Abstract
M.Ed.
A school is a place where children are equipped for the world with all its challenges. School has
always been developed to be a place of safety, away from all the brutality of the world, and a safe
haven for children from the rising tide of perils they increasingly face; perils such as substance
abuse, violence, unwanted pregnancy, drop out, teen smoking, and depression (Salovey & Sluyter,
1997). However, headlines in newspapers, 60 POLICE CALLED IN TO QUELL SCHOOL
MAYHEM (The Star, 29 August, 2007) and PRIMARY SCHOOL OF CRIME REVEALED (Cape
Argus, 29 May 2007) and SWORD-WIELDING SCHOOLBOY KILLS FELLOW PUPIL (Mail &
Guardian, 2008) reflect almost all these threats as daily realities for our children. Headlines
featuring such crude and often fatal accounts of school violence appear to be the most concerning.
It is clear that some children are turning the safe haven which school is intended to be, into a
nightmare. In addition, over and above speculation as to the reason for this phenomenon growing
in intensity and frequency, the fact remains that schools are no longer safe havens where children
are afforded the chance to realize their full potential. Schools are instead becoming four walls and
a roof for the breeding ground of moral decay, readily highlighting the urgent need for attention,
understanding and action in response to this devastating phenomenon.
Having taken cognizance of and perceiving the reality of the broader context of school violence,
and encouraged by my passion for children as an educator and future educational psychologist, my
research set out to explore the phenomenon of school violence - not through how it plays itself out
in schools, nor as a reaction to the phenomenon being experienced at schools, but rather from the
preventative and proactive stance of trying to make sense of and harness skills that could better
equip and support our children in their daily negotiation of school.