School Security Research Articles

Analysis of Management Support and Teaching Practices for the Implementation of New Elementary Science Curriculum in Islamabad Model Schools

This descriptive study aimed at exploring the teaching practices of elementary science teachers and the support provided by the management of 80 Islamabad Model Schools, after introducing new textbooks based on science curriculum 2006. The curriculum enforces the dissemination of content through student centered and inquiry based teaching approach for conceptual development of the students. It is important because this approach facilitates students to understand the included themes of Science, Technology, Society and Environment in the textbooks and to make them able to integrate the scientific concepts in real life situations. In this respect, the data were taken from the schools’ heads and science teachers through questionnaires, while some heads were also interviewed about the actual application of the curriculum. They also suggested ways to remove the hurdles regarding the improvement of science education. The correlated results were presented by analyzing the effects of the school’s profile, the teacher’s profile and the support of management on the practices of the science curriculum. The positive values are seen in some of the practices, which reflected the potential of teachers in pedagogical skills, while management support was often seen in the teaching of science contents. For this, they believed in the participation of teachers, parents, students and other schools and more often facilitate teachers for concept building of the students, but rarely recommended teachers for trainings. In the interview, they commented that the science teaching practices may be improved by teacher training, timely delivery of textbooks, available resources for the induction of dropout students and controlling school security threats.

Depiction of the community living, religion, art and culture of the Malaysians in the Tamil School text books

The Tamil Language is given national security and instructional qualification in the Primary Schools by the constitution of Malaysia. This paves the way to the teaching of Tamil from the first to the sixth standards in Malaysian Schools. The Development of Arts, Tamil Section under the Ministry of Education, Malaysia has designed the Tamil Language syllabus for Primary Schools and Tamil Schools. Based on this syllabus, the Text Book Department Prepared Tamil Language Text Books from the first standard to fifth standard. Since Malaysia in a multi-racial country, the Tamil language text books have been prepared to bring out the pieces of information about the community living, religion, art and culture of the Malaysians. This article studies how these aspects are covered in the text books prescribed in the middle schools and Tamil schools. Key words: Tamil Language, Community living, Religion, Art, Culture, Text book. ஆயவுச சுருககம: மலேசிய அரசியல சடடததில தமிழ மொழிககுத தேசியப பாதுகாபபும தொடககப பளளிகளில பயிறறுமொழித தகுதியும வழஙகபபடடுளளது. இசசடடததின வழி, மலேசியப பளளிகளில முதலாம ஆணடு தொடஙகி ஆறாம படிவம வறை தமிழமொழி கறபிககபபடுகிறது. மலேசியக கலவி அமைசசில இடமபெறறுளள கலைததிடட மேமபாடடுப பிரிவின தமிழப பகுதி தமிழபபளளிகளுககும இடைநிலைப பளளிகளுககும பாடததிடடததை வகுததுளளனர. இபபாடததிடடததை அடிபபடையாகக கொணடு மலேசியப பாடபபுததகப பிரிவு ஆணடு ஒனறு முதல படிவம ஐநது வரை தமிழமொழிப பாடபபுததகததைத தயாரிததுளளனர. மலேசியா பலலின மககள வாழும நாடாக இருபபதால தாயமொழிப பாடபபுததகஙகள பலலின மககளின குமுகாயம, சமயம, கலை, பணபாடு, ஆகியத தகவலகளைத தாஙகி தயாரிககபபடுகினறன. இவவாறு உருவாககபபடட தமிழபபளளிகளிலும இடைநிலைப பளளிகளிலும பயனபடுததபபடும தமிழமொழிப பாடபபுததகததில காணபபடும பலலின மககளின குமுகாயம, சமயம, கலை, பணபாடடுத தாககம எவவாறு உளளது எனபதை ஆராயவதே இவவாயவுக கடடுரையின நோககம. குறிபபுச சொறகள: தமிழ மொழி, சமுதாயம, சமயம, கலை, பணபாடு, பாடபபுததகம

Preventing school violence: assessing armed guardians, school policy, and context

Purpose – Recent highly publicized acts of violence and shootings on campus have prompted numerous crime prevention suggestions including having an armed presence in the schools. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of protective measures, policies, and school/neighborhood characteristics on school violence. Design/methodology/approach – The data used in this study were part of the School Survey on Crime and Safety collected in 2006. The dependent measures of school violence include reports of violence, threatened attack with a weapon, attack with weapon, and gun possession. The sample was divided into high schools and all other grades to consider differences in levels of school violence among grade levels in relation to various law enforcement security measures, school security measures, and school characteristics. Findings – Findings revealed mixed and often counterproductive results for law enforcement and school security efforts to control school violence. School characteristics, such as reports of bullying, location, and gang activity yielded numerous statistically significant findings. Policy recommendations and suggestions for future research are provided. Originality/value – This study differs from much of the previous literature, which typically examines student and administrator attitudes about victimization and crime prevention. The current study examines detailed information on the actual effects of school violence prevention efforts. Furthermore, this study moves beyond most other works (that typically focus on high schools) as it considers school safety approaches by different grade levels.

School security measures and extracurricular participation: an exploratory multi-level analysis

Although delinquency in US schools is near historic lows, concern over delinquency in US schools remains a pressing issue among school officials, parents, and policy-makers. Many scholars argue that the current approach to discipline in the United States is highly punitive. While some projects have assessed the effect of punitive security on students’ perception of safety and general well-being, little attention has been given to understanding the role these measures play in extracurricular activity. Using the Educational Longitudinal Study (2002/2004), we examine the role of security measures in predicting student extracurricular activity cross-sectionally and over time. Results show that schools with greater numbers of security measures have students who are less involved in extracurricular activities, although the presence of security measures does not relate to decreased levels of participation over time.

The Perceptions of the Psychological Counselors about Their Roles and Responsibilities Related to School Security

The purpose of this study is to analyze the perceptions of the psychological counselors about their roles and responsibilities related to school security. The study group of the study is formed of 12 psychological counselors working in different school grades in Erzurum city center. The study is formed in qualitative design. Three themes as factors affecting school security, roles and responsibilities in terms of school security, the tasks that the psychological counselors can take in terms of school security have been created in the study. The data of the study was analyzed by using content analysis. As a result of the study, it is seen that the factors affecting the school security according to psychological counselors are physical and social environment of the school, school management and attitudes of the teachers, school security system. It is determined that the perceptions of the psychological counselors about their roles and responsibilities are psychological security, responsibility, legal acts and professional competence. It is also determined that the tasks that the psychological counselors can take are preventive studies and studies towards parents.

Iran's Security and the Islamic State through the Lenses of the Copenhagen School

After the Cold War, a new generation of security studies emerged that moved debates beyond traditional, narrow, state-centric definitions of security toward considering other aspects like economic, political, social, and environmental contexts. This article evaluates one such contemporary important security concern—the threat of the Islamic State (IS), mainly against Iran, in the framework of the Copenhagen School security approach. The analysis concludes that IS threatens Iran's security by increasing the possibility of Kurdish sectarianism, widening the Shi’ite–Sunni gap, creating economic threats, decreasing Iran's influence in Syria, and challenging its power in the region. Analyzing Iran's stance against IS and the ensuing security debate is important to predict the future of the Middle East.

The Aftermath of Newtown: More of the Same

In the aftermath of the shocking school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, politicians and lobbyists seemed to engage in a lively debate about school security. The most visible suggestion was the National Rifle Association’s proposal to place armed guards in every school. More progressive politicians who derided the NRA, including President Obama’s administration, offered proposals that likewise sought to increase the presence of armed security in schools. Certainly these proposals differed, but they all sought to continue the securitization of American public schools witnessed over the past two decades, rather than advocate for real change in school safety. These responses offer important lessons about the difficulty of responding productively to tragedy, given the strength of institutionalized knowledge and politis

Creating a safe place: SRE teaching as an act of security and identity formation in government schools in Australia

This study seeks to analyse the components that contribute to Special Religious Education (SRE) classes in government schools in Australia being considered as a ‘safe place’ and the ways in which they facilitate an understanding of the students’ own religious and cultural identity. Our research focuses on one of the small faiths, Judaism, as a case study through observation of the Jewish SRE/SRI classes in the two largest Jewish population centres, Sydney and Melbourne. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 90 participants, and classroom observations were undertaken in both cities. This paper draws on Kymlicka’s concept of the rights of minority groups in a liberal society and discusses the distinction between thin and thick multiculturalism. Our findings show that the Jewish SRE teachers implemented Jackson’s interpretive approach, ensuring that the students’ educational experience is meaningful. As a result, they are able to develop their unique identity capital, which is important in a multifaith society to ensure ‘thick’ multiculturalism. Our argument is that students need to have an understanding of their own particularistic identity, as well as learning to respect other religions.

Visible School Security Measures and Student Academic Performance, Attendance, and Postsecondary Aspirations.

Many U.S. schools use visible security measures (security cameras, metal detectors, security personnel) in an effort to keep schools safe and promote adolescents' academic success. This study examined how different patterns of visible security utilization were associated with U.S. middle and high school students' academic performance, attendance, and postsecondary educational aspirations. The data for this study came from two large national surveys--the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (N = 38,707 students; 51% male, 77% White, MAge = 14.72) and the School Survey on Crime and Safety (N = 10,340 schools; average student composition of 50% male, 57% White). The results provided no evidence that visible security measures had consistent beneficial effects on adolescents' academic outcomes; some security utilization patterns had modest detrimental effects on adolescents' academic outcomes, particularly the heavy surveillance patterns observed in a small subset of high schools serving predominantly low socioeconomic students. The findings of this study provide no evidence that visible security measures have any sizeable effects on academic performance, attendance, or postsecondary aspirations among U.S. middle and high school students.

Effects of Insurgency on Universal Basic Education in Borno State of Nigeria

The study investigated effects of insurgency on universal basic education in Borno State. Basic education is the first level of education for children at primary 1 level to basic 9 which is the junior secondary school level in Nigeria. However, achieving education for all Nigerian children, Borno state need a secured teaching and learning environment. The study examined the effect of insurgent activities such as abduction of pupils and attacks on teachers in basic schools of Borno State. The sample for the study was 270 teachers of basic schools, selected on the basis of 10 teachers from each of the 27 local government area that constitute Borno State. The instrument for data collection was a 20 items questionnaire title: Effect of Insurgency on Basic Education Questionnaires (EIBEQ). Two research questions were formulated, data collected were converted to mean, standard deviation and used to answer the research questions. It was therefore recommended that the Nigerian government should provide free and compulsory education to all Borno State internally displaced children, through provision of scholarship from basic school level to university. The government should show higher commitment in mobilizing the armed forces to end the insurgency in the State and provide adequate security in schools. It was further recommended that the religious leaders should preach against violence act in their respective communities.

Ed Law

Technology can be a useful tool for security in schools; it can also trigger a backdraft of protest and legal complaints from parents and students raising constitutional law privacy objections. An action that begins with benign motives of student safety, identification, and helping schools and districts to improve their operations can end up in a full-blown federal court legal battle over the law governing individual freedoms.

Should Educators be ‘Wrapping School Playgrounds in Cotton Wool’ to Encourage Physical Activity? Exploring Primary and Secondary Students’ Voices from the School Playground

Physical activity in school playgrounds has changed considerably over recent decades to reflect a climate of ‘surplus safety’. A growing culture of surplus safety can be attributed to a desire of parents and teachers responsible for children to protect school students from danger. The aim of this research was to examine students’ perceptions of playground safety influences on physical activity during school breaks from the perspectives of the ‘users’ of school playgrounds. Data collection consisted of seven focus groups (4 primary school & 3 secondary school) conducted across four schools (2 primary & 2 secondary). During this study, the focus group discussions consisted of 54 children (32 primary & 22 secondary; 50% females; 50% males). Social-Ecological Model levels of school playground safety influence identified by both primary and secondary school students included intrapersonal safety influences (risk taking, preventing boredom, misbehaviour); interpersonal safety influences (teacher responsibilities, teacher support, peer support, teacher intimidation and bullying/territorial issues); physical environment safety influences (surfacing, protection from the weather, safe structures, protective equipment, playground space, hydration, school security and passive smoking protection) and policy/organisational safety influences (designated play areas, playground rules, further supervision, maintenance). This research addresses an important gap in the literature by providing useful information for teacher educators of the multiple safety influences on students’ participation in playground physical activity.

School Security and Student Misbehavior

Despite a nationwide trend to increase security measures in schools, their effectiveness in reducing or preventing student misbehavior remains largely unexamined. In addition, there is concern that increased security may have unintended negative side effects and is applied inequitably across students of disparate racial/ethnic backgrounds. The purpose of this study was to explore student differences between high- and low-security schools and to understand the relationship of security to student misbehavior. Data from 10,577 Grade 10 students from 504 public schools from the Education Longitudinal Study were examined. Numerous differences in students served by high- and low-security schools were noted; high-security schools were more likely to serve African American students. Security was negatively associated with student self-reported misbehavior but was unrelated to teacher ratings. Security interacted with race/ethnicity such that African American students were rated as having higher levels of disruptive and attendance-related misbehavior by teachers in schools with higher levels of security.

Chokepoint: Regulating US student mobility through biometrics

Many US public schools, struggling with perceived issues of safety and security, have installed a host of different biometric devices – vein scanners, automated fingerprint identification systems, iris scanners, GPS-enabled identification badges, and facial recognition software. Schools turn to these devices in hopes of securing school space by sorting and tracking students, visitors, and school staff based on their pre-determined risk profiles. As such, this article proposes that tracing these new forms of school security provides insight into how the politics and practices of biometric technologies are fundamentally geographical in nature. That is, biometric devices not only verify identity according to risk assessments, they also work to manage mobility by regulating where school bodies can go, when, and for what purposes. Moreover, this article analyzes how these risk profiling tactics, widely adopted by schools across the United States, necessarily borrow from the strategies used in sites of colonial occupation. Looking at schools in this way can help us plot how biometric bordering and resultant security decisions unfold at other sites of mobility beyond state (smart) borders, highways, toll booths, and ports of entry in order to formulate new “spaces of enclosure” (Amoore, Marmura, & Salter, 2008) and “dividing practices” (Nevins, 2002), thus bringing students into “closer proximity” to military relations of force through these “war-like architectures” (Amoore, 2009).

An Examination of the Effectiveness of the Implementation of Safety and Security Measures at Public Schools in South Africa

School safety and security continue to demand attention at schools worldwide and in particular, South Africa, where numerous events expose schools as unsafe environments. Legislation and various policy directives do provide for safety measures to be enacted at schools. Added to legislative provisions, are best practices in safety and security, which should engender the implementation of legislative provisions and behavioural practices aimed at keeping schools safe and secure. With this study, I explored the effectiveness of the implementation of safety measures at schools. Data collection was done through a quantitative survey of teachers and qualitative interviews of school principals. Findings indicate a mix of effective implementation with numerous challenges on other aspects of safety and security measures at schools. Though recommendations point mainly to ensuring the implementation of existing safety and security measure and best practices, the main recommendation points to the role of departmental officials who must play an effective oversight role and most importantly, support and development roles, including making sure that school governing bodies consider school safety as a school functionality lever and include it in their school strategic development planning. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n27p490

Examining School Security Measures as Moderators of the Association Between Homophobic Victimization and School Avoidance

Homophobic victimization is a pervasive problem in U.S. schools that leads to negative outcomes for students. Those who experience homophobic victimization are at greater risk for avoiding particular spaces in school because they feel unsafe or afraid. Visible school security measures (e.g., security guards, metal detectors, and cameras) offer spatial guardianship that may reduce students’ place-specific avoidance behaviors. To test this moderating effect of school security, we analyzed data from six panels of the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (N = 41,229). Logistic regression models were used to examine the moderating effect of three types of school security measures on the association between homophobic victimization and avoidance of six specific locations in school and overall fear of victimization at school. Results suggest that visible security measures did not meaningfully moderate the association between homophobic victimization and school avoidance.

Punishment in School: The Role of School Security Measures

Although investigation of school security measures and their relationships to various outcomes including school crime rates (Gottfredson, 2001), perpetuation of social inequality (Ferguson, 2001; Nolan, 2011; Welch & Payne, 2010), and the impact on childhood experiences has seen significant growth within the last 20 years (Newman, 2004; Kupchik, 2010), few studies have sought to explore the impacts of these measures on suspension rates. Using data from the Educational Longitudinal Study (2002), I explore the relationship between security measures and in-school, out-of-school, and overall suspension rates. Results indicate schools with a security officer experience higher rates of in-school suspensions but have no difference in rates of out-of-school or overall suspensions compared to schools without a security officer. No other measure of security was related to higher suspension rates. As prior literature suggests, schools with greater proportions of black students experienced significantly higher rates of all suspension types. Finally, different types of parental involvement correlated with both higher and lower suspension rates.

A Holistic Approach to Safety and Security at Schools in South Africa

This article reviews literature on school safety and security and proposes a holistic approach to safety and security at schools in South Africa. This is based on the fact that ensuring a safe and secure school has become an important part of schooling in South Africa. This is due to the many reported incidents of violence at schools, in classrooms and in immediate school communities. Based on the view of the school environment as comprising physical and psychosocial spaces, I argue that the safety and security of the physical environment is a critical enabling factor for the safety of the whole school and also lays the basis for the safety of the psychosocial environment. Therefore ensuring school safety and security requires a holistic approach that encompasses a thorough grounding in knowledge about the school environment and the basics of school safety. Based on these arguments, I make the point that school facilities maintenance and surveillance of the school environment are critical aspects of a holistic approach to safety and security of a school. With this in mind, I present an approach that can be helpful in making schools safe and secure. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n20p1580

Under Pressure: Job Security, Resource Allocation, and Productivity in Schools under No Child Left Behind

We conduct the first nationwide study of incentives under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, which requires states to punish schools failing to meet target passing rates on students' standardized exams. States' idiosyncratic policies created variation in the risk of failure among very similar schools in different states, which we use to identify effects of accountability pressure. We find NCLB lowers teachers' perceptions of job security, shifts time towards specialist teachers in high-stakes subjects and away from whole-class instruction, and has positive or neutral effects on students' enjoyment of learning and achievement in reading, math, and science. (JEL H52, H75, I21, I28, J45)

A Robust Method for New Object Detection in Video Surveillance Systems

Video surveillance systems is a powerful tool for public safety and with the increasing need for more security in airports, banks, schools and other critical environments, the demand for video system is growing rapidly. Sides from the intrinsic usefulness of begin able to segment video streams into moving and background components, detecting moving blobs provide a focus of attention for recognition, classification and activity analysis, making these later processes more efficient since only “moving” pixels need to be considered. In this paper an efficient moving object detection method using modified Horprasert model for video surveillance system is present. The modified dynamic thresholds are able to detect a new object with it's shadow through different video stream in terms of light conditions. It consists of background model, distortion of brightness, color calculations and classification. Four regions are segmented depending on the thresholds foreground (moving object), background, highlight background and shadow. The proposed automatic threshold depends on background computations of brightness and is thus expected to achieved better classification performance. Keywords: Horprasert model; background subtraction; background model; Video Surveillance.