The International Observatory on Academic Achievement - Documentary search

File number :
PPEE-PC-09e

Bibliographic reference :

Beaumont, C., & Beaulieu, J. (2005). Évaluation d’un dispositif d’établissement pour diminuer les conduites violentes des adolescents dans une école à haut niveau d’agressivité. Dans B. Gaillard (Éd.), Les violences en milieu scolaire et éducatif : connaître, prévenir, intervenir (pp. 421-430). Rennes : Presses Universitaires de Rennes (PUR).

Abstract :

Program Description
The program called Pacifiquement Vôtre (peacefully yours) was created based on results of Quebec research initiatives focused on the prevention of aggressive behaviour and incorporating a peer support system to better meet the needs of adolescents with behavioural problems in school.

Based on what had already been done in schools and in consultation with school-teams, the authors designed a series of activities involving several components aimed at developing social skills, reducing aggressive, intimidating and victimizing behaviours, preventing drug addiction and promoting a climate conducive to peer support. For the overall conceptual and implementation phase of this concept, the authors first requested the cooperation of educational players and various community partners (school police officer, social workers and so on). Parents were also asked to participate in the program through a component aimed at preventing bullying and intimidation.

The program was implemented in a high school mainly providing special education and assessed a year later. In addition to teacher training on facilitating social life development workshops, some activities were facilitated by a school police officer (intimidation/bullying), a drug addiction prevention agent and community players. Regarding peer support, some students were selected by their peers and trained to provide helping relationships. Supervised throughout the school year by educational psychologists, these peer counsellors met with students in need of help on an individual and voluntary basis. All program activities were integrated into the regular school schedule and held in each class of the school. Homeroom teachers facilitated nine workshops on social life development and awareness of violent behaviour prevention. Other activities were also integrated into the program: school policies on intimidation and violence, ongoing thematic activities, regular discussions in school-team meetings, regular promotion of the peer counsellors system and so on.

Assessment
This action research was conducted in 2003 and was meant to implement the system and evaluate its effect on students and school climate. The sample consisted of 135 students with behavioural disorders in the first to third year of high school. Among these students, eleven were selected to be trained as peer counsellors.

In order to assess the effectiveness of the program, pre-test and post-test quantitative measures were performed (standardized questionnaires and tests) on social skills (teacher version and student version), coping strategies and intimidation/victimization. Qualitative data was collected from school staff, students and school administration regarding the school climate. The study also took into account the number of violent behaviour occurrences throughout the experimentation year.

Description of Results
Based on the questionnaires completed by teachers, results have shown significant improvement for all students regarding assertiveness and prosociality. Students who acted as peer counsellors scored even higher on these variables.

As for the questionnaires completed by students, it seems that the peer counsellors obtained results significantly higher than their peers in terms of behavioural self-control. The assessment of this program has revealed that violent behaviour (pushing and shoving, verbal abuse) had diminished between the onset and end of the experimentation. All students tended to show more sensitivity towards what victims of intimidation experienced without necessarily intervening in harassment situations. Even if the number of police interviews remained unchanged compared to the previous year, the reasons for these interviews were less serious after the experimentation year. Finally, the peer counsellor system was very popular with these youths with serious behavioural problems. Many comments made by peer counsellors have shown how proud and satisfied they were in taking the role of peer helper. At the time this abstract was written, the study was still being conducted to observe the effects of this concerted intervention program over a longer period of time.

Key Words :
Behavioural Disorders, Self-Control, Specialized School, Social Skills, Peer Counsellors, Aggressive Behaviour, Problem-solving Strategies, School-Family-Community Partnership, Drug Addiction, Intimidation, Victimization, Action Research, Secondary/High School

Monitored Countries :
Quebec (Canada)