Pastoral Care in Education (2008) 26(2):59-67What makes children feel unsafe at school AbstractThe research was carried out in four secondary schools, two with a peer support system (PS) and two without (NPS) and involved a total of 931 pupils, (49.5% males, and 50.5% females). Participants were aged between 11 and 15 years of age, mean age 12.8 years. The aim was :to compare the perceptions of safety on the part of pupils in secondary schools with and without a system of peer support in place. The findings provided little evidence that the presence of a peer support system enhanced feelings of safety in the school population. On the positive side, PS pupils were slightly more aware of the value of having other people around as a means of enhancing feelings of safety. They were also less afraid of older pupils indicating that peer supporters may have influenced the attitudes of some older pupils towards younger peers and may have made them friendlier.However; for the PS pupils, toilets and corridors/stairs were less safe for them than for NPS pupils, largely because of the unpleasant actions of the peer group towards them. With specific regard to bullying, there was no difference between PS and NPS. Around one-fifth of both PS and NPS pupils reported that the reason for feeling unsafe was because of bullying. The most common suggestions for making school a better place referred to action against bullying.

The research was carried out in four secondary schools, two with a peer support system and two without, and involved a total of 931 pupils (49.5% males and 50.5% females). Participants were aged between 11 and 15 years of age, mean age 12.8 years. The aims were: to compare the perceptions of safety on the part of older and younger pupils in secondary schools with and without a system of peer support in place; to find out if there are differences in perceptions of safety within peer support schools on the part of those who are aware of the existence of a peer support service in their school and those who are not aware; and to find out if pupils in peer support schools are more likely to tell someone about school violence and bullying than those in schools without peer support. The results indicate very little difference between pupil perceptions of safety in schools with and schools without a peer support system in place. In fact, older pupils in the schools without peer support responded that they felt safer than pupils in schools with a peer support system in toilets and lessons. However, within the peer support schools there were significant differences in perceptions of safety between the substantial minority of pupils who were unaware that their school had a peer support system and those who were aware of it. The pupils who were aware felt safer in lessons, perceived school as a friendlier place to be, and worried significantly less about being bullied in comparison with those who were unaware. They were also much more likely to tell someone when bad things happened at school. The results are discussed in the light of previous research in the field and some recommendations are made for the practice of peer support

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In line with current view that children should be consulted about issues that concern them in their daily life and that their ideas must play a significant role in finding solutions, in the present study, children were asked to give their views on what would make school a better place to be. The research was carried out in four secondary schools in a small rural town, each with a well-organised pastoral care system and an active antibullying policy; two of the schools had established systems of peer support. The study involved 931 pupils aged between 11 and 14 years of age. Although a sizable minority of the sample chose not to offer any suggestions for improving their schools, of those who did respond, only a small number were negative, for example, suggesting that certain groups, such as 'chavs' be banned from the school. (The typical 'chav' is an aggressive young person who repeatedly engages in anti-social behaviour). Most of the suggestions were positive and ones that schools could easily implement. The results of the present study indicate that students are concerned about issues, such as the problem of school violence, but that they also have constructive ideas for dealing with the problem.

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