SCHOOL VIOLENCE IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ASTURIAS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF STUDENTS

This study has two aims. The first one is to identify the most common types of school violence in Secondary Compulsory Education in Asturias (Spain), from the perspective of students. The second aim is to analyze the influence of student gender and year on their perceived level of school violence. To achieve these two objectives, the CUVE3-ESO questionnaire was administered to 2,597 students from 1st to 4th year of Secondary Compulsory Education, from 18 schools, during the school year 2009/2010. They were selected by stratified random sampling. The results show the predominance of disruptive behavior in the classroom and verbal violence among students. They also show differences in perceived level of school violence in relation to the two examined variables (gender and year). This study offers an overview of school violence in Secondary Schools in Asturias that should be taken into account when planning measures to improve the school environment.