Peer violence is a serious social, educational and pedagogical problem with long-term consequences, which occurs not only in schools, but in almost all environments where children live. An additional concern is the fact that new forms of peer violence are constantly emerging, for which the system does not yet have an adequate response.
These are the messages that were sent yesterday, during the forum "Together against Peer Violence - Prevention and Intervention: Perspectives of the Education and Social and Child Protection Systems", by experts in the fields of education, as well as social and child protection.
The forum, organized for the first time by the Institute for Education in cooperation with the Institute for Social and Child Protection, brought together professors, directors, pedagogues and experts from several Montenegrin primary and secondary schools.
Teacher at the First Vocational Secondary School in Nikšić Marija Draganić Vulanović, she said that violence among children is not new, but is "now becoming significantly more visible."
"New forms of violence are emerging. We have economic, social, sexual and digital violence. We also have 'happy slapping'. This is recording insults, fights, threats and posting them on social networks. We cannot say that there is no violence in schools, there is... We need to talk about the causes and always focus on them. We cannot blame parents for everything," said Draganić Vulanović, adding that one study showed that "more than 84 percent of students have low self-esteem."
Draganić Vulanović noted that there is “significantly less empathy among children,” especially due to cyberbullying. She emphasized that children must be taught tolerance “from a young age.”
According to her, it is always challenging to work with high school students who are in the first grade. She gave an example in which one of the girls at that school behaved violently towards other children. She said that the case involved professional services, and they learned that it was the girl's way of drawing attention to herself, because "no one in the family noticed her."
After the reaction, she explained, the problem was solved, and after a certain time, the girl became an educator in bullying.
Ivana Raščanin Radicevic, a consultant on the issue of peer violence, said that the entire system has been improved, that this is noticeable in the field, but that "the figures warn us that we need to work harder and more vigorously on improving some measures."
"There is no support from parents. There are some programs, but they need more. We perceive every form of violence between children as peer violence. But not all of them. Every conflict between children does not mean that it is violence. For it to be peer violence, it must be frequent, and there must be a disproportion in strength," said Raščanin Radičević.
She also said that the situation is not improving, because we have "too many silentists", but also witnesses to violence who do not react to it.
"We lack gender equality programs at an early age. We teach them in some way - into boys and girls. When we talk about children with educational needs, we ask the question why they are not accepted? Because they are different... The bottom line is that we need to act together and urgently improve some programs," he believes.
She assessed that "our value system has been shaken recently."
"According to one study, almost 60 percent of children idealize crime and smuggling. Children learn from models, and we are those models. Each of us is a model. We cannot expect certain things from children if we do not do them ourselves. Responsibility must be at a higher level, and we must understand that we are responsible for our actions and inactions," said Raščanin Radičević.
Advisor at the Institute for Education Ivana Milunovic believes that protecting children from violence is a “shared responsibility of the system”.
Every report of violence, regardless of the source, Milunović pointed out, represents a signal that the Institute considers professionally and seriously.
"Based on the assessment, the expert team of the Institute for Education makes a decision to provide support. In most cases, this is advisory support. Our educational institutions have both the will and the responsibility, but sometimes they need expert help to make all the measures they implement more effective..."
She said that analyses showed that some students do not feel well in schools, adding that violence prevention is an issue of the daily work of educational institutions.
Director of the Institute for Education Raba Hodzic She said that everyone at the forum was brought together by a topic "which is sensitive, but extremely important."
"Peer violence is not just a professional challenge, but a deep social issue that requires attention, understanding, timely response and, above all, togetherness... Only through close cooperation between the family, education and social protection systems, with the active involvement of the local community, can we create a strong support system," said Hodžić.
She said that the common goal is clear - for every child to feel accepted, respected and encouraged, as well as to develop their potential outside of school.
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