Let's Decide How to Measure School Violence (Policy Paper 29)

Violence in schools and other education settings causes serious harm to children and adolescents that can last into adulthood. As the UN World Report on Violence against Children observed, it is a global phenomenon (Pinheiro, 2006). Policies, laws and strategies to prevent school-related violence depend on accurate knowledge of its global prevalence, trends and effects, but such evidence is lacking.
In schools, manifestations of violence include bullying, corporal punishment, verbal and emotional abuse, intimidation, sexual harassment and assault, gang activity and the presence of weapons. While attention usually focuses on extreme events, the more common and often unnoticed forms of violence cause the greatest harm to the education experience of children and adolescents. These tend to be under-reported, as they often involve taboos.
To collect data on aspects of violence in schools, large-scale, multi-country school-based surveys are increasingly used; some countries also have well-established monitoring mechanisms. Overall, however, consistent evidence on the global prevalence and trends of school-related violence is lacking. To ensure reliable data is gathered, action is needed to bridge differences between the various monitoring methods. This paper, launched to coincide with the International Symposium on School Violence and Bullying: From Evidence to Action, in Seoul, Republic of Korea (January 17–19, 2017), aims to inform the current debate and propose options for the future.