Addressing violence and victimization in a school setting in Greece

Abstract

The phenomenon of school violence has increasingly become the focus of research in Greece, especially during the last two decades, and includes online involvement in violence, mainly for students in middle and high school grades. In addition to the violent events that occur in school settings, adolescents are more active online than any other group and are therefore increasingly exposed to cybervictimization. The research data indicate that although cyberbullying increasingly occurs in Greece, young people, parents and educators are not aware of the extent of the problem of cybervictimization, of its main characteristics and, most importantly, of the ways to prevent it. In this article, recent data are presented on violence expressed and its implications, with an emphasis on the Greek school setting, concerning the involvement of adolescent students in incidents of bullying, cyberbullying, cybergrooming and cyber-hate speech as perpetrators, victims and bystanders. We outline the factors that lead to violence within the school setting, such as those that lead to the expression of violence and the strategies that adolescents adopt to cope with incidents of violence. Finally, the implications of this paper highlight that significant changes should be made in the field of education within school settings by recognizing the hidden structures that may sustain the phenomenon of violence to ensure that all students are reflected in the educational curriculum and supported by the institution of the school. The school setting should include initiatives to empower students to be protected and to develop critical thinking and active coping strategies against episodes of violence and bullying.