Improved communication between parents and children is the best solution to the problem of aggression in school

Improved communication between parents and children is the best solution to the problem of aggression in school, according to a survey of Alpha Research polling agency among parents and 15-17 year-old students. The results were presented at a roundtable on aggression in school Wednesday.

The opinion for better communication between grown-ups and children is shared by 79.3 per cent of the parents and 77.4 per cent of the children. Increasing discipline at school and parental control rank next as approved measures, while ideas about increased police presence in and around schools and the policy of the Ministry of Education and Science for preventing aggression are the least favoured.

According to the survey, 80.2 per cent of the parents said they frequently or sometimes discuss problems of aggression with their children.

Three-fourths of the parents know about the absence of their children from school, 68.9 inform themselves about their grades and discipline from the student book, 41.6 per cent inform themselves at parents meetings and one in every five parents meets teachers every week.

Half of the parents and the schoolchildren expressed the opinion that children who have showed aggression should be helped within the framework of the school. Nearly 55 per cent of the parents and 37 per cent of the children said that the assistance of social institutions should be sought in cases of juvenile aggression. The grown-ups and the children expressed opposite positions on the introduction of a grade for conduct, the measure being supported by 89.5 per cent of the parents and by 21.7 per cent of the students.

The interviewees quoted bad family milieu, the lack of discipline in schools and material differences between the children as the main reason for the cases of aggression. The survey found considerable discrepancy between the opinions of parents and children about the role of media, computer games and the street. More than half the parents think they are among the reasons for juvenile aggression, while between 32.2 and 43.5 per cent of the students are of the same opinion.

Nearly two-thirds of the children and 54.3 per cent of the parents think that there was less aggression before and that it has increased in recent years. Nearly 70 per cent of the children and 28 per cent of the parents gave a positive answer to the question whether they recall cases of aggression at school.

A total of 74 per cent of the parents expressed worry at the possibility that their children might sustain physical injuries while 64 per cent are concerned with the opportunity for their children to be subjected to psychological pressure. Lack of concern that their child might show aggression was declared by 57.2 per cent of the parents.

BTA