A recent educational study revealed that the methods of some teachers, some school laws, and the ways the school administration deals with students represent factors that motivate aggressive behavior within the school building.
The study considered that these factors combine with other factors that exist outside the school walls, such as family disintegration, to push the student to express in a negative way the feelings of anger that are burning within him.
For its part, the Ministry of Education said that it had taken several measures that would address and eliminate the problem, including implementing a training program for psychologists over a period of three years, on negative behavioral manifestations in the school community, and ways to deal with them, in addition to providing guidance and awareness services for students and parents. Stressing the necessity of having a psychologist in every school.
In detail, the study conducted by a team of professors at the UAE University distinguished between violence in schools and the behavior that predisposes to it, explaining that “violence among students has not yet reached the point of a phenomenon, according to scientific standards, as its events are infrequent and do not extend over a long period of time, except “The aggressive behavior that is predisposed to it is widespread.”
She continued, “Family disintegration and the wrong treatment methods of parents, whether cruelty or excessive pampering, are one of the most important factors motivating violence among students,” stressing the necessity of spreading an anti-violence culture at the family, school, and community levels.
The results of the study showed that “the most common type of violence among students in schools is verbal violence, followed by hostility, then anger, quarrels, and throwing garbage at school, while sexual violence is less common.”
The means used in violence among male students are hands, feet, and school tools, then cutting tools, sharp weapons, seizing other people’s things, stun devices, and inciting riots at school.
As for female students, the manifestations of violence include quarrels, provocation, destroying classroom contents, vandalizing bathrooms, contempt for each other, ridicule, tearing up private property, and sabotaging educational tools.
The study indicated that there is a link between violence and problems related to academic achievement and psychological and social problems, as well as between violence and age, especially with regard to sexual violence and violence directed towards the self.
Regarding the most important factors motivating aggressive behavior among students, the study showed that they are represented by family disintegration, parents’ discrimination in their treatment of children, in addition to failure and low academic achievement, the behaviors of some teachers, school laws, the methods of school administration dealing with students, and hatred of some academic subjects. And the inability of schools to carry out the educational and guidance role for students. According to the study, the methods of provocation to which the student is exposed, such as being subjected to insults and cursing at him and his parents, are among the factors that motivate violence in schools, in addition to some students feeling states of anxiety, tension, feelings of guilt, low self-esteem, a feeling of hostility towards others, and a lack of empathy for them. This group is exposed to repeated incidents and outbursts of anger, in addition to the influence of friends in making decisions that lead to the continuation of violent behavior, and a number of them have been involved in previous legal problems.
The study concluded with several recommendations to address this problem, namely educating students in schools about the harmful effects of violence and its consequences, spreading an anti-violence culture at the family, school and community levels, designing long-term awareness programs characterized by modernity and innovation, and activating the role of family counseling to reduce family problems that help Fueling aggressive behavior in children.
The study called for raising the level of awareness among parents about the importance of dealing properly with children and correct upbringing methods, and developing the skills of social workers in schools on how to deal with violent behavior, in addition to the importance of having a psychologist in every school, so that his efforts are not dispersed among a group of schools.
She stressed the need for psychological and counseling services to be part of the educational process, providing the necessary human resources for this, and providing fixed rules in dealing with student behavior, through codified and specific references, laws and regulations, in addition to paying attention to aspects of school activity, especially for secondary school students, to exploit their energies. The role of the teacher should not be limited to educational aspects only, but extends beyond it to paying attention to school problems and contributing to solving them.
The study emphasized the necessity of developing school services and the performance of its administrations in line with students’ needs, inclinations and preparations, and paying attention to developing the school’s physical environment, including buildings, services and activity halls, and the necessity of creating an effective participatory relationship with the family.
She pointed out the need for the media to contribute to educating families and the public about the importance of the problem of violence and aggressive behavior, and for the Ministry of Education and the Abu Dhabi Education Council to periodically review the methods of selecting teachers and qualifying them educationally to carry out their educational roles, and not be limited to the educational role only, and the necessity of the Ministry’s departments communicating with the educational field through various means. To provide technical support in confronting such negative behaviors, and to conduct studies and research on the problem of violence in schools.
Based on the study’s recommendations, the Ministry of Education, through the Student Guidance Department, took several actions and measures in line with what the study reported, as it adopted two initiatives to study the percentage of active school attendees, and the percentage of interactive parents’ councils, and they were preceded by a project to strengthen the relationship between the home, the school, and community institutions.
The Ministry also issued a list of behavioral discipline for students in the school community, prepared a school guide on procedures for dealing with students’ situations and problems, and a behavioral student guide for various educational levels, which was recently issued.
It worked to qualify social workers, by implementing a training program for them over a period of three years, on negative behavioral manifestations in the school community, and ways to deal with them, in addition to a number of counseling and awareness services for students and parents.
The Student Guidance Department in the Ministry of Education suggested the need to provide schools with the necessary numbers of social workers, the need to have a psychologist in every school, and direct educational districts to prepare databases of cases of aggressive behavior and violence through their schools and prepare research and studies to find out the causes and methods of prevention.
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