Philippine E-Journals

Making the Nigerian School a Safe Haven: Counselors’ Prescriptions for Managing School Violence

Oyaziwo Aluede | Philipa O. Idogho

 

Abstract:

School violence, which is any behavior that violates a school’s educational mission or jeopardize the intent of the school to be free from gang activities, locker thefts, intimidation, gun use, assaulting, just about anything that produces victims, was examined in this endeavor. From the available statistics on the rate of prevalence of school violence, in Nigeria and several countries of the world, it is obvious that school violence is a serious problem and of great concern to all. Based on the forgoing, the paper advocated some counseling intervention strategies that can be implemented by school counselors to achieve a violence- free school system. Strategies include building positive school climate by teaching students the self- assertiveness and self- advocacy skills. Such interventions can help victims build self-confidence in becoming assertive and avoiding becoming victims in the future. Other strategies focus on helping students overcome concerns related physical abuse (based on Newman, Horne and Bartolomucci’s “Bully Buster” technique and Peterson’s “Child Development Approach”), and as well as creating a safe school climate (similar to the Idaho School Counselor Association’s recommendation to create violence-free school systems)