What adolescents say about conflict in secondary schools

During 1997 researchers at the University of South Australia conducted qualitative and quantitative research with 663 students from a diverse range of secondary schools in the Adelaide metropolitan area. The research focussed on how 13 to 15 year old adolescents view and handle conflict with their peers and conflict with adults at school, such as teachers and counsellors. This paper reports on Phase 1 of the research, and on comments gathered from adolescents in Focus Groups about their experiences of conflict. Comments about the high level of aggression and violence in some secondary schools would indicate that broader, community-centred approaches may be needed before conflict management strategies, such as peer mediation, can work.