School violence in secondary education in the governorate of Mafraq: Forms, causes and prevention- a case study

This study considers school violence. It was investigated in secondary schools in the governorate of Mafraq. The aim is to identify the forms and causes of the phenomenon; hence to come out with the preventive and remedial measures, accordingly. The study was conducted in one of the secondary schools selected randomly in the city of Mafraq in the academic year 2013/2014. To achieve the objectives of the study, the researcher used a qualitative case study methodology, drawing on the grounded theory model. The rationale of adopting this method was to generate forms, causes, and ways of preventing school violence as grounded in the data. Data were gathered through observations, interviews and documents. These data were broken down into themes. Themes were then grouped into categories. Common themes were then grouped together and links between them were identified. Both environmental factors and personal factors emerged as causes of school violence. Physical, and moral violence were found to be forms of this violence. The results showed that reducing and/or preventing school violence is a complex process which requires comprehensive educational programs for all parties involved in the educational course. In light of the study results, the researcher proposed some preventive and remedial measures for the phenomenon. Key words: School violence, forms of violence, causes of violence, methods of prevention.