TITLE OF THE PUBLICATION
“The Ten Commandments Against School Violence”
« Les dix commandements contre la violence à l’école »
SURNAME AND NAME OF AUTHOR(S)
Eric Debarbieux
PUBLISHER
Editions Odile Jacob
PLACE AND DATE OF PUBLICATION
Paris – September 2008
LANGUAGE OF THE DOCUMENT
French
LANGUAGE OF THE REVIEW
English
THEMATIC AREA
School bullying
DESCRIPTION OF CONTENTS
Should we be afraid for our children? Is there really nothing we can do to address and especially prevent school violence?
Eric Debarbieux, based on his field knowledge and inspired by many studies conducted in Europe, America and Africa, provides ten propositions to fight efficiently violence at school:
• “Beware of manipulations”: beware of media and political manipulations of news.
• “Thou shalt not denigrate”: avoid denigration, do not under-estimate the importance of the phenomenon
• “Make a scientific diagnosis”: a diagnosis must be made before any prevention or remediation initiative
• “Reject unique causes”: violence results from various factors that combine to make acting out more or less likely
• “Place it in a context”: place violence in a social context
• “Avoid solitude”: break solitude, fight “every man for himself” attitudes and create links within and around institutes
• Think prevention”: prefer prevention than punishment (the stricter the punishments the more aggressive behaviours are reinforced)
• “Evaluate thy actions”: efficient and inefficient prevention strategies
• “Train thy staff”: staff training for a collective framework of action
• “Help thy community”: the school is part of a larger community (parents, inhabitants, institutions), in which part of the solution lies.
COMMENTS ON THIS PUBLICATION
Education science teacher, who used to be educational counsellor and teacher for students in difficulty, Éric Debarbieux has conducted many studies on violence at school and young people petty criminality in France and abroad. He is currently the chairman of the International Observatory of Violence in School.
In his work, he formulates ten analysis and intervention principles on a phenomenon he has studied for twenty years through many accounts.
Ten clear propositions that address victim protection, educational team actions, staff training and the parent’s crucial roles. Ten concrete propositions validated by the best world specialists.
Name of Compiler
Julien Keutgen
Name of Institution
Inforef
Role in the institution
Translator – project assistant