Manifestaciones De Violencia En La Escuela Media Argentina.

KORNBLIT, ANA LIA; ADASZKO, DAN; MÍGUEZ, DANIEL

Lisboa, Portugal

Congreso; IV World Conference on School Violence; 2008

Observatorio Internacional de Violencia en Escuelas

The aim of this contribution is to analyze, from the perspective of the pupils, the nature and the intensity of the phenomena of school violence in Argentina, and to study its association with institutional and social conditions that may help to understand its presence in the local educational system. The research in which this paper is based combines the results of two mainly quantitative studies. One included 4971 pupils of 85 public high-schools of the whole country, to whom a questionnaire of closed questions was administrated. The other consists in two surveys done in 2000 and 2005 with approximately 900.000 and 30.000 cases respectively, with nationwide representation and allowing to construct several variables to measure levels and types of violence.  The results show that the most important forms of violence at schools are what are frequently termed “incivilities" or "harassment" (conducts that express lack of respect towards the rights of the others), more than of "violence in strict sense". Likewise, the level of participation in episodes that involve some of the two types of aggressions is strongly linked to certain aspects like the social family climate, the level of self-esteem, the integration or the social isolation, the performance in studies, to have or not projects of life beyond the temporary horizon of the school and the social school climate, among others. Specifically, regarding this last factor, the type of relationship between teachers and pupils is the most important aspect.  Economic conditions do not seem to have an important input in school violence, except for cases of extreme violence (in the strict sense) in contexts of severe material deprivation.