Cowie, H. & Jennifer, D. (Co-ordinating team, UK), Chankova, D. & Poshtova, T. (Bulgaria), Deklerck, J. & Deboutte, G. (Belgium), Ertesvåg, S. K. & Samuelsen, A. S. (Norway), O'Moore, M. & Minton, S. J. (Ireland) and Ortega, R. & Sanchez, V. (Spain) © (2006)

School Bullying and Violence: Taking Action

Welcome to VISTA

A RESOURCE FOR PRACTITIONERS AND POLICY MAKERS AND ALL THOSE WORKING WITH CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE AFFECTED BY SCHOOL VIOLENCE

Welcome to VISTA, a training resource that addresses the issue of school violence through a whole-school approach. The VISTA materials are aimed at educators, non-teaching staff, policy-makers and parents.

For centuries, violence has been a commonplace feature of school life with its causes embedded in the social, cultural, historical and economic contexts of its time. The victims of violence can be individuals, objects or schools themselves, and the nature of the damage can be psychological, physical or material. Since the middle of the 20th century, however, violence against children has increasingly been viewed as a violation of their fundamental human rights, in particular of their right to physical safety and psychological security and well-being. In addition, there has been recognition that either schools can help to prevent violence against children or that they create an environment that reinforces violent attitudes. More recently, there has been a growing concern to understand the roots of violence and the effects on all members of the school community (children and young people, teachers, families) and on the school culture and ethos itself, and to find constructive ways to reduce it when it occurs and, if possible, to prevent it.

...violence against children has increasingly been viewed as a violation of their fundamental human rights, in particular of their right to physical safety and psychological security and well-being...

The VISTA project is a joint initiative arising from previous work on school violence (CONNECT, 2002). The training has been developed by a unique combination of experts in research, practice and training from the disciplines of sociology, psychology, education and criminology. The VISTA training is designed to benefit and inform not only teachers and educators but also local education authorities (LEAs) and policy-makers Europe-wide and, of course, young people themselves.

The project was funded by a grant from the European Union Comenius 2 initiative grant number 112044-CP-1-UK-COMENIUS-C21