Practices that promote comprehensive school safety

Anna Díaz-Vicario

doi:10.18844/gjhss.v3i1.1779

Abstract

Educational institutions must be safe and secure spaces for students, teachers and non-teaching staff. It is necessary to manage the safety and security properly in order to prevent accidents and incidents, creating an environment in which physical, emotional and social well-being is promoted. The aim of this study is to identify and analyse actions that promote comprehensive school safety in educational institutions of Catalonia (Spain). From a qualitative perspective, we carried out a multiple case study, with a sample of 9 educational institutions. The outcomes show that educational institutions develop various activities in order to promote school safety, but many of them are performed only because they are required by regulations, without any sensitivity and real commitment to their need or importance. For an adequate management of comprehensive school safety, it is necessary to mainstream safety management processes in all areas of school management,involving all stakeholders of the educational community.Keywords: Comprehensive school safety, prevention, school management, school safety

Highlights

Safety, security, and prevention in educational institutions are themes that have always been of interest and concern for the educational community
The concept of comprehensive school safety emerges in this context, trying to address the multiple issues that must be considered to ensure the welfare of students, teachers, non-teaching staff, and any other member of the educational community (Author, 2014)
This study aims to identify and analyze specific measures adopted and actions performed by administrators, teachers, non-teaching staff, students and other members of the educational community to promote comprehensive school safety in educational institutions of Catalonia (Spain), in order to emphasize the actions that they are developing

Summary

Introduction

Security, and prevention in educational institutions are themes that have always been of interest and concern for the educational community. Educational institutions must be safe and secure spaces for students, teachers and non-teaching staff in order to create optimal spaces for learning and working. Several authors (Boychuk, 2014; Duke, 2002; Hundeloh, & Hess, 2002; Shaw, 2004; Syrjalainen, Jukarainen, Varri & Kaupinmaki, 2015) defend the need to address school safety from a comprehensive, holistic, global and integrated approach, considering that school safety cannot focus only on the promotion of health, physical security or risk prevention, but rather we need to move towards the creation and maintenance of the safety of the whole educational institution. The concept of comprehensive school safety emerges in this context, trying to address the multiple issues that must be considered to ensure the welfare of students, teachers, non-teaching staff, and any other member of the educational community (Author, 2014). In the process of creating and maintaining safe schools, it does not make sense to adopt narrow approaches, especially if we consider that the different dimensions of school organizations are interrelated and influence each other (Gairin, 2004)

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