Kiva: The Finland Alternative Against School Aggression in Bulgaria]

The writing of this article was provoked by another case of aggression against a teacher in a Bulgarian school. For the purposes of the analysis, a “case study” method was used to “dissect” the school situation that took place. The latter facilitates the derivation of the specific factors for the registered event. Through the code of linguistic communication, inductive generalizations stood out, which were related to deductive ones, generated by secondary analysis of data from the sociological research conducted in our country. The considered situation focuses on the Finnish school bullying intervention program KiVa, developed by the University of Turku, understood as an alternative to reducing school aggression and victimization. Besides, it also builds a safe and secure school environment.

Comparative analysis of aggression levels in left-handed and right-handed adolescents

Introduction. The study examines the problem of aggression in education. Previous studies have discussed a number of reasons for school aggression. Left-handedness is frequently reported as an important risk factor of aggressive behaviours. The aim of this study is to compare the levels of aggressiveness between right-handed and left-handed adolescents. Materials and Methods. To date there has been little agreement on the assessment of handedness in scholarly literature. The authors of this article have divided the inventories aimed at assessing handedness into two groups: those identifying genetic predisposition, and those that assess the influence of social pressure. The study was conducted in St. Petersburg and involved 86 secondary school students aged between 11 and 15 years. Handedness was assessed using 7 tools frequently mentioned in scholarly literature. To assess the aggressiveness, the authors used Ch.D. Spielberger’s questionnaire (STAXI) adapted by A.B. Leonova. Results. It was found that the use of different inventory sets for assessing handedness significantly changes the distribution of adolescents according to this parameter. Tools which do not take into account social pressure identify significantly more left-handed people than those that depend on social pressure. The study has not identified significant differences between right-handed and left-handed adolescents in terms of the level of aggressiveness. At the same time, it was revealed that aggressiveness directed outward is higher in supposedly retrained left-handers. Conclusions. The study has not shown any significant differences in the level of aggressiveness between left-handed and right-handed adolescents. Future research should concentrate on the investigation of aggressiveness in retrained heft-handed adolescents.

Transactional Links between Teacher–Adolescent Support, Relatedness, and Aggression at School: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study

This study examines the reciprocal effects between two school-based relationships within the classroom—namely, perceived teacher support and relatedness with classmates—and school aggression (overt and relational) across two courses of secondary education. Participants were 654 adolescents (48% boys), who were assessed in three waves: first, at the beginning of the academic year (T0), second, at the end of the same academic year (T1), and third, at the beginning of the next academic year (T2) (Mage wave 1 = 13.98 years). Autoregressive cross-lagged modeling was applied. Results show a protective effect of relatedness against relational aggression in both genders. Moreover, we observed a protective effect of perceived teacher support at the beginning of the course for later school aggression as well as a risk effect if this perceived teacher support is maintained throughout the course. These effects were observed in relation with gender-atypical forms of aggression (overt in girls and relational in boys). Finally, aggression had negative consequences for relatedness in girls and for teacher support through the mediation of relatedness in boys. Gender differences and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Bullying: Legal and Socio-Psychological Aspects

The article focuses on the problems of bullying. Legal and socio-psychological aspects are analyzed in order to further prevention and improvement of the methods counteracting this phenomenon. In particular, the stages of development of the problem are drawn, special attention is paid to research in which it is possible to develop a plan of action to prevent bullying in educational institutions. Bullying is one of the most uncertain and debatable definitions that needs further study. Systematic, regularly repeated violence (mostly psychological) is the main feature of bullying. Scientists D. Olveus, P. Randall, N. Duncanson and others have studied the problem of bullying. The article reveals the legal aspect of bullying, namely legal liability (administrative and criminal). The content of the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine about Countering Bullying (Harassment)” of December 18, 2018 №2657-VIII and other regulations are analyzed. Methods to counter bullying such as the Farst, Link crew and the Finnish KiVa method are presented. Development of an action plan, aimed at preventing and combating bullying (harassment) in educational institutions, is among the ways of solution the problem. Thus, bullying is the worldwide problem. This problem is called socio-psychological which leads to destruction of the personal character. According to the authors, education from childhood is necessary. A person should know, already in his adolescence, that he can be prosecuted criminally or administratively for illegal actions. Bullying is violence, therefore science of law must be taught. This problem mustn`t be ignored because it could lead to irreparable consequences and ruin lives of many people. The authors note that it is impossible to eradicate bullying but it is possible to minimize such cases. Key words: bullying, participants of the educational process, violence, school aggression, preventing, offence.

Why Interventions to Influence Adolescent Behavior Often Fail but Could Succeed

We provide a developmental perspective on two related issues: (a) why traditional preventative school-based interventions work reasonably well for children but less so for middle adolescents and (b) why some alternative approaches to interventions show promise for middle adolescents. We propose the hypothesis that traditional interventions fail when they do not align with adolescents’ enhanced desire to feel respected and be accorded status; however, interventions that do align with this desire can motivate internalized, positive behavior change. We review examples of promising interventions that (a) directly harness the desire for status and respect, (b) provide adolescents with more respectful treatment from adults, or (c) lessen the negative influence of threats to status and respect. These examples are in the domains of unhealthy snacking, middle school discipline, and high school aggression. Discussion centers on implications for basic developmental science and for improvements to youth policy and practice.

Do teachers misbehave? Aggression in school teams

Purpose – Despite growing research on school aggression, significant gaps remain in the authors’ knowledge of team aggression, since most studies have mainly explored aggression on the part of students. The purpose of this paper is to focus on understanding the phenomenon of workplace aggression in school teams. Specifically, the purpose of the study was to examine whether team affective conflict in school teams mediates the relationship between team injustice climate (distributive, procedural, and interpersonal injustice climate) and team aggression. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from a survey of 43 school teams at different schools using questionnaires. Findings – Results showed that team affective conflict played a role in fully mediating the relationship of team procedural and interpersonal injustice climate to team aggression. Research limitations/implications – The present results empirically support the notion that workplace aggression can be considered not only an individual phenomenon but also a team phenomenon. Furthermore, it highlights the significance of organizational factors in predicting this phenomenon. The study should serve to encourage principals to reduce the level of team aggression and develop a supportive climate characterized by fair procedures and respect. Originality/value – A review of the literature also reveals that little investigative effort has been made by scholars to examine aggression on the part of teachers. Evidence for this can be seen in the scarcity of publications on this topic. The current literature’s call to address this issue in schools and at the team level (Fox and Stallworth, 2010) stimulated the present study by highlighting the importance of exploring the contextual factors, rather than the individual ones, responsible for school team aggression.