First Regional Seminar of the Project Social Partners in Education Concerned about Violence in Schools: How to Prevent and Mitigate Third-Party Violence and Harassment in Schools

1
First Regional Seminar of the Project Social
Partners in Education Concerned about Violence in
Schools How to Prevent and Mitigate Third-Party
Violence and Harassment in Schools

• 26 April 2012 Warsaw

2
POLAND - GDYNIA

• 20th 21st of February
• The first Case Study visit was attended by
• Monika Konczyk (Poland),
• Helene Hemet (France)
• Jennifer Moses (UK)
• who are members of the ETUCE Steering Group on
  tackling Third-party Violence and Harassment.

3
Secondary school (No. V)

• The school is located on the outskirts of the
  city of Gdynia. The group met with the head
  teacher Mrs Alicja Adamczyk along with school
  workers and students at the school. Mrs Adamczyk
  has been head of the school for 12 years and
  there are 25 classes in the school of 300
  students aged 15 18 years of age. The school is
  made up of students from all social classes and
  there were more girls than boys.
• There are 40 teachers in post of which only six
  are men.

4
The school had adopted some procedures relating
to the violence at school

• 1. recognising the problem
• 2. analysing the problem in depth (parents
  included)
• 3. consultations (psychologists included)
• 4. Evaluation
• The school has good contacts with local police
  and the social care centre.
• The parents board meets every two months. They
  give their opinions and suggestions on how to
  tackle violence and harassment in school.
• School psychologists and special pedagogic school
  workers have individual and group meetings. The
  inclusion of these specialist staff was seen as
  an advantage to the prevention of violence in the
  school as they were well trained.

5
The head teacher underlined

• the culture in Poland is that the students have
  more rights than the pupils therefore it is
  difficult to discipline and punish students who
  are being violent at school and there is little
  support from parents. The school needs to call
  on the police when they have serious acts of
  violence or harassment in the school. The media
  also creates a "rat race"- the school is good
  when its students have good test results - no
  word about safety. She reported that they do not
  have not enough tools to prevent difficulties
  when they arise in school.

6
Students

• Girls found several suggestions
• 1. anonymous boxes- where students can put the
  notes with the problems, questions for the school
  to deal with
• 2. support group
• 3. techniques for communication and personal body
  language courses.
• The boys only came up with one solution and this
  was for the school to introduce courses on self-
  defence techniques.

7
Complex School No 14

• It is a Primary and Junior school at one of the
  modern districts of Gdynia. The school is
  separated by primary and junior pupils and has
  995 pupils. It is the largest schools in Gdynia
  and has 131 teachers and 50 staff workers. There
  are 3 psychologists at the school.
• The school had a good security system with safe
  doors where no strangers can enter the school
  without first seeing the caretaker.

8
A serious case

• 1. They organized the individual psychologist
  care for the friends and other pupils and
  parents.
• 2. At the beginning of the school year) they
  provided special courses for the teachers and
  students on how to behave in dangerous situations
  outside the school e.g. if somebody attracts you
  what to shout and where to go for help. The
  police and municipality police gave some lectures
  about dealing with strangers and how to keep safe
  when going to and from school. For example,
  walking nearby the forest, dark streets and
  avoiding being alone in the dark. The school also
  provided specialist workshops on cyber harassment
  for teachers and students and what to do if they
  receive offensive texts and email .

9
The police seal"

• The kids who take part in that project prepare
  work on how to be safe in the street and at home.
  Every child gets the special blue seal- a toy and
  the orange jackets to be seen at night on the
  roads.
• There were also posters on the walls with
  pictures showing how to behave safely in school.

10
National project "When you love you do not use
any violence- do not beat a child

• It was promoted by the media for the adults to
  stop them from beating and being violent against
  their children. The School organized special
  workshops for parents and students. The parents
  have the possibility also of taking part in
  monthly lectures and workshops
• How to deal with any difficult situations,
• How to protect the child against drug dealers and
  strangers on the net.

11
Law education

• The junior students have had the meetings with
  the lawyers to learn about the legal consequences
  in the case of any kind of harassment. They have
  learned about the different kinds of harassment
  and cyber-bullying with external specialists.
  This has been helpful to show the older pupils
  what the consequences could be if they were
  violent towards another pupil or staff.

12
Our study visist
13
School No 14 in Gdynia
14
Meeting with Local Authority

• The group met with the Mayor of Gdynia, other
  Local Authority officials and representatives of
  the Solidarnosc union. There was a very good
  working relationship between the union and Local
  Authority in this City.
• School funding in Gdynia is rather insufficient
  to sustain the education of all the pupils and
  students. They currently only receive one third
  of the budget for educating 30,000 pupils and
  employing 3,800 teachers.