Implementation of "A School-Based Anti-Violence Program"

Brenda Tenold-Phillips

Above: Brenda Tenold-Phillips explains her research to participants in the Learning from Practice Exchange.

A teacher in Prince Albert documents the implementation of a newly developed anti-violence program entitled The School-Based Anti-Violence Program (ASAP). The program, developed by London Family Court Clinic of London, Ontario, was placed in every board office throughout Canada. Appropriate use of this resource may be facilitated by reference to this description of one experience of its implementation in Saskatchewan.

The project focused on the following aspects:

• a rationale for why schools should be involved in violence prevention;
• who was involved in the project and how;
• how awareness and professional development sessions were facilitated;
• what the ASAP program was composed of and what the criteria were;
• what resources were recommended;
• what some of the roadblocks were and how they were dealt with;
• what some of the short-term and long-term results appeared to be; and
• what recommendations or guidelines are suggested for other implementations.

The following excerpts from the researcher's Executive Summary provide a short description of the program implementation:

The project took place over a ten month period, September 1994 to June 1995 at an urban public school of about 200 students, Kindergarten to Grade 6. The researcher, also the facilitator of the implementation, was a classroom teacher new to that school in September 1994, and the subsequent Vice-Principal as of January 1995.

The project was based on the guidelines provided by the resource of the same name, A School-Based Anti-Violence Program, developed by London Family Court Clinic of London, Ontario. Another excellent resource used was the CTF video Brother of Mine, transforming a violent culture. A further resource used in the process was the Committee for Children's classroom-based program call Second Step: A Violence Prevention Curriculum. A final program that was an important part of the ASAP implementation was the Social Skills (Day Treatment) Program from North Battleford Mental Health.

The report includes documentation of five staff inservices, six community meetings and nine research and data collections. The resources used, questionnaires developed, inservice and meeting agendas, handouts, and the data collected are recorded in full in the body of the report or in the appendices.

The participation and collaboration of others were fundamental to the process of implementation. This included the teaching staff, the support staff, the school-based administration team, the division-based administrators, the school board, the parents, and the larger school community, including other community agencies.

The researcher concluded that a comprehensive school-based anti-violence program should be composed of three components:

• a classroom-based component;
• a school-based component; and
• a pull-out program for at-risk children.

The classroom-based program must meet specific criteria in order to be effective. It must start with young children, be integrated into the curriculum, taught by the classroom teachers and occur over several years. It must teach prosocial skills in sequence, targeting three main areas: empathy, impulse control and anger management. And lastly, it must be a whole-school approach.

The school-based anti-violence component can take the form of a peer mediation or a conflict resolution program that provides school and playground safety, empowers students and educates students and staff in problem-solving and conflict resolution.

The pull-out program for at-risk children can provide a more intensive training for children who have already been identified as lacking in prosocial skills.

The report lists several other factors relevant to project implementation:

• Two major barriers to implementation of a school-based anti-violence program, according to the data collected in this project, were: time (class time, time in the curriculum, and preparation time) and commitment (teachers, administrative, and parent-community). This research project clearly indicates the need to develop awareness and commitment to such a program as the first step. If teachers and administrators are not convinced of the need or value of such a program, the program implementation cannot succeed. Parents and the larger community must also be on side.
• To ensure quality implementation as a whole-school approach, adequate teacher preparation time and inservice must be provided. Clear expectations as to the responsibilities of those involved, and procedures for monitoring the process, need to be developed.
• Parental involvement, through awareness and education sessions as well as newsletters and information handouts, is an important part of the process. A structured parent component to coincide with a classroom-based implementation is recommended. For example, a family guide to Second Step has been developed by the Committee for Children to complement the classroom implementation of the Second Step program.
• Accessing financial support for purchase of materials and possibly inservice time, is also critical.
• Strong leadership is fundamental. Knowledge and training are important but commitment to the process is more important. Developing partnership through networking and collaboration is essential to the process. Staying positive, being patient and taking care of yourself in the process are part of the challenge.

The researcher points out the short-term and longer-term benefits of the program:

• The primary short-term benefit of a successful ASAP implementation is the empowerment of the teachers involved and the subsequent enhancement of the teaching and learning environment that is a result of personal and professional growth.
• The long-term benefits, according to research in the area, include changes in teacher behaviour followed by more positive student behaviour as both parties learn better problem-solving and anger management skills. The teachers foresee (and research confirms) that a whole-school approach to implementing a classroom-based anti-violence program will provide the structure to develop more consistency in school rules, expectations and consequences. It will provide a framework for teachers and students alike in dealing with conflict and discipline problems.
  
  The researcher concludes that the implementation of a school-based anti-violence program, such as is documented in the project report, is a valuable experience for a school community and will make a positive difference in student behaviour over a period of time. Violence is a learned behaviour than can be unlearned and supplanted with prosocial behaviour through a school- and classroom-based program. She recommends similar implementations at the Junior High or High School level.