Overall, the emerging trends suggest that the most promising
approaches are those which see the school as part of its
community, are comprehensive in that they look at not just
violence, aggression or crime, but at healthy behaviours and
educational and social benefits. They make growing use of
mediation and conflict resolution resolution approaches, and
focus on the importance of school climate. They involve a
range of strategically planned policies and programmes and
consider the needs of pupils, staff, parents and the
community around the school, and involve them in planning
and implementation. Above all, they are about pro-active,
planned intervention.
So what are the challenges?
Developing school safety projects, reducing crime and violence in and around schools, is not
without challenges. This is so in most areas of prevention, and school-based strategies have their
own share of general and specific challenges. Three of the most important relate to project
implementation and sustainability, and to the use of zero tolerance and the wider implications of a
climate which promotes the elimination risk.
Implementation
Perhaps the most important challenge is that of implementation. In spite of an increasing array of
model programmes and guidelines, there is always the problem of putting ideas into practice, of
trying to sustain them, and repeat or replicate programmes in other settings. Schools have little time
to spare, and developing good prevention plans requires leadership, energy, experience, finance and
resources. While there is more training and support available than in the past, implementation
remains one of the greatest barriers to effective practice.
In their recent national survey of schools in the US (2000) Gary and Denise Gottfredson and their
colleagues have emphasised that organizational support for the implementation and integration of
programmes in schools broadly predicts the quality of those activities and their likely effectiveness.
They suggest that the most important initial question to ask in evaluating such programmes is ‘what
was done’ rather than ‘what works’.
Good programme implementation cannot be rushed or hurried, and for funders and policy makers
the lesson is likely to be to focus much more on the implementation and adaptation of programmes
to specific contexts, rather than rush to show quick outcomes and effectiveness. This also requires
them to educate the public not to expect swift results. Programmes which are effective in one
setting do not work by themselves – the process is crucial – people are what make programmes
work. It also important for everyone to be modest in their expectations – demonstration projects can
over-estimate the effectiveness of an intervention, because they are demonstrations.
Zero tolerance and pressures to eliminate risk
A second challenge is to resist the pressure or expectation that we can reduce or eliminate all risk.
This can lead to the adoption of heavy security measures (such as those illustrated in the example
from New Orleans) and a climate which increases insecurity, yet risk can never be eradicated. One
of the most extreme examples of the desire to eliminate risk is a recent report following the case of
the school caretaker charged with the murder of two 11 year-old school girls in England. A mother
reports having a tracking device implanted in the arm of her 11 year-old daughter, on the grounds
that this will prevent her abduction (The Guardian, 4.9.02).Such pressures to eliminate risk are not likely to go away, and may be greater in times of economic
insecurity, and now following the events of September 11th
.
vi They can include pressures to resort to
greater deterrent and security measures, to install TV cameras and metal detectors, to build fences
or higher fences around schools, to hire security guards, to put uniformed police in schools, to expel
or exclude pupils seen as disruptive, to show zero tolerance for certain behaviours.
The use of zero tolerance policies is a particularly clear example of a short-term gain with can have
serious negative long- and short-term consequences, for the excluded pupils and their families, and
for the communities in which they live. They have been used extensively in the US since the mid
1990’s and in other countries. This trend is one which is, thankfully, now being questioned more
seriously in the US and elsewhere (Kingery, 2001; Ayers, et al 2001). Some countries are also
looking at an expanded police role in schools in relation to crime prevention, and this is an area
which needs to be very carefully considered and balanced within a comprehensive framework for
safe and healthy schools.
Schools are the foremost socializing institution in society after the family. They can provide
leadership, but they also require strong support and leadership from governments, to resist such
pressures, to help them to educate their communities and local media, by including them in good
practice projects which work to promote a healthy school climate and environment. They need
support in resisting the pressure to use one traumatic event, or a local crime panic, to drive policies.
Countries have been able to achieve extraordinary changes in attitudes and behaviour around
smoking and drunk driving in recent years. Change in relation to school safety and prevention is
possible, but we have to work persistently to achieve it.