Address: Trg Borisa Kidriča 3

Country: Slovenia

 School website

Project: Recognition and opposition of violence

Working language during the project:

• English,
• Slovene,
• German
   

Themes of the Council of Europe project “FREE to SPEAK, SAFE to LEARN - Democratic Schools for All” covered:

• Preventing violence and bullying
   

Competences from the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (CDC) addressed and where / how they were integrated:

• Valuing democracy, justice, fairness, equality and the rule of law
  - Within the subject Active Citizenship
  - In the Students Parliament
  - When conducting a workshop entitled "How to prevent hate speech" with external contractors
• Empathy
  - Conducting workshops with external experts (psychologist…)
  - Conducting mediation workshops
• Knowledge and critical understanding of the world: politics, law, human rights, culture, cultures, religions, hi story, media, economies, environment, sustainability
  - Competence development with the participation of Amnesty International
  - Cooperation with the Ombudsman
  - Discussion of content in class
   

Target group age range:

• 15 - 19
   

Level of education:

• Upper secondary education

Short description of the project:

As part of the Council of Europe's project " Free to Speak, Safe to Learn - Democratic schools for all", we chose the topic Prevention of violence and intimidation.

In the introductory phase of the project work, we will conduct a survey among students, and analyse this to determine the extent to which violence is present among teenagers and especially what forms of violence are at the forefront. We believe that some teenagers lack the empathy and that with their actions, words and online publications, they do not realize that they can grossly encroach on the existing personal rights of the individual. Verbal violence can have serious consequences for the affected student-victim. Great emphasis will be placed on making our students aware of the inappropriateness of certain actions, words, records. In order to spread awareness, we will use role-playing games. We will carry out content-related workshops with external contractors. Students will also be invited and involved in the role of an active citizen, which means not turning a blind eye to any form of violence, but helping, cooperating and advising. We will direct their attention to the already pre-existing Safe Points or to their locations, to distress phone lines and to similar institutes where a teenager in distress due to possible violence can take refuge. Our efforts will also be focused on identifying various forms of violence and acquiring knowledge towards zero tolerance of violence. Because we believe that a student who is a victim of any form of abuse may find it difficult to seek help, we want to create “Anonymous” mailboxes where students could tell their story related to violence. By addressing these stories, it would be easier to outline work guidelines for the counselling office, which could later take more concrete action and protect the victim from verbal and nonverbal communication.

The goal of our project work is to make young people aware of the appropriate behaviour, for this purpose we will design, make and reproduce posters, hang them around the school, post them on Facebook, Instagram…. By doing so, we want to encourage teenagers to think about how they would feel bad if someone verbally or non-verbally attacked them. As part of the topic, we will offer students the opportunity to watch a film entitled ‘The Class Enemy’, which clearly shows the plight of a girl who is a victim of verbal violence. Teachers will invite the involved students to take an active role in the project themselves, to create videos…. We will inform students about the legal consequences that may befall perpetrators of violence. We will also show help or counselling workshops, which an individual who would like to get rid of their aggressive behaviour, both verbal or nonverbal violence, can resort to.
 

Aims/objectives

• Recognition of violence and intolerance at the level of the wider society and political systems and in close groups such as schools and family environment.
• We also aim to make students aware of the presence of violence and to recognise different types of violence. We want to empower students to talk about it in case of perceived violence and seek appropriate help and protection.
• Mailbox - for students, where they "complain" anonymously, the topic can be discussed at the school parliament, in class etc. At the same time, we get an overview of school events.
   

Expected results/outcomes

• Mailbox - for students, where they "complain" anonymously, the topic can be discussed at the school parliament, in class etc. At the same time, we get an overview of school events.
   

Changes

• Reducing violence. Creating a friendly environment.
   

Challenges you faced

• Building confidence of victims of violence to confess their dilemmas.
   

Time-frame of the project:

From October 2020 till April 2021
 

Council of Europe materials on citizenship and human rights education used while preparing or implementing your practice:

• Human Rights and Democracy Start with Us – Charter for All
• Multimedia Material (ex. video “Beat Bullying”, series of cartoons “Democracy and Human Rights at School”, video “Corporal punishment at school: how two parents decided to change things”)