Learning to fear, fearing to learn: Measuring the extent of school violence

Abstract

Violence in South African schools impacts on children, their families, and society more generally. Much of what occurs in schools is learnt through exposure to violence at home and outside the school, necessitating an integrated approach to addressing school violence that moves beyond a limited focus on the school itself. The Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention National Schools Violence Study provides an indication of how bad school violence is in South Africa, and through the wide range of data collected, provides a framework for interventions that cuts across sectors and conventional school-based stakeholders.