Lifespan Developmental Psychology - Research Proposal Example

1. Introduction Violence is often an integral part of society and living that is neglected at most levels by both the aggressors and the victims. This is all the more true when relationships in schools especially large school environments are considered. The creation of large secondary groups in larger schools often promotes an environment where the faculty, staff and children are largely disassociated from each other. Moreover if the environment includes people from differing backgrounds (based on social, racial, lingual or other such differences) it is common for such cleavages to be played up in children’s and the teacher’s behaviour. Overall this has the effect of producing large misunderstandings which then create violent ramifications amongst the students and the teachers. The student to student and the student to teacher relationships are marred by abuse, neglect and in some cases violence. As is often the case in such environments it is considered very hard to resolve such situations through peaceful input from the involved stakeholders. However certain research has proved over time that it is actually possible to achieve peaceful solutions to these problems through intervention that identifies and then treats the problem. Adolescent violence and bullying have taken centre stage in the American schooling system in a number of cases where children have been abused, neglected and tortured to limits where they assume violent means to resolve their problems. However the results of these actions taken by children collectively bear testament to the fact that violence begets no solution. For example certain bullied children have resorted to taking their lives through suicide. In other cases badly bullied children have “taken to arms” in an effort to avenge themselves and others like them such as the Columbine high school shootout. Current thought in pedagogical intervention indicates that massive resources and time are required to turn things around in schools that are fragmented along various cleavages that promote violence. This kind of violence and abuse is directed by students against students and teachers as well as by teachers against students. The current research carried out in a violence afflicted school in Jamaica shows that the use of a few resources and some time can easily change attitudes. The methods and kinds of intervention used in the research are easily adaptable to the local schooling model to find solutions to the problems at hand. The research is by no means a method of arriving at a quick fix but is merely an account of what kinds of resources and timelines could be expected to be used to find solutions to violence in schools. Almost all of the people reading this account of the research have been part of the schooling system at one time or the other. The relevance of the schooling system to everyone in the community is undeniable by any means. Hence it is apparent that responsible actions must be taken in order to deal with the state of violence, abuse and neglect found currently in some parts of the current schooling system. This does not indicate that the current schooling system serves as a hotbed of violence and aggression but merely indicates that there are rough patches that need to be dealt with before they become soar blisters. 2. Research Methods and Findings The research in question was conducted in Jamaica – a country that has a traumatised social history that promotes violence as a method of survival in the real world. Moreover the social structure breeds myriad opportunities for violence as the family structure is largely devolved. Most children live with single parents who are often subject to alcohol or other drug abuse since an early age. Teenage pregnancies are rampant as well promoting unstable families. The resulting individuals are used to utilising violence as means of social gratification as well as personal gratification. Although the entire society cannot be modelled using this model but a large proportion of people living in Jamaica around the poverty line are subject to such attitudes at home. These attitudes are taken to school where children bully each other in order to provide themselves with social and personal gratification. Moreover some children displayed such violent attitudes to provide themselves with amusement from a mundane life. The culture of this violence also led to the creation of tension between groups of bullies who took to large fights in order to settle who was more dominant. As a response the teachers in such schools adopted two methods – they either looked away and were subjected to violence or they became abusive. 2.1. Methods In order to deal with such an environment for improvement the researchers focused on the mentalization of the involved stakeholders. The teachers and the students alike were subjected to mentalization through the initiation of various activities that were cheap to carry out. The total time required for the entire study was around three years and it focused on improving the conditions in a particular school in Jamaica that was dragged down by violence. The school in question admitted students from the first grade to the ninth grade. The children from the first to the sixth grade were separated from the children in the seventh to the ninth grades. The school also admitted children from other smaller schools in the seventh grade. It was common in the subject school to expect violence as part of the everyday routine. Moreover the teaching infrastructure was meek and teachers were the least bit interested in improving the conditions of the lot. More or less everyone in the subject environment had given in to the conditions at hand without any hope for change. The researchers set up a simple bead making activity for school students after a few visits of the subject school. Children were encouraged to participate from all levels. The entire activity was supervised by a local conservative female and a male artist from the community. Making beads was not much expensive and provided enough resources for everyone to go by. The purpose behind making beads was to allow children to accomplish something in life as many children had poor academic records. The other purpose was to introduce children to synergy in cooperating with each other. Disputes and arguments were resolved by the supervisors using intervention without any violent means. Children were reasoned with and allowed to look into the larger picture for synergy. Over the course of an entire year these activities were carried out regularly and the children’s changing attitudes were monitored. The changes in children’s attitude had started becoming clear within the first year alone. 2.2. Findings The research found out that a solution provided from the ground up served better than solutions delivered by experts from the top. The children’s involvement in the entire spectrum of activities also encouraged teachers to participate. Over time the participation of teachers allowed them to become more considerate and accommodating. The teachers who previously used violence as a means to settle problems started to allow students space for explaining themselves. Over this time the abusive teachers resigned their positions while other teachers became softer and more understanding. This research was also able to translate the strengths of the Peaceful Schools Project from Midwest America into something meaningful and positive for children in Jamaica which had a far different social setup. This indicated that this kind of interventionist model could be adapted to various socio-cultural environments without much hassle to deliver results. Another major finding was that the older bullies were now ready to look after the smaller children and to protect them from other bullies and abusive teachers. The overall developments were also able to sustain themselves after the first year which indicated a completely sustainable intervention model. The parents also begun to support the school’s actions and more and more parents were interested in enrolling their children at the subject school. Overall violence decreased and educational achievement increased. 3. Implications for the Audience The current case in question carries a number of implications perhaps the most important of which is that massive resources and time are not required to deliver fitting solutions for violence, abuse and neglect in schools. It has often been reasoned that the use of expert opinion is mandatory to achieving strong results for interventionist therapy. However the current research clearly highlights that the most important thing required is initiative coupled with involvement of all involved stakeholders. This can be achieved through involvement of people from the local community such as the locals involved in this project. In order to deal with the situation of violence and bullying in the school system, the findings from this research can easily and flexibly be used to achieve results as it has been shown that such intervention can be applied to all kinds of environments with slight modifications. 4. Bibliography Twemlow, S. W., et al. “Reducing violence and prejudice in a Jamaican all age school using attachment and mentalization theory.” Psychoanalytic Psychology 28(4) (2011): 497-511. Read More