Mapping school violence: impacts, responses, and lessons learned from Brazil

Abstract

This article investigates school violence in Brazil, analyzing how incidents are addressed by educational institutions. The research aims to evaluate whether school responses to violence are based on evidence-based strategies or rely on procedures known to be ineffective. Effective techniques, as documented in the literature, include comprehensive prevention programs, social-emotional learning (SEL) interventions, peer mediation, and community involvement strategies. To do so, 75 incidents of school violence, categorized into six different types and recorded between January and December of 2023, were examined. Data were collected from videos posted on social networks, video-sharing platforms, and news channels. Findings indicate that institutional responses to school violence are primarily reactive and insufficient, pointing to an absence of effective preventive measures. This ineffectiveness results from organizational deficiencies, particularly the failure of schools to learn from previous experiences and implement effective interventions. This study highlights the urgent need to restructure institutional approaches to school violence in Brazil, emphasizing the importance of adopting evidence-based preventive measures and promoting a culture of continuous organizational learning and improvement.

Keywords: violence; school; videos; social networks; organizational learning.

Acknowledgements: This research was supported by the Federal University of Pará - Brazil through PROPESP-Pro-Rectory of Research and Post-Graduation.

DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/15-4-04

Publication date: May 28^th 2025