SAVE: AN INTERVENTION TO PREVENT SCHOOL VIOLENCE BASED ON THE EDUCATION OF CONVIVENCIA

1. SAVE: AN INTERVENTION TO PREVENT SCHOOL VIOLENCE BASED ON THE EDUCATION OF CONVIVENCIA Rosario Ortega Córdoba University Spain

2. The concept of convivencia Convivencia is a very popular Spanish word employed in legal, community and institutional contexts. Convivencia means living together, sharing activities and life on a day-to day basis, with the guarantee that nobody is attacked or intimidated. Culturally it has a positive value, recognising that people look for the sharing of well-being. • In the legal sphere: respect for the rights of others • At an institutional level: the welfare of the whole community • In the psychological field: feelings of empathy and happiness to be with others including pro-social attitudes and behaviour Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain

3. Labels used to nominateBullying and Violence in Spain • Words used by students: • abuse, mistreatment, hitting, bothering, making my life impossible • Words used by parents: • rejection, bothering, abuse, mistreatment, selfishness • Words used by teachers: • indiscipline, conflict, aggression, bad behaviour • General expression used by society: • school violence Despite no common criteria for naming school violence problems, in Spain, preventative action against these problems have been developed based on the concept of convivencia. Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain

4. School Convivencia • School Convivencia concerns everyone in the school community : teachers, students, family and society • SAVE project was the pioneer of using this specific whole policy model • SAVE project was designed as a whole policy and included improving School Convivencia Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain

5. SAVE project • From the most socially and economically deprived areas of Sevilla metropolitan area 26 Schools (Primary and Secondary) were surveyed • 4,914 Students, between 8-18 years old • Only 10 Schools implemented the SAVE programmes • 5 Schools (3 Primary, 2 Secondary) were evaluated as the experimental group and were compared with 4 as the control group. Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain

6. SAVE main data: Bullying and the risk of violence Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain

7. GOOD RELATIONS Bad relationships B BULLYING AND INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE GOOD RELATIONS GOOD RELATIONS A V Bad relationships GOOD RELATIONS ANTI-BULLYING INTERVENTION RELATIONSHIP DEFINING SCHOOL CONVIVENCIA Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain Rosario Ortega & Rosario Del Rey

8. SAVE Project Focussing on bullying and interpersonal violence prevention, SAVE aims to improve School Convivencia through: • Training teachers in service programmes • Working on curricular issues: • Working to improve interpersonal peer relationships • Feelings, attitudes and values as part of the curriculum • Co-operative work on learning activities • Intervention with students at risk and involved in bullying or interpersonal violence • Working with bullies • Working with victims Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain

9. Implementationprocesses of SAVE project • Three conditions for a school to undertake the SAVE network • The involvement of the School Counsellor, Head teacher and at least 4 teachers • Each school developed their own programmes within the convivencia model • Each programme had to be accepted by the CEP (Centre for Training teachers in Service) Only 10 Schools maintained these conditions during the 3 years of the implementation of SAVE Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain

10. Evaluation SAVE Schools: • Victims and bullies decreased on both measures: • Pre-Post Evaluation • Experimental versus control evaluation • Non-involved pupils increased • General feelings of Convivencia increased. • Peer relations improved: increased tolerance, empathy, co-operation and social skills, as good examples of convivencia Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain

11. EVALUATION RESULTS PRE-POST TEST Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain Rosario Ortega & Rosario Del Rey

12. EVALUATION RESULTS EXPERIMENTAL VERSUS CONTROL Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain Rosario Ortega & Rosario Del Rey

13. EFFECTIVENESS OF THESAVE PROGRAMMES • General feelings of Convivencia improved as a consequence of the SAVE programmes, in the opinion of 17.5% of students at the SAVE Schools • Convivencia in terms of peer relations improved as a consequence of the SAVE programmes in the opinion of 71.5% of the students • Reducing bullying as a consequence of the SAVE programmes was observed only by 18.0% of students at the SAVE Schools Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain

14. Students Opinions on SAVE Programmes Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain

15. CONCLUSIONS • SAVE was a whole policy project based on convivencia as part of the Spanish Schools Culture • Although bullying and interpersonal violence decreased, the best results of SAVE were in increasing the levels of peer relations and convivencia • Students who were involved in the SAVE project perceived working directly with victims and bullies as the best way to reduce bullying problems at school. • We need more work in order to know how whole policy models cope with bully-victim problems. Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain