In recent years, violence in the school environment has become an increasingly prominent social issue, while tolerance for such behaviour has been steadily declining in both professional circles and the wider public. The relevance of the topic is further underscored by the recent reform of systemic legislation in the field of juvenile criminal justice, which calls for renewed reflection on the role of parents, preventive approaches, and support mechanisms for children and adolescents.
Today, the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana, in cooperation with the Faculty of Law of the University of Ljubljana, successfully organised the conference “Violence in Schools: Longitudinal Research and Ensuring a Safe and Supportive School Environment”. During the event, researchers presented the latest insights into how school violence emerges, how it can be identified, and how to respond to it effectively. The conference, held both in person and in a hybrid format, was attended by approximately 160 participants from more than 130 different primary and secondary schools, as well as other relevant institutions.
The central aim of the conference was to respond to a clearly identified need for a deeper, research-based understanding of violence in schools and to present the results of the multi-year project “Addressing Peer Violence: A Systemic Approach to Ensuring a Sustainably Safe and Supportive School Environment”. The presented findings offer a clearer picture of the challenges schools face in their daily practice and open space for solutions grounded in the real needs of children and educational professionals.
In the second part of the conference, researchers presented newly developed recommendations at the school level as well as key expert foundations for the development of a national strategy based on ensuring a safe, supportive, and inclusive school environment. Each thematic section was followed by a lively discussion, during which participants highlighted concrete challenges encountered in practice and expressed a strong interest in having these issues addressed more thoroughly in future research, thereby further strengthening existing approaches to addressing violence in the school setting.
