Broader stress influencing behaviour at schools

LEARNERS are faced with gangsterism‚ bullying and other psycho-social issues in and out of schools‚ something that most educators are not trained to deal with‚ says a psychologist.

Dr Welcome Witbooi was speaking at the Principal’s Upfront seminar‚ tackling ways to create safe and supportive learning environments on Thursday in Johannesburg.

“In the disadvantaged environments there is a higher risk of violence, because this is the behaviour that is modelled for the children.

“Students are under constant stress and are in distress – some teachers aren’t specifically trained in emotional support and the children don’t feel heard‚” Witbooi said.

He said that pupils then engaged in violent behaviour in the classroom because they “want to be seen as important”.

Language and a choice of words by both educators and parents could shape or destruct a pupil‚ said Witbooi. “The message that adults give children is powerful. When a teacher calls a child ‘rubbish’ or the father says ‘you will never amount to anything’‚ they feel useless.”

Among other issues‚ Witbooi said bullying was a “common occurrence in schools, and we as teachers and principals need to listen more to the children”.

Social media has been inundated with videos recently showing pupils behaving violently at school.

The Basic Education department’s director for school safety, Paseka Njobe told MPs last year that 22.2% of pupils had experienced a form of violence in schools.

“The 22.2% translates to 1 020 597 secondary school learners who had fallen victim to some sort of violence at school” in a year‚ the department said. About 20% of pupils had also experienced online violence‚ such as harassment or bullying.

Njobe told MPs that schools in communities with social problems like drugs and poverty had higher rates of violence‚ as did those which were poorly managed.

Director-general for the department, Hubert Mweli, said “the social issues are coming fast and thick”. — DDC