Poster #30 - Teachers and Students’ Perspectives on Responses to Address Peer Harm in Schools

• In Event: Poster Session 15

Abstract

Traditional responses to address peer harm in schools emphasize punishment, placing blame and power assertion (Okimoto et al., 2012). Yet, these punitive practices are not only ineffective for positively influencing behavior, but have also been criticized for pushing out minoritized students from academic spaces and negatively impacting school environments (APA Task Force, 2008). Given these concerns, some schools are pivoting towards alternative strategies to address peer harm (e.g., restorative practices that emphasize relationships, students’ agency, and harm restoration; González, 2012). Amid these changing practices, it is crucial to investigate students’ and teachers’ perspectives to account for their lived experiences with peer harm as protagonists and intermediaries, respectively. Furthermore, exploring their reflections and judgments can help identify how their reasoning coincides and differs, and ultimately inform more effective and just practices.

This qualitative study examined how Colombian teachers and students evaluate and understand different responses to address peer harm in school. The sample was comprised of 8 teachers (M age = 39.01; 4 women, 4 men) and 33 high school students (M age = 14.96 years; 18 girls, 14 boys; 1 other) in an urban low-SES high school in Bogotá, Colombia. Using questionnaires, we presented participants with two hypothetical vignettes depicting peer harm. In response to multiple-choice questions, participants reported how they expected the harms would be addressed in their schools, as well as their preferred response to address them fairly. Then, participants responded to open-ended questions about teachers’ role in addressing the harm, how to prevent similar situations, and fair responses to harm in schools. We used thematic analyses to code participants’ responses to the open-ended questions and then clustered these codes into meaningful themes.

Students and teachers expected peer harm to be commonly handled with restorative practices, but also described some punitive practices in their school. Both groups asserted restorative practices were an especially fair way to address harms; this pattern was most pronounced for teachers. Teachers and students shared concerns about preventing and addressing harms constructively, but described somewhat different pathways for achieving these goals. Teachers believed it was important to immediately address conflict situations, establish clear behavioral norms, and intervene at the group level by promoting socio-emotional skills and constructive conflict resolution. Adolescents, in turn, endorsed dialogues to reach an agreement, involving parents, and having consequences for harm. In terms of fairness, both students and teachers believed it was necessary to acknowledge everyone’s role in the situation, involve other authority figures (e.g., parents), foster peaceful relationships between peers, promote self-reflection, and facilitate dialogues with those involved. For adolescents only, fair responses were those that allowed them to have agency and a voice in the resolution of conflicts. Overall, participants within the same educational institution highlighted varied and complex perspectives about fair and preventive responses to harm. Our findings provide a rich qualitative portrait of youths’ and teachers’ reasoning to inform the development of practices that are sensitive to the needs and concerns of both.

Authors

• Laura Pareja Conto, Concordia University
  Presenting Author

• Ana Maria Velasquez

• Vilma Escorcia Vera

• Holly E Recchia, Concordia University

• Gabriel Velez, Marquette University

• CECILIA WAINRYB, University of Utah