentric values were also provided and discussed in this study. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

Non-addressable school violence - criminological phenomenon The purpose of the thesis is an analysis of non-addressable school violence, identifying it's roots, describe the perpetrators and the approaches used in fighting the problem, and lay down a characteristic of the youngest of them, a threat assessment program. The thesis is composed of three chapters, which are: Definition of non-addressable school violence, Current approaches to non-addressable school violence, Safe school iniciative and Implementing a threat assessment program. Each chapter is divided into subchapters according to the relevant issues. Chapter One consists of four parts. The first one deals with the definition of non-addressable school violence and the differences between it and the other types of violent behavior. The second one contains history of this phenomenon and how it changed in time. Third is about age of the perpetrators and the victimology and the last one deals with the effect of medialization. Second chapter is about current approaches used to describe non-addressable school violence, these are profiling, guided professional judgment, automated decision making and threat assessment. In the subchapters I argue pros and cons of all the approaches when used on the problém at hand. Third chapter is about "Safe...

The aim of this study is to analyse and describe how resilient adolescent learners in a township school cope with school violence in order to develop and recommend a model to promote resilience in coping with school violence. As basis for this study violence is described and explained in the theoretical framework of the ecosystemic theory, as well as the social learning and cognitive behavioural theories. Based on these theories violence is discussed as a reaction and as an action that occurs through reciprocal interaction between the systems and the social environment. Through this interaction adolescent learners could be exposed to individual, family, community and school related risk factors and external barriers, which could have psychological impact, and could lead to a path of violence and self-destruction. Thus, the view of the study is that some learners have the ability and skills to cope with school violence, whilst others are not capable of coping with school violence. However, both groups could learn coping skills. This study wishes to further show that in order for adolescent learners in a township school to cope with school violence certain intrapersonal characteristics and social interpersonal skills of resilience, as well as external protective factors should be present. Therefore, background to research into the theories of resilience and coping based on Salutogenesis is provided. Salutogenesis stresses the importance of how well-being (resilience and coping) is created and maintained. The specific research design selected for this study is a case study and is qualitative, explorative and descriptive in nature. This research design is also emergent and is logically constructed according to qualitative research methods to ensure credibility and validity if the study. The research design further provides clear direction for the way in which the fieldwork is undertaken. A two-pronged approach was followed with the data collection. First, a pilot study was done for refinement of questions and data collection formats as well as for understanding the realities of the fieldwork and research process. Secondly, the data were collected from participants in three different phases, including gathering of background information of the school; obtaining views about school violence, resilience and coping; as well as collecting data from resilient adolescent learners about their violent experiences and how they coped with school violence. The process of analysis that was followed was to describe the protocol for all phases; to identify and describe the themes that emerged from the data of all phases; and to present a clear profile of each resilient adolescent learner. The results were presented within a narrative that should provide the reader with enough information to determine whether the findings of the study could possibly apply to other people or settings. The findings of the study revealed that many adolescent learners in the township school experienced direct incidences of violence either at school or in the community. The most common types of violence reported by the participants, are bullying, fighting, swearing, gangsterism, carrying of weapons, stabbing and gambling. Other contributory factors are racism and substance abuse. Reportedly, the nature of violence changed over the years because of efforts, mainly from the educators, to develop a workable discipline system. It was also found that there were learners at this school who coped with school violence because of intrapersonal characteristics of resilience, social interpersonal skills, and external factors. The intrapersonal characteristics of resilience are an appealing temperament; sense of coherence; internal locus of control; positive self-concept; being future directed, and belief in a Higher Being. The social interpersonal skills are communication skills, cognitive skills, and conflict resolution skills. The external factors are family support and social support. Based on these findings this thesis develops and recommends a systemic-based model to promote resilience in adolescent learners in coping with school violence in a township school. / Prof. R.E Swart

O escopo dessa pesquisa foi investigar por meio da revisão sistemática e metanálise a relação existente entre violência escolar, no período de 2006 2016, o rendimento e a qualidade de vida do aluno dentro da instituição enquanto fator pertinente para o processo de ensino e aprendizagem. O levantamento bibliográfico foi conduzido em bases eletrônicas de dados (LILACS, SciELO e PubMed) resultando na escolha tanto de artigos científicos quanto de livros. Por meio de uma busca bibliográfica padronizada, utilizou-se palavras-chave (descritores) específicas em estudos pertinentes à questão proposta. Para a seleção e avaliação dos estudos científicos levantados na busca foram estabelecidos critérios, contemplando os aspectos: estudos realizados em território brasileiro, tipo de estudo, participantes, intervenção adotada e avaliação dos resultados. Dos títulos obtidos a partir desta busca foram selecionados somente aqueles cujo material tivesse relação com o objeto do presente estudo. Após a leitura do texto completo, os mesmos foram resenhados de acordo com ficha protocolar e classificados com relação ao nível de evidência e grau de recomendação. Como resultado 15 (quinze) estudos foram incluídos na revisão sistemática e, em seguida, para a metanálise. Por meio dos resultados e da discussão, notou-se que existe uma escassez de estudos com o enfoque da violência escolar, rendimento do aluno e qualidade de vida; contudo os resultados obtidos demonstraram que a violência no âmbito escolar interfere no clima educacional ao qual o aluno encontra-se exposto e resulta na queda da qualidade de vida do aluno e contribui para seu baixo desempenho escolar. O processo ensino e aprendizagem também foi prejudicado quando o aluno é exposto à violência intrafamiliar. / The scope of this research was to investigate by a systematic review and meta-analysis the relation between school violence, during 2006 2016, income and quality of life of the student into the institution as a relevant factor for teaching and learning process. The bibliographical survey was conducted in electronic databases (LILACS, SciELO and PubMed), and resulting in the selection of both scientific articles and books. Through a standardized bibliographic search, specific keywords (descriptors) were used in relevant studies to the proposed question. For the selection and evaluation of the scientific studies raised in the search criteria were established, covering the following aspects: studies carried out in Brazil, type of study, participants, intervention adopted and evaluation of the results. From the titles obtained from this search were selected only those whose material had relation with the object of the present study. After reading the full text, they were reviewed concerning the protocol form and classified in relation to the level of evidence and degree of recommendation. Thus, 15 (fifteen) studies were included in the systematic review and then for meta-analysis. Through the results and discussion, it was noted that there is a shortage of studies with the focus on school violence, student achievement and quality of life; However, the results show that school violence interferes with the educational atmosphere to which the student is exposed and results in a drop in student\'s quality of life and contributes to their poor school performance. The learning and teaching process was impaired when the student was exposed to intrafamiliar violence.