Prevention Strategies
According to the CDC (n.d.), a number of strategies can help prevent school violence. At the individual level, increasing student problem-solving skills, improving social skills, and early intervention can both reduce victimization and stop students from becoming the perpetrator. In addition, ensuring that students are comfortable reporting victimization early can be critical for ensuring the situation does not escalate. If students think they will not be believed, or that the school or their parents can’t do anything about the victimization, they are not going to report it. The strength of the relationship between students and their teachers, parents, and peers is a factor in how often victimization is reported. Peer training on how to effectively and safely intervene in school violence can also help. If students know what to do if they are witnessing victimization, it can help both the victim and ensure reporting of the incidents to those who have more power to intervene.
Schools are working to prevent bullying on their campuses. Many school districts are creating anti-bullying campaign and are increasing zero-tolerance policies. One of the most effective strategies to prevent bullying is to teach kids how to resolve their conflicts in other ways. The earlier kids
are taught these strategies, the more effective they are as the children get older. Image: School Sign. Authored by: Eddie∼s. Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/ Bully_Free_Zone.jpg. License: CC-BY 2.0
According to Juvonen (n.d.), schools can help reduce school violence by ensuring they have strong school policies around school violence, including counseling for perpetrators to help them learn other ways to deal with their issues. Schools can create conflict mediation and peer-to-peer groups to help with problem resolution. They can also increase educational opportunities for students around victimization and what to do if they become a victim or if they witness victimization. In addition, schools are increasing the physical security of their campuses, including automatic locking doors and video equipment. Results are mixed regarding the effect of school resource officers on reducing school violence. Although the officers might help with overt violence, they are not good at reducing subtle forms of violence; they also increase school arrests as well as increase the targeting of minority students, which can create a hostile learning environment.
According to the CDC, it is important to ensure that educators and other staff are properly trained to help with conflict resolution and to teach students how to resolve conflicts peacefully. This type of training includes knowing how to help build healthy relationships, teachers modeling nonviolent attitudes and behaviors, and creating a positive school climate. In addition, teachers should effectively “manage a classroom, resolve conflicts nonviolently, promote positive relationships between students with diverse backgrounds, and create positive student-teacher relationships so that students feel comfortable talking with teachers about violence- related issues” (CDC, n.d.). The earlier this can be taught, the more ingrained it will be as students reach adolescence and adulthood. In addition, the CDC suggests ensuring there are after-school activities, which can reduce violence and help integrate students into the school more, as well as reduce community after-school crime.
Although it is impossible to stop all types of school violence, parents, teachers, and peers can work to reduce violence through interventions and creating a school environment that allows victims to have a voice and be heard. School should be a place where children feel safe and can engage in the educational environment without fear of their peers or staff.