The violence in the schools

The violence is everpresent phenomenon. Perception of the society is that the violence is increasing, including the violence in the schools, but the truth is actually more complex, because the perception does not always correspond to the truth. However, there is no systematic monitoring, and we cannot claim with certainty how the trend of this phenomenon is moving. We can say with certainty that the violence in the schools is not the new phenomenon, but the is that during these last years more and more attention is given to this phenomenon. Also, there is still no unified approach to the study of this phenomenon, also the question is raising - what should we study during the consideration of the issue of violence? Should we study bullying, antisocial behaviour, vadalism, the violations of the children in their conflict with the law, minority delinquency or data about the social exclusion. So, there is a lack of the systematic collection. According to the data from the SZO, the violence among young people is increasing, which among other factors can be explained by the emergence of poverty as well as with social and economic transition. During the research of the SZO, conducted in 2010. about the youth and the violence four basic and related causes stand out and those are: 1. individaul, biological/psychological characteristics that influence the inherited or learned personality., 2. relationships inside the family and relatioship with peers, 3. community level social cohesion and integration, 4. society demographic and social changes and benefits. Some other factors affect the level of violence in the school, we can certainly name some of them: type of school and the school atmosphere, the relationship between the teacher and the student, characteristics of peer groups and students groups, age, sex, families, the special needs in education, historical trednds, etc. Different forms of violence affect the victims of violence who feel frustrated, angry, humiliated, isolated, hopelessly, injured, scared, which leads them towards bad grades, low self-confidence, depression,suicidal thoughts or attempts. Anyway, long exporsure to violence leads the victim towards mental problems and somatic disorders. According to some researches, it is believed that every other child is exposed to some form of violence, and according to other results 63% of children are affected by bullying in schools, whether they are the executors, helpers, observers, victims or those who defend them, and it is known that they need professional help.

What can we do?

there are different programs in different European countries which serve as a respond to violence, by which they try to influence the reduction of the violence in the schools. Those programs differ in many of their characteristics. Different educational programs on theme of the reduction of violence can significantly contribute to the reduction of the violence phenomenon, whether it is done through the group approach and studying, through drama activities and role plays, movies, multimedial material etc. All of this can help, but only as a part of the wider intervention programs. Some of the programs are focused on individual support to study social skills, assertiveness, building self-confidence and the change of behaviour. What can school do? School should introduct the rules of the behaviour in the classes, develop the basic measures of prevention, reinforcement of school climate with the goal to minimise the violence, studying different programs and supporting the activities, individual support to the children who are the victims, who take a risk to become violent, security measures and the self education. Also, one of the methods can be studying the social, emotional and the behavioral skills and the monitoring of the change of them (that program gives the results at the age 5-11). The program includes five key elements: self-consciesness, empathy, emotional monitoring, motivation and social skills, including communication. The researches conducted in the Great Britain showed that the learning of these skills does not help to the students to develop personal and interpersonal kills only, but it significantly influences the school, their academic success, reduction of the number of unjustified truancies, positive shift of behaviour and the reduction ofviolent incidents, everything that influences the increasing of the inclusivity in schools. The important role in the development of the reventive or interventive programs have the students themselves, they should be included, because by that we affect the reduction of the violence in the schools. The researches in some European countries show that the peer support can be only intervent but also preventive measure with the goal to reduce the school violence. The role of students can be in the form of the system of the peer support, where the cooperation and the quality of values are distinguished. Through the system of peer support the students can develop the capacity and they can channel aggression, when it appears, also they develop the experience of promoting, violent behaviour in the wider context. Related to that it is important to promote collaborative and group access beteen peers in order to encourage pro/social behaviour and increase the

level of cooperative behaviour which is based on confidence. Students alsco acquire skills through a structured co-operation activities. Then, peer mediation, conflict resolution, listening or peer consultations through these approaches students learn how to work together which affects the reduction of the prejudices, skills of communication, exchange of information and the ways to look at their achievments, but also learning the skills to solve and to overcome conflict situations. So, the school becomes the place where you can talk about the feelings and relations in an acceptable manner. The benefits of the peer support are: - peers discover the violence much earlier that the adults - young people reveal their secrtets to their peers easier and more frequently then to adults - the victim of violence has someone to speak up to, an he/she sees that the school stuff is doing something about that problem - often the stuff dont have enough time to deal with all interpersonal problems - in that way the peers acquire skills that will be useful later in their life during some period school is being known as a place where people take care of children - peer support can often be good a connection between others systems of support It is alsom important to include some other groups in the school work, as well as wider social community. The network of professional support can be very helpful.