School Violence and its Effects on Children's Attitudes towards Education and their Academic Achievement: Research Study

The purpose of this study is to determine the level of violence against school children in the Gaza Strip, and to understand its causes and its impact on the children's level of anxiety and attitudes towards learning. Stratified random sample was taken. The sample consisted of 300 students in the ninth grade from Nuseirat refugee camp, and the number of valid questions was 247. The researchers used three tools to identify the level of school violence against children, their level of anxiety, their attitudes towards learning, and their academic achievement. The results of the study show that the children studied here were subject to a high degree of physical and psychological violence from their teachers who practiced violence on them as a form of punishment. The results also show that there were statistically significant differences in the level of violence against children between students in governmental schools, private schools and UNRWA schools for the favor of UNRWA students. In addition, there were statistically significant differences based on gender for the favor of female teachers.Moreover, the results show that there were statistically significant differences in the degree of anxiety of children between students exposed to low-level of violence and students exposed to high level of violence in favor of students exposed to high level of violence. Furthermore, the results show that there were statistically significant differences in the degree of children's attitudes towards learning between students exposed to low-level of violence and students exposed to high level of violence in favor of students exposed to low level of violence.The results also show that there were statistically significant differences in the degree of the academic achievement of children between students exposed to low-level of violence and students exposed to high level of violence in favor of students exposed to low level of violence. Key words: violence, anxiety, attitudes towards learning, academic achievement