The purpose of the study was to describe factors that make teachers feel safe in their classrooms and school buildings. An in-depth exploration of contributing factors to feelings of safety for teachers will assist the field of education when planning facilities and preparing current and future school administrators in leading schools with a healthy and safe climate for teachers. For this study, the researcher surveyed all teaching personnel in a school division which was a total of 133 full-time, fully licensed teachers employed by a rural school division in Southside Virginia. A survey instrument with both quantitative and open ended questions was developed to investigate perceptions of safety in participants' responses regarding the physical characteristics of school buildings and classrooms, the influence of colleague relationships, and administrative practices and school division policies that influence teachers' feelings of safety. The quantitative survey questions utilized a Likert-scale format for participants to indicate degrees of agreement with statements with responses that ranged from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The opened ended questions provided for qualitative investigation by allowing participants to provide answers in their own words regarding the four research sub-questions. Findings from the study indicated that teachers in the study generally felt safe in their schools. Teachers indicated perceiving that the greatest violence risk was posed by outside intruders and concern for safety was not generally caused by student behavior. Teachers' perceptions of safety were influenced by the presence of a resource officer in their school building, locked exterior doors, the use of surveillance cameras, the presence of a supportive and visible school principal, and the support of their teacher colleagues. / Ed. D.

School districts have implemented filtering and safety policies in response to legislative and social mandates to protect students from the proliferation of objectionable online content. Subject related literature suggests these policies are more restrictive than legal mandates require and are adversely affecting information access and instruction. There is limited understanding of how filtering and safety policies are affecting teaching and learning because no comprehensive studies have investigated the issues and trends surrounding filtering and safety policy implementation. In order to improve existing safety policies, policymakers need research-based data identifying end user access issues that limit technology integration in the kindergarten-12th grade (K-12) educational setting. This study sought to examine Internet filtering and safety policy implementation issues in South Carolina's K-12 public schools to determine their influence on information access and instruction. A mixed methods research design, which includes both quantitative and qualitative approaches, was used to investigate the research problem. Quantitative data were collected from information technology (IT) administrators who were surveyed regarding filtering and safety policy implementation, and school library media specialists (SLMS) were surveyed concerning the issues they encounter while facilitating information access in a filtered environment. Qualitative data were collected through interviews with a subset of the SLMS population, thereby providing further insight about Internet access issues and their influence on teaching and learning. School districts' Acceptable Use Policies (AUPs) were analyzed to determine how they addressed recent legislative mandates to educate minors about specific Web 2.0 safety issues. The research results support the conclusions of previous anecdotal studies which show that K-12 Internet access policies are overly restrictive, resulting in inhibited access to online educational resources. The major implication of this study is that existing Internet access policies need to be fine-tuned in order to permit greater access to educational content. The study recommends Internet safety practices that will empower teachers and students to access the Internet's vast educational resources safely and securely while realizing the Internet's potential to enrich teaching and learning.

<p>Background: Three epidemiological studies conducted in Rwanda have highlighted that many people at different levels in the community of soccer do not implement accepted control measures for reducing the risk of injuries. However, little is known about what soccer community members themselves know about injury prevention. Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify perceptions of factors influencing the implementation of soccer injury prevention strategies in Rwanda.</p>

<p>Background: Three epidemiological studies conducted in Rwanda have highlighted that many people at different levels in the community of soccer do not implement accepted control measures for reducing the risk of injuries. However, little is known about what soccer community members themselves know about injury prevention. Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify perceptions of factors influencing the implementation of soccer injury prevention strategies in Rwanda.</p>

Physical activity in youth has many benefits, but parallel to these benefits, sport related injuries pose considerable risks.  It is important to public health to address sport related injuries, particularly those affecting young people, who comprise the majority of participants in organised sport in Sweden.  The first study in this research showed that inspections of local sport environments, where injuries often occur, did not occur uniformly. Two additional studies pointed out the need for better surveillance of injuries, and described the use of ambulance attendance reports as a possible improvement to current surveillance systems, with a possibility to improve safety for youth and other sport participants. Two other studies identify risk factors that were specific to football and climbing sports, which can be used to guide targeted safety interventions for the young participants of these sports.  The studies, taken as a whole, provide new information about the factors associated with sport related injuries, particularly for young people, and point out the need for better sport injury surveillance, improved inspection strategies for fields maintained by organised sport clubs in local communities, and the need to address risk factors specific to different sport activities.

Magister Scientiae - MSc / Background: Three epidemiological studies conducted in Rwanda have highlighted that many people at different levels in the community of soccer do not implement accepted control measures for reducing the risk of injuries. However, little is known about what soccer community members themselves know about injury prevention. Purpose: The aim of this study was to identify perceptions of factors influencing the implementation of soccer injury prevention strategies in Rwanda. / South Africa

School divisions have spent billions of dollars on school safety upgrades since the events at Columbine (Cox and Rich, 2018). However, the research on the effectiveness of policies and safety upgrades has been inconsistent. Further, research dedicated to teacher perceptions of school is limited. An in-depth examination of how teachers perceive safety policies and practices could assist school leaders in the creation of safe working spaces for their teachers. The purpose of the study was to identify factors that influence teacher perceptions of safety within the school environment. This study was an extension of Leonard's (2016) study entitled What School Factors Influence Teachers' Perceptions of Safety in Their Classrooms and Schools? This mixed-methods study surveyed 559 teachers in a medium-sized Virginia school division and had 353 participants. The survey tool consisted of qualitative and quantitative elements designed to measure teacher perceptions of safety regarding physical characteristics of school facilities, collegial relationships, school administrator practices, and the principal's adherence to school division safety policies. Descriptive tables for each survey question were created. The tables highlighted statistical trends gathered from the quantitative portion of the study and lists of common perceptions observed from the thematic analysis process. Potential relationships between perceptions of safety, school facilities, gender, years of experience, and teaching assignments were highlighted. The study indicated that physical and visible security measured impacted teacher perceptions of safety. Teachers identified that locked exterior doors, the presence of school resource officers, and security cameras positively impacted their perceptions of safety. The school environment had an impact on perceptions of teacher safety. Teachers determined that colleague support impacted perceptions of safety positively. In addition, school administrators' practices influenced teacher perceptions of safety. Teachers conveyed that principal visibility, administration support, and open communication enhanced their perception of safety. Further, teachers highlighted the importance of their awareness of school and district safety policies, and the existence of crisis plans at the school and division level. Moreover, the majority of teachers' perceptions of safety were not negatively impacted by student behavior or the potential of outside intruder threats. Thus, the researcher determined that, overall, teachers perceived that they felt safe at school. / Doctor of Education / School divisions have spent billions of dollars on school safety upgrades since the events at Columbine (Cox and Rich, 2018). However, the research on the effectiveness of policies and safety upgrades has varied. Further, research dedicated to teacher perceptions of school is limited. An in-depth examination of how teachers perceive safety policies and practices could assist school leaders in the creation of safe working spaces for their teachers. The purpose of the study was to identify factors that influence teacher perceptions of safety within the school environment. This study was an extension of Leonard's (2016) study entitled What School Factors Influence Teachers' Perceptions of Safety in Their Classrooms and Schools? The researcher surveyed 559 teachers in a medium-sized Virginia school division and had 353 participants. The survey consisted of qualitative and quantitative elements designed to measure teacher perceptions of safety regarding physical characteristics of school facilities, collegial relationships, school administrator practices, and the principal's adherence to school division safety policies. A summary table for each survey question was created. The tables highlighted statistical trends gathered from the quantitative portion of the study and lists of common perceptions observed within the qualitative questions responses. Potential relationships between perceptions of safety, school facilities, gender, years of experience, and teaching assignments were highlighted. The researcher determined that physical and visible security measured impacted teacher perceptions of safety. Teachers identified that locked exterior doors, the presence of school resource officers, and security cameras positively impacted their perceptions of safety. The school environment had an impact on perceptions of teacher safety. Teachers determined that colleague support positively impacted perceptions of safety. In addition, school administrators' practices influenced teacher perceptions of safety. Teachers conveyed that principal visibility, administration support, and open communication enhanced their perception of safety. Further, teachers highlighted the importance of their awareness of school and district safety policies, and the existence of crisis plans at the school and division level. Moreover, the majority of teachers' perceptions of safety were not negatively impacted by student behavior or the potential of outside intruder threats. Thus, the researcher determined that, overall, teachers felt safe at school.

In the light of almost daily media reports of accidents and incidents of violence in South African schools, it can be assumed that most South African schools are unsafe. This study investigates the manner in which rural public schools implement the school safety regulations prescribed by the South African Schools Act to ensure learner safety. This qualitative study investigates the implementation of the Schools Act’s safety regulations at four public schools situated in the rural areas east of Pretoria in Gauteng. Data was gathered using interviews with the principals of these schools as well as by the observation and recording of the normal day-to-day activities at the school and by an analysis of each school’s school safety policy. The interviews with the principals focused on the manner in which each school implements the regulations for school safety in areas such as access to the school and the conducting of searches, the arranging of trips and excursion and the planning and managing water-based activities and the early release of learners. Observation at each of the four schools focused on the physical condition of the school and the schools’ procedures for playground duty, fire fighting and emergency drills. The analysis of each school’s safety policy aimed to determine the compliance of these policies with the Schools Act regulations and to determine the practicability and effectiveness of each policy. The researcher’s conclusions include the fact that none of four schools had an effective and practicable school safety policy in place and were not implementing their inadequate policies effectively. He suggests among other things a comprehensive compulsory school safety training programme including aspects such as information on the intent, content and aims of the school safety regulations, the concepts of liability and negligence and methods for drafting, adopting and implementing effective school safety policies. Copyright / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted