1. School violence in Greece 1 st High School of Sykies, ”Od. Fokas”

2. The extent of the problem  Not as serious as in other countries such as the UK and the US  Teachers believe It should be studied steps to prevent it, should be taken

3. Research in Greece  School violence includes: verbal abuse, rumour spreading, ethno- culturally based comments intimidation, sexual harassment belongings damaging physical violence Research of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2005 )

4. Research in Greece  Percentage of pupils who have suffered verbal abuse systematically 15% of pupils in primary schools 10% of pupils in secondary schools  Percentage of pupils who are afraid of becoming victims of bullying 30% for primary school pupils 35% for secondary school pupils Research of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2005 )

5. School violence prevention measures  Up to 2006 in Greece, no official report on the issue  In 2006 the Minister of Education announces the following measures: Sufficient personnel for the Youth Counseling Offices Development of seminars and projects to educate and sensitize students and teachers

6. Youth Counseling Offices  They are manned by professionals (mainly psychologists)  They offer counseling and support to students, parents as well as teachers  In the Greater Thessaloniki Area (more than a million habitants), only two such Offices  In West Thessaloniki, 4 psychologists and social workers responsible for 170 schools (last year only 2 cases with school violence)

7. Projects in schools with teachers and students  only 2 Health Education projects, out of 105 developed by High Schools of West Thessaloniki, dealt with school violence  Topics: “Violence prevention in school - domestic violence” “Aggression and control of conflicts”

8. Seminars for teachers  two seminars for high school teachers were organized by the local Health Education Office they addressed human rights  seminars are not compulsory small number of teachers attend them

9. Our school’s identity  Thessaloniki

10. Our school’s identity  Sykies

11. Our school’s identity

12.  45 teachers  378 pupils from families of different socio-economical status: workers, repatriated, economic immigrants, families financially strong about 25% of non Greek descent

13. Our school’s identity  Three classes of our school follow an athletic program  Students with special educational needs attend extra classes provided by learning-support teachers

14. The situation in our school  Dislike for the educational process indifference noise in the classroom bad relations between pupils and teachers Damages  verbal abuse (swearing, underestimating comments)

15. The situation in our school  bullying between pupils of different abilities or different ethno-cultural origins  Physical violence, pushing and violent games in the school yard  isolated incidents : drag use suicidal behaviour involvement in “gangs” cyber bullying

16. Conclusions  solution for all these problems should not only concern the school, but…  Greek teachers struggle hard daily on their own to handle incidents of school violence !!! Violent phenomena are dealt only as problematic individual behaviours ! rarely somebody deals with the incidents afterwards! very rarely students and parents seek counseling from specialists!

17. Let’s work together…