The exposed child in a qualitative study of cases at the Swedish Schools Inspectorate. An ideal or not-so-ideal victim?

Abstract

In this qualitative study of text documents, 23 cases reported to the Swedish Schools Inspectorate are analysed through a theory of the ideal crime victim. The results show that expectations of the victim’s passivity are the same for the ideal victim of aggression in Swedish schools as for the ideal crime victim. Legitimacy as a victim in school conflicts, however, requires social normality, not weakness. The study highlights that Swedish school staff need awareness that hostile acts, according to the Swedish Education Act, are not necessarily diminished if they take place as part of a mutual conflict. Schools should therefore focus on matching measures with problems without searching for moral innocence in the exposed child. The study also shows that assessment strategies to clarify matters such as repeated aggression and power imbalance need to be developed.