The Violence Perception of Teachers and Students at Primary Schools

In parallel with the increasing number of acts of violence in recent years, it is seen that the effect of violence in schools is becoming growingly worrisome. The violence the students are exposed to affect them not only in their academic life but also throughout their life and may make irrecoverable traumas. With this study, it is endeavoured to identify how the acts of violence in the primary schools are perceived and conceptualized through the teachers and students’ opinions. In this study designed in line with the qualitative research approach, “the content analysis” has been conducted. Within this context, the open-ended question, “Violence is like ……… because ……..” has been asked to the participants. In order to identify the teachers and students’ perceptions on violence, the random sample has been used and the opinions of 222 teachers from the schools in the city centre and districts of Elaz and 425 students attending at the 6th, 7th and 8th grade at these school have been taken. According to the themes created following the analysis of metaphors, it is seen that the students have created the most metaphors under “destroying” theme and the least metaphors under “penalty” theme. Again, according to the themes, it is seen that the teachers have considered violence under “natural disaster” theme the most and under “warning” theme the least.