Social context of school crisis and the patterns of school violence

Abstract

The article starts from the idea that crisis in society, especially in instances such as the Macedonian society in the period of transition, conditions the crisis of the school. Symptoms of the latter ar not just the declining quality of teaching but also increased frequency of physical forms of school violence. The concept of violence is complex and its definitions range from 'verbal violence' to 'uncivilized behavior'. School violence occurs always in a certain social context, considered in this article at three levels: 1) the level of Macedonian society; 2) the global level or globalising context and 3) mass communication context (television, internet, computer and video games, cell phones etc.). Various forms of violence occurring in the family, in the social setting (which forms the background to both family and school) and in the school are closely related and mutually dependent. According to J. Dumay, school violence has three forms: 1) exogenous, 2) the violence proper to the school, implying some form of 'school incivility', and 3) anti-school violence aimed at institutions. In such a social context, the school itself with its authoritarian forms of teaching, textbooks related to the 'hidden curriculum', and inadequate organization and management is a source of violence against students. Research data presented in this paper confirm these claims. The findings also indicate that in terms of incidence of school violence Macedonia ranks at the top of European countries. The pressing character of the problem has urged some countries to develop programs for preventing and reducing school violence, as well as models of effectively organized school.U clanku se polazi od stava da kriza drustva i, posebno, makedonskog drustva u periodu tranzicije utice na krizu skole, ciji su simptomi ne samo pad kvaliteta nastave nego sve veca ucestalost fizickih oblika skolskog nasilja. Koncept nasilja je ambivalentan i njegova definicija se krece od verbalnog nasilja do necivilizovanog ponasanja. Skolsko nasilje odvija se u odredjenom drustvenom kontekstu, koji se u ovom radu razmatra na tri nivoa: 1) nivo makedonskog drustva; 2) globalni nivo ili globalizirajuci kontekst i 3) maskomunikacioni kontekst (televizija, internet, kompjuterske i video igre, mobilna telefonija i druge pokretne slike). Oblici nasilja u porodici, drustvenoj sredini (okruzenje porodice i skole) i u skoli su usko povezani i uzajamno uticu. Prema Dimeju, skolsko nasilje ima tri oblika: 1) egzogeni, 2) nasilje u skoli koje otkriva neki oblik 'skolske necivilizovanosti' i 3) oblici antiskolskog nasilja koji su okrenuti protiv institucije. U navedenom drustvenom kontekstu, sama skola sa autoritarnim oblicima nastave, udzbenicima u okviru 'skrivenog' nastavnog programa i nacinom organizacije i rukovodjenja, predstavlja izvor nasilja nad ucenicima. O tome govore i podaci istrazivanja koji se iznose u ovom radu. Podaci, takodje, pokazuju da se, prema opsegu skolskog nasilja, Makedonija nalazi u samom vrhu evropskih zemalja. Aktuelnost problema skolskog nasilja navelo je mnogo zemalja da rade na programima prevencije i smanjenja skolskog nasilja, kao sto ima pokusaja stvaranja modela uspesno organizovane skole.