Who needs to take the Schools Against Violence in Education Training?

School violence encompasses physical violence, including student-on-student fighting and corporal punishment; psychological violence, including verbal abuse; sexual violence, including rape and sexual harassment; many forms of bullying, including cyberbullying; and carrying weapons in school.

Understanding Why Some Kids Are Violent

Most children outgrow the human instinct for aggression and self-centredness by the tie they approach school age. The temper tantrums of the two-year-old and the argumentative nature of a five-year-old thankfully are usually short lived and these forms of direct aggression fade. This is why the majority of students in school are not hitting and kicking and spending the entire day arguing and fighting. “What does increase as the child matures is the level of indirect aggression—rumor-mongering, exclusion from groups and social events, spreading slanders—which is more commonly associated with girls than boys. That suggests that physical aggression self-limits in most youngsters because it increasingly fails to achieve its purpose and often gets its practitioner hurt or in trouble, while indirect aggression is subtle enough to proceed beneath adult radar and hurtful enough to reward its user… To the degree that adolescent-onset violence does exist, there are suggestions in the literature that it is attributable to the shift in focus from the family to peers that occurs in adolescence. A plausible case can be made for attributing at least a significant amount of teen-onset violence to the influence of delinquent peers on a relatively non-violent adolescent, who subsequently rejects that influence and returns to a low-violence pattern of behavior. This would account for the relatively low levels of violence attributed to those identified as teen-onset participants” (In The Know).

Who Should Take School Violence Prevention Training?

This training is essential because it helps attendees learn the warning signs of violence or possible trouble and gives them the tools and knowledge they need to know what to do should they experience violence in their classroom. These violence prevention classes are recommended for the following:

• Teachers- teachers are often required to take some sort of violence prevention and preparedness training before they can teach.
• Principals- being in charge of so many students is a big responsibility and principals need to know the warning signs to look for in their students.
• Staff Members- school staff also need to know what to look for so cafeteria counselling, and janitor crew can take the violence prevention training.
• School Workers- anyone who works on or with the school or has prolonged or frequent encounters with the students can benefit from the training as well.
• Resource Officers – many schools today have a member of the local police department on campus and they may also have taken school violence training.
• Community Members- members of the community can also take the training as there are often versions of it available to non-school employees.
• Parents/Volunteers- parents or volunteers who work with the students or who are on campus can also benefit from the violence prevention training course.

Sign up today for the Schools Against Violence in Education Training and do your part to keep kids safe at school and reduce school violence!