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The objective of this article is to analyze the daily violence at schools in the northeastern region of central Mexico, from the perspective of children who are involved as participants and witnesses. In recent years, drug trafficking and the policies of federal militarization have affected various areas of social interaction in the region. One such area has been school, where subtle violence and harassment occur on a daily basis, affecting interaction and learning while revealing the lack of effective mechanisms for conflict resolution. By means of a qualitative study of an ethnographic type, an analysis was made of the perceptions, experiences, and strategies of solutions of the young population in rural schools in the northeast part of the country. The study shows how schools contain, generate, and reproduce the social violence that affects the entire school community, and especially the children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is to examine how educational institutions are viewed in the media. Specifically, an analysis is made of the characteristics of the representation of Argentine secondary schools in the coverage of school violence by the newspapers of the city of La Plata. The study is qualitative and is based on 3,581 articles published from 1993 to 2011; the method used was the socioeducational analysis of discourse. The project shows that public secondary schools are represented as a dangerous place that is associated with crisis, violence among teachers, and a lack of security at school. This research contributes to reflections on the way the implicit meaning of coverage constructs certain spaces as threatening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harassment at school is sometimes confused with the absence of norms, yet this ethnographic research study--associated with a reinterpretation of the ecological model--shows the opposite: Rules are generally present and model the stereotypes that give rise to discriminatory behaviors. And such behaviors lead to students' violence toward their peers. In the cases of bullying studied in a secondary school in the state of Jalisco, it was shown that such rules present a degree of complexity since norms at the macro level--shared by most of society--coexist with other norms of a micro type--within the classroom, for example. This fact invites us to rethink not only the phenomenon of bullying, but also the strategies implemented to combat it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the experiences of guilt and shame reported by secondary students in situations of bullying. The study's objectives were to identify: 1) the situations of bullying that lead to feelings of guilt among actors and witnesses; 2) the aspects of bullying that would make them feel ashamed if they intentionally bullied another student, and 3) the phenomenological experiences (thoughts, associated emotions) that accompany guilt and shame. The study was completed in three public secondary schools in Mexico City, with 350 eighth-graders (146 males and 204 females, ages 12 to 14). Two exploratory questionnaires with open-ended questions were used. The responses were examined with the analysis of content technique. The results indicate that aggressors and witnesses stated that verbal and physical bullying made them feel guilty. A similar number of male and female aggressors experienced equivalent levels of guilt and shame, although the males claimed, to a greater degree, not to have such emotions due to bullying a classmate or not defending victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the phenomenon of bullying at five elementary schools in the state of Colima, Mexico. It compiles the verbalizations of perpetrators and victims and the ways they evaluate, perceive, and suffer from this type of violence. Ethnographic methods were used to identify power and bullying as ways of exercising control, through various types of violence: physical, psychological, verbal, and sexual. The limited institutional mechanisms available to combat the phenomenon and the victims' lack of knowledge about the scarce resources they can access, favor the development of bullying as a recurring problem that is difficult to identify and solve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of research carried out in Guanajuato, México, with children who stopped attending school. The study’s objective is to discover the everyday world of the main actors, in order to provide feedback on the public policies proposed by the State of Guanajuato for reducing the dropout rate. The right to education is analyzed with the help of five categories taken from the international Convention on the Rights of the Child. The study is empirical and uses primary sources of Information that include individual perceptions and opinions of the right to education as expressed by children and teenagers, as well as their teachers and guardians. Advantages and omissions were found in public policy; the underlying problem, however, is the conventional paradigm of the educational system, in which actors do not assume their roles as teachers and guardians in an integral manner. Nor do they see the forms of discrimination and violence that they provoke and tolerate. The article introduces the alternative of looking at possible solutions from another perspective, based on listening actively to children and adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the presented research was to explore the causal attributions made by students and employees at middle school, regarding mistreatment among equals. Data were obtained through self-reports, with a section of open-ended questions. The results reveal a pattern of attributions that show elements that concern only each actor, and other elements that are shared and accepted by most of the students and employees at the school. This leads us, in the first case, to various explanations of mistreatment among equals, according to their experience; and in the second case, to the operation of deeply rooted beliefs that can generate a series of consequences in the educational community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the relations among the characteristics of complaints of sexual harassment and/or abuse in public elementary schools in Mexico City, and the measurement of whether or not these complaints have been confirmed. The study analyzed 109 reports of intervention, carried out by specialists from the Unit of Attention to Sexual Abuse and Mistreatment of Children. An analysis of logistic regression that considered the confirmation of complaint as the dependent variable supports the existence of a statistically significant relationship between confirmation and the following dichotomous variables: repeat offender, psychological evaluation of victim, interview of director, workshop held, and victim moved to another school. Based on the results, several recommendations are made, including the urgent need for educational authorities to implement rigorous measures to prevent school employees previously involved in a complaint of sexual harassment and/or abuse from committing another offense of this type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article addresses the topic of violence among adolescent girls, from a psychocultural perspective. The study is based on ethnographic fieldwork completed in four public schools in southern Mexico City, throughout one school year. The girls' most important relational practices are friendship and companionship, yet they also fight as friends and classmates, sometimes about boys. Violence is observed in symbolic forms as insults, contemptuous attitudes, and gossip, and in physical forms as well, usually considered masculine, such as fist-fighting and previously arranged fights. Based on the observations, containing and regulating violence are discussed, in addition to the topic of construction of the female adolescent identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes recent actions involving social participation and school violence in Mexico. Such matters are perceived as having relevance in terms of the right to education, which cannot ignore the right of all educational actors to participate and the importance of their psychological, physical, and social safety. An examination is made of certain elements that show that in order for actions to attain their objectives--whether strengthening social participation or preventing and reducing school violence--the ideas of governance must be addressed. Governance allows multiple actors from different levels to participate in providing a response to these complex problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this research was to explore elements of the concept of bullying that are shared by minors who participate in bullying and scholars who study the phenomenon. The study centers on the qualitative paradigm, employing in-depth interviews and the analysis of content. In the results, the study's actors emphasize certain elements of the concept of bullying that were developed by Olweus. Although these elements are partially different, they are relevant because participants in bullying have firsthand knowledge of the phenomenon; and the study of bullying does not often hear their voice. The conclusion is that the difference between scholars and actors in bullying can and should be utilized by parents and decision-makers in both the educational and health systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the magnitude of violence reported by elementary and secondary students in Mexico in the document entitled, "Discipline, Violence and the Consumption of Harmful Substances at Elementary and Secondary Schools in Mexico", presented by the National Institute for the Evaluation of Education. The data are compared with international information on the magnitude of observed school violence, and alternative suggestions are made for exploring the problem at school, based on the results given in the analyzed report. Considering the reservations indicated in the article, the comparison identifies countries that report lesser and greater proportions of violence among their students [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the results of research aimed at evaluating the incidence of bullying among equals at a secondary school in the city of Mérida, Yucatan, Mexico. The results refer to fear at school, students' relations with their teachers, observed abuse at school, abuse suffered by victims, and gender differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this project was to promote a participative process among teachers who are faced with students' manifest violence in their daily reality. The purpose of the exercise was to reach consensual proposals for solutions in the specific case of the Internado Varonil school. This school offers integral elementary education for minors in special situations who cannot live with their families. The process allowed the teachers to reflect on forms and styles of supervision and communication, their interactions, and their individual and group responsibilities in managing the problem. The teachers recognized their failings and their resources, prepared a joint plan of work, and began a process of self-training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on a qualitative investigation in public high schools in Mexico in order to elucidate on how violence develops among young people at school. The study considered several factors including the school's role with regard to the problem of violence, the remedies employed, and the causes of violence at school.

The article reports on an exploratory study to find out if the Escuela Normal Superior de Mexico and some high schools in the federal district have implemented the changes suggested in the 1999 Plan of Studies. Focus was made on the proposed introduction of a subject which offered educational attention to adolescents in situations of risk. The course exposes normal school students to the challenges of violence.

The article reports on the findings of a study to determine the cause of the attitudes that affect the socioeducational reality of High School 2 at the Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico, with regards to violence and nonviolence at school. Findings indicated the difficulties of interaction in a large student population guided by erratic rules.

The article reports on the findings of an investigation on bullying at the Universidad de Guadalajar high school in Mexico. The first part of the study was a diagnostic phase which was based on a survey of students in the vocational school. The findings of this phase were processed to develop categories of violence at school. The second phase was a conflict-solving workshop in participation with a pilot group. Findings showed changes in students' awareness of their roles in school violence.

The article presents parts of the findings of a study on violence among students conducted at an elementary school in Mexico. Focus was made on teachers' social representations of children's violence and how these representations are in conflict when they try to solve such problems. This lack of coherence causes confusion among students' responsibility for their actions and affects the kind of interactions children have with their peers.

The article examines school violence in two public elementary schools in Mexico City, Mexico. One major cause of violence in the schools is the discrimination, which is ironically supported by the structure and functions of the schools. A study in 1997 which consisted of interviews with teachers, students and parents from various parts of Mexico is also included.

The article reports on the initial results of the study on school violence and victimization in five Brazilian state capitals in 2003, namely Belem, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo and Porto Alegre. The study aimed to analyze the types of violence committed and consequences for students, teachers, directors and other school personnel.

The article examines the link between high school students' perception of their schools' disciplinary system and interpersonal violence in Andalusia, Spain. The students studied were from a school providing compulsory secondary education. It was found that students involved in problems of violence are those who view the disciplinary system as incoherent.

The article reports on a study on school violence in elementary schools in Nicaragua. Self-administered questionnaires were used in the research. Gender is an important factor in school violence in Nicaragua. In Central America, research on violence has focused more on gangs and citizens' insecurity.