School Safety Research Articles

National Policy on Safe and Violence-Free Secondary School Implementation: Parent-Teachers’ Association’s Roles’ Awareness and Compliance in Katsina State

National Policy on Safe and Violence-Free Secondary School Implementation: Parent-Teachers’ Association’s Roles’ Awareness and Compliance in Katsina State

PENYULUHAN PENCEGAHAN 3 DOSA BESAR DALAM DUNIA PENDIDIKAN BAGI GURU DAN SISWA/I MAN 1 PULAU HARAPAN, KEP. SERIBU, JAKARTA

A safe, comfortable and disciplined school is a school where all school members are free from fear, intimidation, sexual violence and bullying so that a conducive atmosphere is created for learning and positive relationships between school members are established. Seeing the importance of understanding the consequences of the 3 major sins in Education, the LP3I Jakarta Polytechnic together with school members of SDN 01 and MAN 1, Pulau Harapan Village, Seribu Islands, conducted community service activities to create a healthy, child-friendly school culture environment. This training aims to increase knowledge and school members in Pulau Harapan, Seribu Islands, Jakarta regarding the 3 major sins of education. The method used is training and counseling attended by 25 teachers and students. The results of this community service are that it can increase knowledge and increase awareness of students in the 3 Great Sins in Education. The next activity that can be offered or suggested by the community service team is to provide soft skills training for students and self-development.

Two are Better Than One but Three is Best: Fast-Tracking the Attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Among In-School Adolescents in Nigeria

BackgroundWith 60% of Africa’s population under the age of 25 years, investing in youth will accelerate progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The United Nations concept of ‘Development Accelerators’ is operationalized by examining factors associated with multiple SDGs among adolescents in Nigeria.MethodologyThrough data collected on the health of 1800 adolescents in Southwest Nigeria (Ibadan), ten SDG targets were identified. Accelerator protective factors that could lead to the attainment of two or more SDG targets were identified. Associations were assessed using multivariable logistic regression adjusting for sociodemographic covariates and multiple testing. Cumulative effects were tested by marginal effects modelling.ResultsParticipants’ mean age was 15.02 years (SD = 2.27). Family (parenting support), environmental (no survival work and food security) and school (safe schools) related factors emerged as development accelerators. For seven of the identified SDG-aligned targets, a combination of two or more accelerator factors showed cumulative positive associations, suggesting accelerator synergies with a combination of three accelerators showing the greatest increase. For instance, perceiving the school environment as safe, being food secure and having optimal mental health was associated with an 67% chance of not using psychoactive substances. While with safe school alone it was 39% (29%-51%), with food security alone it was 42% (31%-54%) and with optimal mental health alone it was 54% (42%-66%).ConclusionSeveral development accelerators related to family, environmental and school factors can have additive effects on the attainment of the SDGs amongst adolescents in Nigeria. This has practical and policy utility in the fastest growing economy in Africa.

Book Review: Bridging continents: A British reader’s reflection on, “Redefining School Safety and Policing” by Jeffrey Yarbrough

Book Review: <i>Bridging continents: A British reader’s reflection on, “Redefining School Safety and Policing”</i> by Jeffrey Yarbrough

LGBTQ+ student, staff, and parent perceptions of Australian school climates

AbstractLesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/gender diverse, or queer (LGBTQ+) students, staff and parents can each perceive school as challenging environments. These challenges have typically been explored within three disparate bodies of research, however. Using a school climate lens, this study aimed to explore how LGBTQ+ student (n = 1926), staff (n = 198), and parent (n = 180) perceptions of school safety, interpersonal challenges and self-harm differ by roles, school types, school location, and gender modality. ANOVA and chi-square analyses showed that although LGBTQ+ students, staff and parents experience similar concerns in school safety, interpersonal challenges, and self-harm, students have higher prevalence on all indicators. Students in government/public, religious affiliated schools, and non-metropolitan schools had particularly high concerns, as did transgender and gender diverse students. This study offers important implications for school-wide interventions to promote positive school climates, with particular focus on school safety, anti-bullying, and self-harm, targeted to the needs of multiple members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Newer New Jersey work-based learning teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic: school safety regarding ventilation, trainings, and awareness of government agencies resources

ABSTRACT New Jersey (NJ) Safe Schools Program (NJSS) provides code-required trainings for NJ teachers supervising students in work-based learning (WBL) experiences. During the COVID-19 pandemic, increased use of chemical cleaning, sanitization, and disinfectant products (CSDPs) led to ventilation and other health concerns. NJSS conducted two surveys of newer NJ WBL teachers between October 2021 and June 2023, with a follow-up in fall 2022 for those who completed initial surveys before summer 2022. This study focused on questions regarding workspace ventilation; respirator and CSDPs trainings; awareness of government resources for safety and health (S&H); and demographics. Over 65% of participant classrooms have operable windows or ventilation systems, while 13% of school salons have ceiling fans. Half of participants didn’t receive training on handling CSDPs, although 90% were aware of government S&H resources. Data suggested teachers have well-ventilated workspaces and are aware of different resources available, which is important to continue post COVID-19.

Fostering Safe Schools: Empowering Educators and Parents in the Fight Against Violence in Early Childhood Education Setting

Bullying was a concerning issue among pre-schoolers within kindergarten settings, though its definition remained debated. This research’s aim is to uncover the forms of bullying, its causes, and impacts on children, as well as the intervention programs implemented by early childhood education teachers. This research engaged 87 teachers in anti-violence training, collecting data via bullying worksheets and interviews with 18 preschool teachers. The results showed that in early childhood education, verbal bullying involved the use of degrading words, while physical bullying included actions that hurt the victim's body. Relational bullying impacted social exclusion, whereas emotional bullying focused on hurting the victim's feelings. Internal causes included aggressive tendencies and low social values, while external causes included negative environmental influences and upbringing. Victims experienced depression, isolation, and learning disorders. The abuser might lose empathy, have difficulty forming relationships, and show aggressive behavior in the future. Teachers communicated openly with perpetrators and victims to help understand the root causes of behavior and provide emotional support. Follow-up actions taken by early childhood education institutions included counseling, developing empathy and social skills, strengthening positive values, and creating a safe environment. Parental involvement through education and open communication was also an important factor in creating a conducive environment for positive child development and preventing bullying.

Facial Frontiers: Unveiling the Potential of LBPHs and Haar Cascades in Facial Recognition for Enhanced School Security

The article aims at introducing a Facial Recognition School Security System as one solution to improve security while speeding up administrative processes in educational institutions. The need for such a system emanates from concerns over the safety of schools as well as inadequacies inherent in conventional attendance and access control methods. Inadequate methods can be manual or rely on an older technology that leads to inefficiencies, inaccuracies and breaches of security. This proposed solution exploits contemporary artificial intelligence algorithms and computer vision techniques to facilitate the reliable identification and validation of entrants thereby providing contactless approach during Pandemic times in compliance with the COVID-19 safety protocols. At this period of COVID-19 it also acts as an avenue where physical touchpoints are reduced with consideration to social distancing measures. Our method is novel in the fact that it only detects and recognizes human faces as opposed to general object detection systems. We use Local Binary Pattern Histograms (LBPH) for face recognition and Haar Cascades for face detection. The Haar Cascade algorithm employs simple rectangular features to detect faces, using a cascade of weak classifiers to achieve high detection rates. The LBPH algorithm captures local texture patterns of facial features, calculating LBP values for each pixel. Our project demonstrates variable performance across different classes, with precision ranging from 0.50 to 1.00, recall from 0.33 to 1.00, and F1 scores from 0.33 to 0.94, while achieving an overall accuracy of 0.75, indicating robust performance in certain scenarios but room for improvement in others.

Middle leaders pursuing teacher safety against learner victimization: A policy document analysis

Various scholars have confirmed that teacher safety against learner victimization is a growing concern worldwide, and this problem is exacerbated by a lack of understanding and readiness to implement policies to address this matter. In this regard, policy implementation by middle leaders (MLs) in creating safe school environments has attracted much less interest as a possible way of addressing issues of teacher safety and the prevention of learner victimization. MLs are regarded as individuals who have the potential to lead, plan, inspire and persuade, and in so doing, they are in an ideal position to translate policy into practice. As such, this paper provides a qualitative policy document analysis of The National School Safety Framework (NSSF) premised on the theory that every individual in the school experiences safety in dissimilar ways and has unique safety needs. The NSSF is endorsed by the Department of Basic Education to guide in addressing issues of violence and safety in South African schools. Underpinned by the rational choice theory and utilizing policy document analysis, texts in the NSSF were analysed and interpreted to propose transformative policy strategies that can assist MLs in managing teachers’ safety at schools more effectively. The findings suggest that administrative duties and a lack of time make it difficult for MLs to create a safe and supportive learning environment in schools. Another finding was that there is no clear plan outlined in the NSSF to guide MLs to pursue teacher safety against learner victimization in schools. To assist MLs, this paper proposes transformative policy strategies that can assist them in promoting teacher safety and preventing learner victimization in schools. The paper recommends that more explicit interpretation and implementation strategies be communicated with schools to assist them in fighting the war against violence in schools.

Students' perspectives and utilization of school resource officers after experiences with school discipline or law enforcement

AbstractSchool resource officer (SRO) programs were expanded to improve school safety, but limited research has assessed factors impacting students' perspectives on and intended utilization of SROs. We analyzed the relationships of students' experiences with law enforcement and school discipline with views and intended use of SROs. We used multilevel logistic regression models based on the 2019 Minnesota Student Survey to estimate odds ratios of negative attitudes toward SROs. Among all students, 94.4% agreed having an SRO at school was a good idea, 62.1% said they would feel comfortable going to their SRO with a problem, and 68.1% that they would tell their SRO if they saw something unsafe. Among students with recent suspensions, a parent/guardian who was ever in prison, or attending alternative learning centers, there was still widespread support for SROs, albeit lower support for SROs. Furthermore, only about half of students with recent suspensions or impacted by parental incarceration stated they would utilize SROs. These findings highlight discrepancies in students' attitudes toward versus utilization of SROs, especially for those disproportionately impacted by law enforcement or school discipline. This is relevant, as having trusted adults to turn to with problems has been identified as a cornerstone of school safety.

Understanding the complex interplay of victimization experiences, empathy and school climate in Tunisian schools

AimOur study aims to examine the interactions between empathy, victimization, and the school climate in Tunisian primary schools.MethodIn total, 312 school children (158 boys and 154 girls), with a mean age of 10.75 ± 1.32 years old participated voluntarily in the study. The students answered three scales that measure the School Climate, the Victimization, and the Empathy.ResultThe results indicate a predominantly positive perception of the school climate by the students, both for the overall score (2.67 ± 0.64) and the scores of the different components of the school climate (ranging from 2.61 to 2.86). Also, girls seemed to have a more positive perception of the overall school climate, displaying higher scores (2.86 ± 0.54) compared to boys' scores (2.45 ± 0.67). Moreover, other results showed positive and statistically significant correlations (p &amp;lt; 0.01) between the different dimensions of the school climate.ConclusionThe findings highlight the importance of creating a safe and inclusive school environment where empathy is encouraged, and effective measures are in place to prevent and address victimization.

Positive Youth Development Approach to School Safety: A Comprehensive Conceptual Framework.

Youth violence, victimization, and bullying are pervasive in schools across the United States and are detrimental for learning and healthy development. K-12 school safety is an increasingly urgent issue to research and understand from multiple perspectives. Physical and psychological safety in school is linked to better student and school outcomes and is fundamental to fostering well-being and prosocial behavior. Despite research demonstrating positive outcomes associated with school safety, there is no comprehensive conceptual model in the literature that considers precursors, strategies, mechanisms, and outcomes of school safety together. The current paper presents an equity-centered comprehensive model of school safety, which is intended as a holistic representation of the multiple factors and pathways that contribute to school safety and positive youth development. This model can guide research and practice through an equity-centered and comprehensive approach. This model can enable practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to make informed decisions and reach consensus regarding planning and decisions related to reducing violence and establishing supportive school environments. Our model suggests that a comprehensive approach can ensure the safety and well-being of students and staff. By thinking ecologically, schools, communities, and stakeholders can ensure that all aspects of the school context are included in school safety.

Managing Active Shooter Events in Schools: An Introduction to Emergency Management

Active shooter events involving an armed perpetrator(s) on campus are one of the main risks facing K-12 schools. Defined as planning for and responding to emergency situations, emergency or crisis management allows for an ‘acceptable’ level of risk to be achieved. This paper will go through the four principles of emergency management, detailing what each stage involves and how it can reduce risk. The first of these is mitigation, which prevents crises occurring in the first place. Effective risk and threat assessment are pertinent to this stage. Secondly, there is preparedness, which enhances the capacity of an organization to respond to various incidents. This involves drafting emergency management plans and practicing these to ensure readiness to respond. The next principle is responding to a crisis, denoting the actions taken during and immediately after a crisis, should one transpire. The final facet of emergency management planning is recovery, referring to the short-to-long-term phase of restoring a community following an incident. This paper will share insights obtained from a recent event, The Briefings, held by the I Love U Guys foundation, one of the leading school safety organizations in the United States. Specifically, the paper will focus on a possible training approach to active shooter events and other emergencies, the organization’s emergency management framework called the ‘Standard Response Protocol’. Additionally, this paper will incorporate relevant scholarly readings in order to provide an introduction to the topic of emergency management.

Understanding the impact of climate change on Bhutanese school communities: Challenges and responses

Climate change is intensifying the risks faced by children’s lives, as well as impacting their learning and education. How school communities in Bhutan are dealing with issues related to climate change is largely uncharted. This study examined how Bhutanese schools have been affected by the changing climate and how they were responding to it. The data sources included interviews with school principals, teachers, and district education officers, as well as observations, and document analysis. The global comprehensive school safety framework, along with a whole school approach to climate action framed the results of this study. Findings included that schools experienced multiple climate impacts and shocks affecting their children’s health, education, and the school system itself. Adaptation and mitigation measures including climate change education have yet to gain traction at the sector and school’s level. Schools, however, have attempted some actions such as through disaster management, and participatory environmental conservation and green school initiatives. Social capital was critical in filling the resource gap for initiating environmental and climate change actions, carried out through collective school, community, and student-based activities. Human capacities, policy and institutional structures, technical capacities, and capital (cultural and economic) constraints as well as slow mainstreaming into local development processes impeded efforts to build climate-resilient schools, including practices to contribute to greenhouse gases reduction. This study not only shed light on how climate change was affecting schools and children but also provided strong evidence for policymakers and relevant agencies to scale up interventions to enhance adaptation and mitigation practices.

Edukasi Anti-Bulyying Melalui Strategi Kolaboratif Aliansi Siswa-Guru Dalam Menciptakan Zona Bebas Perundungan di Sekolah Dasar

Bullying in elementary school is a serious problem that can negatively impact children's psychological and academic development. The main problem identified was the high rate of bullying in primary schools which negatively impacted students' emotional and academic well-being. The purpose of this educational seminar is to develop and implement anti-bullying strategies that involve the active participation of students and support from teachers, as well as to evaluate their effectiveness in creating a safe school environment. The method used involves designing a collaboration-based anti-bullying education program, training teachers and students, and implementing related activities. Data was collected through surveys, interviews, and observations to measure changes in bullying rates, student attitudes, and school climate. The results of the study showed that the implementation of collaborative strategies was effective in reducing the incidence of bullying and increasing students' awareness of positive behavior. In addition, there is an increase in student involvement in anti-bullying activities and stronger support from teachers. In conclusion, the collaborative strategy of the student-teacher alliance succeeded in creating a bullying-free zone at Sukaraja Elementary School. The program not only reduces bullying but also improves the overall school climate, demonstrating the importance of the involvement of all parties in bullying prevention efforts

Addressing the Sleep Deprivation Epidemic in Adolescents: Findings from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey 2021

ABSTRACT Background Millions of U.S. youths do not get adequate sleep. Healthy People 2030 has prioritized sleep and identified an objective to increase the proportion of students in grades 9 through 12 who get sufficient sleep. Purpose This study investigated the predictors of severe sleep deprivation in adolescents. Methods Data were obtained from the 2021 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), a school-based survey, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Severe sleep deprivation was defined as 6 hours or less sleep per night on school nights. Binary logistic regressions were used to estimate the associations. Results Among the 17,232 youth surveyed, 48.2% experienced severe sleep deprivation. Self reported overweight and poor mental health status, limited physical activity, excessive screen time, smoking/vaping, lacking school connectedness, parental monitoring, school, and neighborhood safety as well as not having stable housing were statistically significant predictors of adolescents’ severe sleep deprivation. Discussion Scaling up sleep health programs in schools, neighborhoods, and subpopulations of adolescents could be a fundamental step toward achieving health equity. Translation to Health Education Practice Educators, health professionals, and social workers should be informed about the risk and protective factors of sleep health, and adolescents’ vulnerabilities to sleep deprivation.

Pelaku Bullying Ditinjau Dari Perspektif Teori Identitas Sosial Sebuah Systematic Review Literature

This study investigates bullying behavior from the perspective of social identity theory. Bullying is a serious issue affecting the well-being of individuals in schools and communities. The primary aim of this research is to explore how identification with specific social groups influences bullying behavior. The methodology employed is a systematic literature review focusing on inclusion criteria related to social identification, group dynamics, status and power, and contextual factors. Key findings indicate that social identification plays a pivotal role in bullying behavior, while group dynamics, social status, and influences from school, family, and social media contexts are also significant. The research findings carry significant implications for enhancing anti-bullying efforts, primarily by focusing on the development of more impactful interventions. It is vital to prioritize the creation of safe and inclusive school environments as a key aspect in combating bullying effectively.

Nature and Extent of Electronic Security Surveillance Systems in Secondary School Safety in Kenya

Secondary safety is paramount to the sustainability of school performance; however, threats leveled against schools globally are interfering with safety. Schools in Kenya have experienced a horde of threats such as fire and theft coupled with radicalization. There is hardly the use of electronic security surveillance systems to mitigate threats. In Trans Nzoia County, secondary schools have been a recipient of security threats threatening the safety of the school community. Against this backdrop, this study assessed the influence of electronic security surveillance systems on the sustainability of secondary school safety in Trans Nzoia County, Kenya. The specific objective of the study was to establish the nature and extent of electronic security surveillance systems in secondary schools in Kenya. The descriptive survey research design was used to study electronic security surveillance systems in secondary school safety in Trans Nzoia County. The study population was composed of 14 secondary schools that had previous security threats and had installed electronic security surveillance systems (unit of analysis). The sampling strategy in this study was simple random and purposive sampling. Quantitative data was analyzed descriptively and inferentially with the aid of SPSS version 25. The data was analyzed at a 0.05 probability level and presented in tables and figures in percentages and frequencies. Results: CCTV was installed in all the secondary schools surveyed sampled. It was agreeable by the respondents (76.9%) that the nature and extent of electronic security surveillance systems in secondary schools promoted safety in the school community. The interaction between the electronic security surveillance systems installed in schools and the implementation of national ICT policy and school safety policy had a 29.9% impact on promoting safety in secondary schools (R2 = 0.299, (F (2, 75) = 15.966, p = 0.000). About 80.8% of the respondents agreed that electronic security surveillance systems effectively promote safety in secondary schools.

Selection of a smart and secure education school system based on the internet of things using entropy and TOPSIS approaches

ContextThe Internet of Things (IoT) is playing an important role in the development of cars, smart homes and schools. Schools are using IoT technology to enhance student learning, digitize traditional learning and improve academic performance. IoT is rapidly replacing the traditional school system with a modern, smart and safe school system. Several modern education systems are presented in the literature. Problem statementThe difficulty of choosing a smart and safe school system while evaluating the respective merits of different school systems has long been a concern for educators. MethodIn this study we proposed a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making method (MCDM) to address the selection Problem. To rank the different smart school systems and evaluate the value of the required parameter, two MCDM-based methods are used: Entropy and TOPSIS (Technique for Preference Ordering by Similarity to an Ideal Solution). ResultsTwelve beneficial features were considered that represent the fundamental positive characteristics required to create an intelligent education system. Ten different educational systems are considered as alternatives in order to carry out an evaluation. Entropy is used to measure the importance of each criterion and TOPSIS is used to rank the school systems. In this paper, we propose how the concepts of Entropy and TOPSIS can be used to address the challenge of selecting a safe and smart school system based on IoT. Our investigation selected the IoT-based school system that was found to be the smartest and safest out of a set of schools. Finally, we discuss the evaluation of the proposed research.

Supplemental Material for The Role of School Safety Perceptions in Childhood Asthma Diagnosis Disparities

Supplemental Material for The Role of School Safety Perceptions in Childhood Asthma Diagnosis Disparities