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The Síndic demands more resources for detection, mediation and immediate intervention on bullying at schools
The Catalan Ombudsman, the Síndic de Greuges, presented a special report on positive coexistence and conflict in schools, demanding that the Catalan authorities should devote more resources to the prevention of confrontation in schools and the training of professionals in the field of detection and intervention of school harassment.
The report also highlights the importance of mediation as a mechanism for the resolution of conflicts, the perils associated with the excessively hasty judicialisation observed in some cases, and the strengthening of mechanisms of participation of the educational community as the best strategy for the prevention of conflictive situations in schools. The report was submitted to the President of the Catalan Parliament, Ernest Benach, for its handling and discussion in the Commission on the Síndic de Greuges of the Parliament of Catalonia. After that it was presented in a press conference by the Síndic, Rafael Ribó, accompanied by the Deputy for the Defence of Children's Rights, Xavier Bonal. Bearing the title "Positive Coexistence and Conflict in Schools", the report originated from the complaints received by the Catalan Ombudsman on these matters, basing itself on the actions that the Catalan Ombudsman institution has carried out. It has been drafted in coordination with a report on the same subject prepared by the Ararteko (Ombudsman of the Basque Country).The Catalan Ombudsman's report is focused on the relations of positive coexistence and confrontation in secondary schools. It analyses the set of school-related factors that influence good or bad school climates, the typology of the most common conflicts, the situations of vulnerability suffered by some students, and the conflict management mechanisms that are used by the various schools.In presenting this and other information, the report also takes into consideration the replies of 1,200 students in the first and fourth years of compulsory secondary education to a school coexistence questionnaire, the qualitative material obtained from interviews of students and teachers at new secondary schools in Catalonia, and the analysis of complaints received by the Catalan Ombudsman on school coexistence conflicts.
