What Is School Violence?

Abstract

In the analysis of school violence, there is a tendency for commentators to define the scope of the problem narrowly. Typically, they focus on interpersonal violence: between students or by students toward their teachers. In this article, it is argued that not only does the complexity of this issue defy such a simplistic framing but dealing with the problem at that level does not go far enough. It fails to address the wider context of school violence, the wider forms of violence in schools, and the important interactive and causal effects arising from the confluence of these forces. What is demanded is an integrated, multilevel definition of the problem that will lead to a multilevel causal analysis and a comprehensive policy response that takes account of the full range of constitutive elements. In this article, the first stage of such an approach is outlined with regard to defining the nature and scope of the problem.