Lifelong Learning Programme

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TITLE OF THE PUBLICATION
Studying peer violence in the 3rd cycle of basic education – a questionnaire for the Portuguese school population
SURNAME AND NAME OF AUTHOR(S)
Freire, Isabel P.; Simão, Ana M. Veiga & Ferreira, Ana S.
PUBLISHER
Universidade do Minho, 2006
PLACE AND DATE OF PUBLICATION
Braga, 2006
TYPE OF PUBLICATION
Research
LANGUAGE OF THE DOCUMENT
Portuguese
LANGUAGE OF THE REVIEW
English
THEMATIC AREA
School bullying
DESCRIPTION OF CONTENTS
This article presents a questionnaire as tool for the study of diverse types of peer violence displayed among students of the 3rd cycle of basic education in Portuguese schools. The questionnaire reflects, on the one hand, the worries felt about school violence and its repercussions on the daily lives of students and educators while, on the other hand, it responds to the felt need of research tools adapted for the Portuguese population at this level of education that may be used to render a rigorous portrait of the problem of peer aggression. The latter should distinguish random aggression from systematic aggression and do so in realistic terms, without cause for alarm and without undue neglect.
Date on peer aggression are collected in this questionnaire within the context, that is information and data are collected about the school context in general, from the perspective of the students, and it allows to understand peer violence within the larger framework of contextual relationships. This aspect of data collecting not only renders the diagnosis of peer violence in schools easier to detect, it also describes its context in schools in what concerns in particular the diverse levels of interpersonal relations.
Following on a brief introduction to peer violence, the questionnaire building procedure is briefly described and presented summarily.Then the most relevant results are presented from giving the questionnaire to 242 students in a 3rd cycle basic education school in Lisbon. Data analysis shows that there is, for example, interdependence between being a bully and school year; however, cases of systematic aggression (of bullied and bullies) vary with gender.
The article clarifies concepts and effects of peer violence from the point of view of perpetrators and of the victims. It shows that peer violence is a serious social problem that goes beyond the mere school and individual levels. It gives emphasis to how bullying relates to family aspects such as affection between parents and children, authority models used within the family and the emotional climate lived within the family.
The implementation of programs in schools that are willing to adopt this multi-level approach requires deep knowledge of the school context, of its real problems and a definition of the most adequate strategies. To do this, educators and headmasters must have reliable ata collection tools that may identify the dimension and contours of the peer violence issue in that particular context and isolate cases os systematic aggression.
COMMENTS ON THIS PUBLICATION
This article was chosen because of the data collected, which renders it useful for intervention purposes. Besides offering a diagnosis, it may lead to effective action plans to prevent peer violence. In today’s world it is recommended that schools foster a peace culture based on a school culture that is respectful of human rights.There has been great progress in human rights and children’s rights, with impact at several layers of society.
Schools have become gradually aware that they need to safeguard students’ rights, namely their right to being different, to welfare and to life quality, besides the most obvious of all reights which is the right to quality education. Hoever, as large organizations, schools have become places where many types of violence and aggressive behaviour occur, from that which is physical to subtle forms of psychological violence. Violence is often a hidden reality because victims are afraid to come forward. Articles such as this promote the awareness of educators from within the school context. It does so by helping them to diagnose violent situations in time and rigorously, which lies at the basis of any action plan.
WHERE TO FIND IT
www.scielo.oces.mctes.pt/scielo.php%3Fpid%3DS0871-91872006000200008%26script%3Dsci_arttext+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pt
Name of Compiler
Catarina Louro
Name of Institution
Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco
Role in the institution
Junior Researcher

20 December 2014

Final Partners’ meeting

The fourth partners’ meeting took place in Florence (IT) on 15 December 2014. The meeting had the objective to check the activities carried out since the third meeting of the project and share and assess the in progress results. A special focus has been dedicated to the presentation of the strategies to solve the case scenarios.