Violence in schools is a pervasive, highly emotive and, above all, global problem. Bullying and its negative social consequences are of perennial concern, while the media regularly highlights incidences of violent assault - and even murder - occurring within schools. This unique and fascinating text offers a comprehensive overview and analysis of how European nations are tackling this serious issue. Violence in Schools: The Response in Europe, brings together contributions from all EU member states and two associated states. Each chapter begins by clearly outlining the nature of the school violence situation in that country. It then goes on to describe those social policy initiatives and methods of intervention being used to address violence in schools and evaluates the effectiveness of these different strategies. Commentaries from Australia, Israel and the USA and an overview of the book's main themes by eminent psychologist Peter K. Smith complete a truly international and authoritative look at this important - and frequently controversial - subject. This book constitutes an invaluable resource for educational administrators, policymakers and researchers concerned with investigating, and ultimately addressing, the social and psychological causes, manifestations and effects of school violence.

This international edited volume is a rare look at cultural, economic and political forces that contribute to school violence. In light of the devastating events in US schools and the violence towards students and schools world-wide, the war on knowledge development in non/secular education is increasing at an alarming rate. This book offers an international perspective on violence from both K-12 to tertiary levels, parents, administrators-teachers-support staff and research scholars in a desire to understand the contextual issues surrounding violence and its impacts on the field of education. ELWB Scholars and practitioners hail from six continents propose historical to futuristic perspectives linking violence towards education and its inhabitants while framing future strategies to alter multinational fear mongering to the decline of knowledge generation for an informed citizenry.

Drawing on one of the most comprehensive and representative studies of school violence ever conducted, Benbenishty and Astor explore and differentiate the many manifestations of victimization in schools, providing a new model for understanding school violence in context. The authors make striking use of the geopolitical climate of the Middle East to model school violence in terms of its context within as well as outside of the school site. This pioneering new work is unique in that it uses empirical data to show which variables and factors are similar across different cultures and which variables appear unique to different cultures. This empirical contrast of universal with culturally specific patterns is sorely needed in the school violence literature. The authors' innovative research maps the contours of verbal, social, physical, and sexual victimization and weapons possession, as well as staff-initiated violence against students, presenting some startling findings along the way. When comparing schools in Israel with schools in California, the authors demonstrate for the first time that for most violent events the patterns of violent behaviors have the same relationship for different age groups, genders, and nations. Conversely, they highlight specific kinds of violence that are strongly influenced by culture. They reveal, for example, how Arab boys encounter much more boy-to-boy sexual harassment than their Jewish peers, and that teacher-initiated victimization of students constitutes a significant and often overlooked type of school violence, especially among certain cultural groups. Crucially, the authors expand the paradigm of understanding school violence to encompass the intersection of cultural, ethnic, neighborhood, and family characteristics with intra-school factors such as teacher-student dynamics, anti-violence policies, student participation, grade level, and religious and gender divisions. It is only by understanding the multiple contexts of school violence, they argue, that truly effective prevention programs, interventions, research agendas, and policies can be implemented. In an age of heightened concern over school security, this study has enormous implications for school violence theory, research, and policy throughout the world. The patterns that emerge from the authors' analysis form a blueprint for the research agenda needed to address new and exciting theoretical and practical questions regarding the intersections of context and school victimization. The unique perspective on school violence will undoubtedly strike a chord with all readers, informing scholars and students across the fields of social work, psychology, education, sociology, public health, and peace/conflict studies. Its clearly written and accessible style will appeal to teachers, principals, policy makers and parents interested in the authors' practical discussion of policy and intervention implications, making this an invaluable tool for understanding, preventing, and handling violence in schools throughout the world.

This forward-looking monograph distills the current knowledge base on lethal school shootings for school professionals invested in improving school safety. Divided between correlates, interventions, and prevention, it begins with the Virginia Tech massacre as exemplifying the kinds of personal, environmental and social dynamics that commonly result in lethal violence on campus. Bullying as a causal factor in school violence is a specific focus of the findings, including immediate and long-term negative effects, psychology of bullies and victims and issues related to cyber bullying. And specialized chapters provide details on Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for victimized children and youth, treatment possibilities for bullies and an empirically-supported program for preventing further lethal events. Featured in this reference: Case study: Cho Seung-Hui. Correlates of school violence: bullying, psychopathy, ethnic and gender issues and more. Anti-bullying interventions. Treatment of traumatized children. Averted school shootings and resolved school hostage events. The Safe Schools Communities Model for violence prevention. For professionals working in and with schools in various capacities, optimizing safety is a top priority. Violence in Schools gives those readers clear direction toward achieving this crucial goal.

- Provide up-to-date knowledge about the nature of school violence, its etiology, epidemiology, and impact - Analyzes school violence through a multicultural and international perspective - The lead editor, Florence Denmark, is an internationally-recognized scholar and former APA president and a recipient of the 2004 Gold Medal Awards for Life Achievement from the American Psychological Foundation (APF)

Offering a comprehensive review of major legal issues relating to school violence, this resource provides important and useful guidance for dealing with these very timely issues. Topics include student violence and harassment, weapons in schools, searching students in schools, zero tolerance policies, due process for students, threats and threatening communications at school, school liability, and much more.