SAVE:
AN INTERVENTION TO PREVENT SCHOOL VIOLENCE
BASED ON THE EDUCATION OF CONVIVENCIA
Rosario Ortega
Córdoba University
Spain
The concept of
convivencia
Convivencia is a very popular Spanish word employed
in legal, community and institutional contexts.
Convivencia means living together, sharing activities
and life on a day-to day basis, with the guarantee
that nobody is attacked or intimidated.
Culturally it has a positive value, recognising that
people look for the sharing of well-being.
 In the legal sphere: respect for the rights of others
 At an institutional level: the welfare of the whole community
 In the psychological field: feelings of empathy and happiness to
be with others including pro-social attitudes and behaviour
Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain
Labels used to nominate
Bullying and Violence in Spain

Words used by students:
 abuse, mistreatment, hitting, bothering, making my life
impossible

Words used by parents:
 rejection, bothering, abuse, mistreatment, selfishness

Words used by teachers:
 indiscipline, conflict, aggression, bad behaviour

General expression used by society:
 school violence
Despite no common criteria for naming school violence problems,
in Spain, preventative action against these problems have
been developed based on the concept of convivencia.
Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain
School Convivencia



School Convivencia concerns everyone
in the school community : teachers,
students, family and society
SAVE project was the pioneer of using
this specific whole policy model
SAVE project was designed as a whole
policy and included improving School
Convivencia
Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain
SAVE project




From the most socially and economically
deprived areas of Sevilla metropolitan area
26 Schools (Primary and Secondary) were
surveyed
4,914 Students, between 8-18 years old
Only 10 Schools implemented the SAVE
programmes
5 Schools (3 Primary, 2 Secondary) were
evaluated as the experimental group and
were compared with 4 as the control group.
Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain
SAVE main data:
Bullying and the risk of violence
Roles
Victim Bully Bully/victim
Bullying (interpersonal
9.1 % 4.5%
violence)
At risk
(feelings of exclusion)
24.1% 24%
Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain
0.7%
26.1%
ANTI-BULLYING INTERVENTION
RELATIONSHIP DEFINING SCHOOL
CONVIVENCIA
B
A
BULLYING
AND
V VIOLENCE
INTERPERSONAL
Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain
Rosario Ortega & Rosario Del Rey
SAVE Project
Focussing on bullying and interpersonal
violence prevention, SAVE aims to improve
School Convivencia through:


Training teachers in service programmes
Working on curricular issues:




Working to improve interpersonal peer relationships
Feelings, attitudes and values as part of the curriculum
Co-operative work on learning activities
Intervention with students at risk and involved in
bullying or interpersonal violence


Working with bullies
Working with victims
Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain
Implementation
processes of SAVE project

Three conditions for a school to undertake
the SAVE network
– The involvement of the School Counsellor, Head
teacher and at least 4 teachers
– Each school developed their own programmes
within the convivencia model
– Each programme had to be accepted by the CEP
(Centre for Training teachers in Service)
Only 10 Schools maintained these conditions
during the 3 years of the implementation of
SAVE
Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain
Evaluation
SAVE Schools:
 Victims and bullies decreased on both
measures:
– Pre-Post Evaluation
– Experimental versus control evaluation



Non-involved pupils increased
General feelings of Convivencia increased.
Peer relations improved: increased
tolerance, empathy, co-operation and social
skills, as good examples of convivencia
Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain
EVALUATION
RESULTS PRE-POST TEST
10
9,1
8
6
%
4
4,5
3,9
3,8
2
0,7 0,3
0
Victims
Figure 1
Bullies
Pretest
B/V
Postest
Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain
Rosario Ortega & Rosario Del Rey
EVALUATION
RESULTS EXPERIMENTAL VERSUS CONTROL
8
6
% 4
6,2
4,2 3,8
3,9
2,3
2
0,3
0
Victims
Figure 2
Bullies
Control
B/V
Experimental
Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain
Rosario Ortega & Rosario Del Rey
EFFECTIVENESS OF THE
SAVE PROGRAMMES



General feelings of Convivencia improved as a
consequence of the SAVE programmes, in the
opinion of 17.5% of students at the SAVE Schools
Convivencia in terms of peer relations improved as
a consequence of the SAVE programmes in the
opinion of 71.5% of the students
Reducing bullying as a consequence of the SAVE
programmes was observed only by 18.0% of
students at the SAVE Schools
Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain
Students Opinions on
SAVE Programmes
EFFECTIVENESS OF THE SAVE PROGRAMMES IN STUDENTS´ OPINIONS
Unspecified
improvement of
convivencia
Effective
improvement of
peer relations
Effective at
reducing
bullying
No effect
at all
Based on improving
convivencia
Feelings, attitudes and
values
Co-operative groups in
learning
Working with bullies
Working with victims
19.7%
83.6%
21.3%
2.2%
22.2%
73.2%
22.2%
16.2%
22.7%
63.6%
13.6%
31.8%
16.3%
19.0%
64.9%
70.4%
16.9%
28.8%
22.4%
9.7%
Intervention in conflicts
9.3%
72.0%
16.0%
5.9%
Working with families
21.4%
71.4%
11.9%
6.5%
Other SAVE
programmes
18.8%
73.2%
13.8%
14.6%
SAVE
Programmes
Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain
CONCLUSIONS


SAVE was a whole policy project based on
convivencia as part of the Spanish Schools Culture
Although bullying and interpersonal violence
decreased, the best results of SAVE were in
increasing the levels of peer relations and
convivencia


Students who were involved in the SAVE project
perceived working directly with victims and bullies
as the best way to reduce bullying problems at
school.
We need more work in order to know how whole
policy models cope with bully-victim problems.
Rosario Ortega.Cordoba University.Spain