ABSTRACT
Introduction Peer violence in schools has caught the attention of scholars and policy makers in Europe relatively recently – only in the last two decades – and the production of topic-related research, books and articles is growing exponentially. However, academic research and surveys focusing on peer violence which takes into account ethnic, cultural and/or racial variables have been mostly neglected and these issues remain inadequately discussed in many countries. Most of the studies focusing on ethnic, racial and cultural variables have been conducted in the USA (Hanish & Guerra, 2000; Henze, 2001; Spriggs et al., 2007; Sawyer, Bradshaw & O’Brennan, 2008) while in Europe, this topic-related research has received academic attention only recently (Strohmeier, Spiel & Gradinger, 2008; Janmaat, 2010; Strohmeier, Kärnä & Salmivalli, 2011). The findings of this body of research have been somehow inconsistent: while most of the studies in the USA and in Europe noted that youngsters from ethnic minority/immigrant backgrounds are more likely than those from the ethnic majority to report having been bullied (Verkuyten and Thijs, 2002; Monks, Ortega-Ruiz & RodriguezHidalgo, 2008; Strohmeier et al., 2011), some research concluded that there are no significant differences in the prevalence of victimization as a function of the ethnic or cultural background of the participants (Fandrem, Strohmeier & Roland, 2009; Rodríguez-Hidalgo, Ortega-Ruiz & Zych, 2014). Thus, we decided to focus our analysis on the ethnicity of the pupils/students as a potential cause of peer violence in Slovenian schools.1 When discussing interethnic peer violence, we remain mindful of the root causes of interethnic tensions. Henze cites the work of Kriesberg (1998) that offers the following insight:
overt conflict, such as physical fighting or the use of racial slurs, lies on the surface, like the top of an iceberg. Underlying, latent or potential conflicts or tensions are in the middle. These underlying conflicts or tensions may not necessitate the awareness of those involved, and they may remain hidden indefinitely or surface later as overt conflicts. Beneath both of these layers are root causes of racial or ethnic conflict, which include the following:
• segregation, which allows for the development and maintenance of stereotypes about other groups with whom one has little actual contact;
• racism, which can be both individual and institutional; • socialization, in which parents and other adults consciously or uncon-
sciously transmit to children negative information about other groups; • inequality, in which power, status, or access to desired goods and ser-
vices are unequally distributed among groups. (Henze, 2001: 8-9)
Methodology The research was conducted in four Slovenian regions: in the urban region of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, and in three border regions Primorska, Prekmurje and Gorenjska, which are all characterized by having highly ethnically diverse populations. The overall aim of the research was to gain an insight into pupils’ perceptions of interethnic relations in their schools, their perceptions of their own ethnic group and of “others”, as well as their (personal) experiences with interethnic violence and coping strategies when being a victim of such violence. The research methodology combined quantitative and qualitative approaches using sequential mixed method design (Ivankova, 2014). In the quantitative part of the research, self-administered questionnaires were completed by primary school pupils (aged 10-11) and by secondary school students (aged 16-17). The questionnaire consisted of forty-four questions, including demographic data and the pupils’ views of interethnic relations, attitudes towards multiculturalism, and their perceptions and experiences of interethnic violence. A total of 767 youngsters completed the questionnaires in eight primary schools and
nine secondary schools, 390 of which were primary school pupils (50.8 per cent) and 377 were secondary school students (40.8 per cent). The overall gender breakdown was 50.2 per cent male and 49.8 per cent female respondents. The ethnic structure of the sample was rather heterogenous, especially in the case of primary school pupils. Just over half of the respondents (54.4 per cent) self-identified as being Slovenian, followed by 20 per cent as mixed/other2 ethnicity, 13.3 per cent Bosnian and 4.6 per cent Serbian. In the secondary school sample, the majority (75.9 per cent) of students were Slovenian, 12.2 per cent were of mixed/other ethnicities and the same proportion were Bosnian (see Table 10.1). The qualitative part of the research was conducted in eleven primary and secondary schools in the form of focus groups with two sets of five to six pupils (who were previously included in the quantitative part of the research) and two semi structured in-depth interviews with members of school staff (headmasters, teachers, school counsellors) per school. Additional insights into interethnic relations in the school environment were provided by interviewing experts working in the field of ethnic studies and peer violence from academic institutions, governmental and non-governmental organizations.
