violence against children WORLD REPORT ON - CRIN

142Violence against children in schools and educational settingsdevelop better social skills, higher self-esteemand a greater sense of personal control overtheir lives, and also help students attain higherlevels of academic achievement. 175During the past 10 years, profound concernabout violence in North American schools hasled to considerable research and experimentationwith different interventions, and there isnow a large body of literature documentingand evaluating different approaches. 176,177 Asa result, there is now evidence of approachesthat work in Canada and the USA. Similarresearch and experimentation is underway inmany other countries and, where there areevaluations, they are demonstrating that thesecountries are finding approaches that work,too. There is no reason to doubt that, with thewill and resources (often minimal), any country,community or school can find effectiveways of reducing violence in schools.The following discussion focuses on particularareas of intervention and provides examplesof promising practices from all regions of theworld.Leadership and policydevelopmentPolicies to tackle school violence should recognisethat schools are, above all, places of learningand can play an important role in equalisingpower and eliminating abuses of power.Schools can be guided by the highest humanrights standards in everything they do, and usealternative, non-violent methods of communication,negotiation and conflict resolution.A growing body of research has consideredschools as social systems and sought to identifyparts of the systems that might be changedto reduce violence. The conclusion has beenthat effective school leaders (e.g. the headsof education authorities and of individualschools) can go a long way toward improvingthe quality of school life by working with theother stakeholders to develop and implementpolicies governing the conduct and disciplineof teachers and students and building communityconfidence in schools. 178,179 A study ofschools in Botswana and Ghana found that themost common feature of safe and high-achievingschools is strong management. 180A review of programmes to address violencein Latin American and Caribbean schoolspointed to the importance of building positiveattitudes and behaviours from as early an ageas possible, sustaining the effort to build thosevalues right through school, and doing thisthrough such means as giving students opportunitiesto participate in making the decisionsthat shape their school environments. 181Ensuring such continuity calls for action byauthorities that oversee all schools, whether atnational, district or local level.A longitudinal study in Norway has found acausal link between good classroom managementtechniques and reduced peer violence. 182In addition, the curriculum should promotethe values of social equality, tolerance towarddiversity and non-violent means of resolvingconflicts.What happens outside the classroom is alsocritical. Education authorities should pro-