Teachers' presence may deter violence

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Dec, 1996

While many high schools have resorted to metal detectors, video Cameras, and security guards to help stem the rise of violence on school grounds. putting teachers in school areas where most violence now occurs may be a better deterrent. In a survey of more than 100 students, teachers, and administrators at five midwestern high schools, Ron A. Astor, professor of social work and education, University of Michigan, found that, of the 166 reported acts of school violence, all occurred in locations where few or no adults - specially teachers - were present.

About 40% of the incidents took place in hallways between class periods, while another 20% occurred in cafeterias during lunch-time. Other dangerous areas included gyms, locker rooms, auditoriums, and parking lots, especially right before or after the school day. "Our results suggest that school violence occurs in predictable locations and times in and around the school building. Although staff members were deeply disturbed by violent events in their school, most did not believe it was their professional role to secure dangerous locations or intervene to stop violent events in those locations." While teachers in the study indicated a sense of ownership and responsibility for the space within their classrooms, many were reluctant to extend that feeling to areas of "undefined public space," which accounts for about a third of all school space.

Because school culture and the institutional system have not always defined teachers, professional roles clearly regarding school violence, they often are uncertain about who should intervene and what procedures to follow. "Teachers are really caught in the middle. Intervention strategies prescribed by school administrators have not always been clear or effective. Teachers need to be given encouragement and support to develop effective ways to deal with violent incidents." Those who did intervence to stop violence did so out of personal moral conviction, rather than an obligatory organizational response.

Although many schools have security guards, hall monitors, and other adult aides present in common areas, the students in the study said that "unowned" public places must be "personally reclaimed" by adults who have authority, know students personally, and know what procedure to follow when conflict arises in those locations.

"By far, the most effective violence intervention described by students, teachers, and administrators was the physical presence of teachers who are willing to intervene, coupled with a clear, consistent administrative policy on violence," Astor explains. "There was consensus among the students that caring teachers saw their role as transcending beyond the was of the classroom to all areas of the school."