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
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(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
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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
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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.
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