School conflicts: everyone's problem

Today's school it is not always the desired living space for our children and adolescents, In it, curricular and non-curricular influence are organized and planned in order to strengthen and build values ​​of coexistence, solidarity and dialogue between subjects.

Schooling ceased to be the only proposal, after the family, for the formation and education of the personality. The messages that are transmitted, reconceptualized and produced in it are not credible, legitimate and viable for certain students, parents and teachers. The practical repercussion of this has a different nature and affects different facets of human coexistence. We invite you to continue reading this Psychology-Online article if you want to know more about School conflicts: everyone's problem.

Index

1. the state of the question
2. Characteristics of school conflicts
3. Conflicts in today's society
4. Nature of the conflict
5. Types of school conflicts
6. School conflicts and solutions
7. Communication in conflict
8. Other ways to resolve conflicts at school
9. Avoid conflict at school

Man has a convivial nature, but this does not deny that social relationships can deteriorate, we refer to conflicts in human relationships that occur in any of the social settings. Disagreements, interpersonal tensions, intra or intergroup confrontations that can adopt a violent or destructive character, or that damage coexistence and human health. Why?.

This is a pluricausal phenomenon. Some scholars have located the causes in genetic factors, however, after knowing the results of studies of the human genome, on the level of uncertainty that people have to make decisions and that the heritability coefficient is around 60%, it is reaffirmed that human behaviors are not biologically determined (which does not deny their incidence) but depends on the social context, educational contexts and the social situation of the development of the subjects in particular.

At work, due to the significance of schooled influences we carry out a methodological cut and fundamentally address the school context, knowledgeable about the role of other educational contexts in the socialization of children, adolescents and young people, and who provide information for understanding the subject.

In reflection groups with teachers about "school coexistence" they expressed their perceptions about violence in schools, the conflicts of authority that arise in educational institutions and the way in which solve them. In addition, they mentioned robbery situations and the establishment of surveillance and security systems that tends to become a way of solving these problems. Teachers ,they called attention to causes outside the educational field, loss of values ​​in society and the media. Others place it in children, adolescents or young people "problems".

We have experienced discussions of this type with teachers from different Latin American countries. Likewise, the news of serious acts of violence in highly developed countries arouse alarm signals in educators from different latitudes.

Fortunately in Cuba these conflicts and violence in schools do not reach the dimension that exists in other countries. Deepening about the conflicts inherent in interpersonal relationships and the ways of dealing with them prepares us better to interpret the alarm signals that are manifested in classrooms and educational institutions in general.

A question asked by a teacher of lower secondary education can help us to reflect on the matter: What is happening in educational institutions?

In dealing with the place of your school and your disciplinary role in today's society Polinszuk, S. It states that “the disciplinary role that the School historically had as a social institution was maintained in the last centuries (SXIX and XX) as a space that produced its own disciplinary policies, from micro-mechanisms of surveillance and social control (Foucault, 1992).

The School, as we currently conceive it, emerges historically as a place of confinement configured within its space with a series of purposes and specific regulations for the channeling of practices everyday. (Álvarez, Uría, 1991). The ways of resolving conflicts of authority in the school environment are configured from the devices and institutional hierarchies constituted within said space. " (Polinszuk, S, 2002).

This author tells us about the schooled institutional practices of teachers and about the conflicts of authority and their contradiction with their modes of resolution. For his part. other specialists (Ovejero, 1989; Beltrán, 2002; Martínez - Otero, 2001) point out about the increase in school conflicts. They recognize the plurality of the phenomenon and highlight a combination of internal and external factors to the school environment Among which we point out the following:

• Increase in school enrollment. Being an achievement of most countries, the extension of compulsory schooling leads to a greater number of dissatisfied, unmotivated and undisciplined students.
• Increase in students per classroom and per school. Related to the previous factor, there is a progressive increase in enrollment in schools, with the increase in facilities and the necessary infrastructure not behaving in the same way. Classrooms are observed in which the physical environment negatively influences the psychological environment due to the overcrowding in the classrooms, lack of spaces for recess and sports activities, etc.
• Teachers perceive a gradual decrease in authority in front of students and they maintain traditional superior-subordinate relationships with the application of rigid controls over the behavior of their students.
• Less willingness to comply with certain norms, limits and rules causing a situation of indiscipline on the part of the students.

Every social relationship contains elements of conflict, disagreements and opposing interests. The school is an organization and as such its functioning cannot be understood without considering the significance of the conflict. (Johnson, 1972; Sheepdog, 1989).

The description of the reality previously raised leads to retaking the different types of approach that have been made to the school from three educational modalities. (Ghiso, 1998):

• 1st. Conflict and error are denied and punished.
• 2nd. The problematic situation is made invisible and treated in order to control the dysfunctions.
• 3rd Make the conflict and the error visible, assuming them as dynamic components of the training process.

Conflict is inevitable in human groups and attempts to evade them have had opposite effects, worsening. School conflicts are no exception. They also have a constructive and destructive potential, depending on the way to deal with them and solve them constructively. “It is true that conflict often creates tension, anxiety and annoyance, but like anger, these feelings in themselves are not always bad.

They can provide the push and pull necessary for development and growth. We believe that conflict in the classroom can provide creative tension that serves to inspire problem solving and to motivate student improvement. individual or group performance….. It constitutes a necessary step towards personal learning and towards the process of change (Schmuck and Schmuck, 1983, p.274) in Sheepdog, 1989. )

In this same direction, Johnson (1978, p. 301) in Ovejero, 1989 that school conflict is not only inevitable but is even necessary to combat the school routine and thus facilitate progress in school.
Peiró adds in this line, the conflict has both functional and dysfunctional aspects, “in reality the functionality or dysfunctionality of a certain behavior always depends on the criteria adopted and the perspective considered. Something functional for the organization may be dysfunctional for some members and vice versa ”. (Peiró, 1985, vol II, p.481) in Ovejero, 1989.

The issue of conflict has been studied from three main perspectives (Touzard, 1981) in Ovejero, 1989.

• 1st Psychological: It locates it in the motivations and individual reactions.
• 2nd Sociological: It locates it in social structures and in conflictive social entities.
• 3rd Psychosocial: It locates it in the interaction of individuals with each other or of individuals with the social system.

Understanding conflict from a psychosocial perspective leads to studying the conflict itself, its origin and stages, as well as taking into account the group and the organization in which it takes place. ”The studies reviewed show that the structural characteristics of an organization are important elements when explaining the frequency, type or intensity of conflicts organizational ”. (Peiró, 1985, vol. II, p. 498) in Ovejero, 1989.

Certainly, to understand the nature of conflicts in school, it is necessary to define what a conflict is, determine its origin and evaluate its possible functional and dysfunctional consequences. For Deutsch, M. (1969) there is a conflict every time incompatible activities are assigned. When an incompatible action interferes with another or obstructs it, it makes it less effective. They can be conflicts:

• Intrapersonal, if they originate from a person.
• Intragroup, if they originate in a group.
• Interpersonal, originate in two or more people.
• Intergroup, originate in two or more groups.

It is important to make it clear that, the conflict arises when the actions of one of the parties affect the other, but we are in the presence of differences of motives, interests, values ​​of goals, etc. Between groups, people, institutions, and not a conflict (Puard, Ch, 2002)

Causes of conflicts (according to origin)

1. Differences of knowing, beliefs, values, interests or desires.
2. Lack of sources (money, power, time, space or position)
3. Rivalry, people or groups compete with each other. (Deutsch, 1974)

In the literature of social psychology we find different types of conflicts, some coincide although they are called differently, others meet other criteria.
In a study carried out by (Schmuck and Schmuck (1983, p.276-281) in the school environment, he proposes four types of conflicts:

• to) Procedural conflicts: It is characterized by disagreement with actions that must be completed to carry out a goal.
• b) Conflicts of goals: It is characterized by the disagreement of the values ​​or objectives to be pursued. It is a little more difficult than the previous one because in the solution it is not enough to clarify the objectives, but it implies changes in the goals of the parties involved.
• c) Conceptual conflicts: Disagreements about ideas, information, theories or opinions. The people involved in the conflict conceive the same phenomenon differently. Many times these conflicts turn into conflicts of procedures or goals.
• d) Interpersonal conflicts: They are characterized by incongruity in personal needs and styles. To the extent that they are prolonged in time, they are more difficult to solve. This is the most difficult type of conflict to resolve because sometimes even the parties involved are not aware of it. On the other hand, if the conflict is prolonged, the interaction and communication are less and the conflict becomes more acute. which may be based on prejudices, suspicions that are not dispelled by the lack of information among the involved. "(Ovejero, 1989).

Other school conflicts

Others are role conflicts, conflicts caused by school rules, and disruptive behaviors in the classroom. (Sheepdog, 1989).
Role conflicts occur when people occupy different roles in an institution or group. These can arise in classes adopting different types:

• Role conflicts whose root is in the social system: It refers to the interactional difficulty that occurs when the members of a group or institution have different expectations or assume different behaviors, opposite to them.
• Role conflicts whose root is in the characteristics of the personality of those who occupy those roles.

The individual characteristics that hinder the performance of the role can be of three kinds:

1. Lack of necessary personological resources.
2. Low self-image in relation to expectations.
3. It does not conform to its characteristics.

Role conflict

1. Conflicts caused by prevailing school rules: Teachers and principals are concerned with imposing the rules to control the class. The maintenance of the superior - subordinate relationship between teachers and students leads to rigid judgment in teachers and expresses the fear of losing authority. For their part, students try to change or eliminate school rules and be personally and socially autonomous.
2. Disruptive behaviors in the classroom: Actions that interrupt the rhythm of the class. Their protagonists are annoying students who with their comments, laughter, games, movements outside the teaching-learning process hinder the educational work. Conflicts arising from the rebellion of students against authority. Conflicts of controversy or interest can escalate into a violent rebellion.

In solving a conflict in a constructive way, the position and motivations of the opponent must be known, as well as promote adequate communication, an attitude of trust with him and define the conflict as a problem of the parties involved.

The characteristics of the classroom environment, if it is predominantly cooperative or competitive it affects people's perceptions, communication, attitudes, and task orientation when faced with conflict situations. (Deutsch, 1966) in Johnson, 1972.

Perception of conflict situations.

On occasion, lConflicts are misrepresented or the position and motivations of the opponent are not well known. These inaccurate interpretations are often that of the "mirror image." This concept, "mirror image," was coined by Bronfenbrenner (1961) is explained as a situation in which two conflicting parties have similar opinions about each other but, diametrically opposite. What each party involved perceives is "the mirror image" of the other. (Johnson, 1972).

Another mechanism that reveals the distortion of perception in conflicts is the mechanism of the "straw in the other's eye", similar to that of projection. It is described as the perception in others of characteristics that we do not perceive in ourselves. Those traits that we cannot or do not want to recognize in ourselves are undesirable and we attribute them to others, thus increasing the distance between the parties involved in the conflict.

The inaccurate perception is also observed in the mechanism of the “double norm” which is the process by which personal or group virtues are considered vices of the opposing party. The same action evaluated as good in oneself and bad in the other.

Finally, there are conflicts arising in competitive situations by forming an oversimplified image of oneself and the adversary.
Misinterpretations originate in competitive conflicts conditioned by the contexts in which they take place, the cultures and the expectations of those involved.

The perceptual distortions they are difficult to clarify once the conflict arises because:

1. The parties in conflict are very committed and it is not easy for them to modify the image that they have formed of the other, sometimes because they feel guilty for actions taken. carried out against the adversary, which would not be justified, or for fear that their prestige would be affected and they experience contradictory feelings about whether or not it was related to he.
2. Often these distorted perceptions are reinforced because the person avoids contact or communication with the other person.
3. In addition, the conflict is exacerbated because an anticipatory attitude is assumed, of future prognosis of the adversary's behavior and perceives aggressive, treats it as such and provokes aggressiveness in the other, thereby confirming the unfavorable perception initial.

In the conflict management In a constructive way, the establishment of communication between the parties constitutes an essential element.

To the compare a situation of cooperation and another of competition communication in each of them it differs. In the first, it is open, frank, information is shared between the parties which allows that in front of a conflict can be managed constructively, as it facilitates effective and fluent communication with the opponent. While, in the second, the communication process is deficient, distorted information is exchanged, false commitments are made that do not allow the conflict to be resolved, because they do not take advantage of the strategies that are tried to be applied in its management and the effects are destructive.

In conflict situations it is observed as tendency to distort our perceptions of the behavior and motives of the other, as well as difficulties in communication between the parties, particularly if the situation is competitive. Given this fact, described so far, a procedure is proposed aimed at reducing these obstacles, such as the exchange of roles.
Exchange of roles.

The Role Exchange Theory focuses on the work of Roger, C. (1951, 1952, 1965) as a means to promote communication between two people because it considers that the greatest barrier to Interpersonal communication is the tendency to make value judgments about what the other expresses, from our own referents. This tendency is exacerbated because it is associated with intense emotional expressions and negative valence

The role exchange procedure consists of a discussion by which each exposes the other's point of view in the presence of the other, so it tries to place itself in the opponent's frame of reference, promoting a less defensive attitude of it, and convincing it that it has been listened to and understood. As Roger C. This happens because:

1. it is understood exactly the intimate world of the other,
2. you feel empathy for him, without pretending to be absorbent, and is accepted as a person and
3. one behaves in the situation in an authentic and genuine way.

However, mutual understanding of the other's position it does not mean that the parties come to an agreement more easily. Certain misunderstandings hide the true differences between individuals, and their clarification would increase the conflicting elements of the situation by removing any small misunderstanding that may exist and exposing the greater. Other misunderstandings conceal similarities and points of agreement between the parties; the clarification of it would lead to the resolution of the conflict. (Johnson, D. 1972)

From this perspective the most effective strategy to solve school problems is cooperative learning, learning through cooperative groups. Sherif, (1973) admits the difficulty for groups in conflict to cooperate, for which he proposed the technique of "extraordinary goals" that are nothing more than goals. pressing and very attractive to members of one or more groups in conflict, but which cannot be achieved with the means and energies of the groups by separated. (Sheepdog, 1989).

In the proposal to solve conflicts, in addition to learning through cooperative groups, others are considered that involve group strategies in which they are used group variables among which stand out:

• Group cohesion It helps to reduce school conflicts (controversy).
• Group sizeThe larger the size, the greater the dissatisfaction of its members and their problems.
• Participatory leadership produces less conflict in the group.
• The quality of the relationship, greater contact and understanding of the student's behavior to solve conflicts. Study the relationship, roles and expectations of the teacher and students.

Another conflict resolution strategy is effective negotiation in conflicts of interest. “Negotiation is a process by which people who want to reach an agreement to resolve a conflict, but who does not agree on the nature of such an agreement, attempts to make a agreement. The negotiations are aimed at reaching an agreement that specifies what each party gives and receives in a transaction between them. (Johnson, 1978, p.314). " In the negotiation to achieve a constructive agreement it is necessary confront the opposition for which the problem must be clarified. In this step the externalization of feelings That the conflict produces can be shown by non-verbal forms, even adopting forms of physical violence. The direct and verbal expression of feelings favors negotiation, much more than its non-verbal manifestation.

School conflicts interfere with the functioning of the classFor this reason, sometimes the teacher tends to repress such a conflict instead of determining the causes and ways of solving it. Other factors that reinforce this posture of the teacher is the lack of time and the scarcity of resources for handling conflicts in the classroom in a constructive way. The teacher does not usually encourage discussions about the problem, to update the causes for fear that the conflictive situation will spill over and cannot be containment. With this, not only does it not solve the conflict, but it also becomes destructive for interpersonal relationships. because discomforts, misunderstandings accumulate, they stand out more and more and can face it in an annoying way. Neither the priority of homework justifies that the conflict be avoided, nor that a constructive solution be attempted.

Conflicts are inevitable as we have seen so far. A School that denies and avoids conflict trains subjects so that they do not act, so that they are not protagonists of their history, which would be a way of controlling thinking, feeling and acting.

There are educational approaches that reveal different ways of dealing with conflicts. Some assume the conflict from a magical and fatalistic vision, evade and cover up the conflict situation with expressions such as: "life is like that."

Others make the conflict invisible from the norm. Understanding by invisibilation as the force that leads subjects, groups and institutions to hide processes, actions, thoughts, the concealment of intentions, decisions and situations using camouflage and simulations. In this case, the norm prevents the conflict from being revealed, subtracting the subjects' power to act on themselves, repressing them if necessary.

Other approaches assume conflict. Some marked by the aspiration to build knowledge for life, to satisfy needs, unveil and resolve conflicts through models of coexistence, interaction and communication pertinent to the culture, which make them negotiable and modifiable, demanding in the educational social practices of people with capacities to it. In this same alternative, there are those who make visible and resolve the conflict from the norm, from the established, agreed and consensual agreements. The subjects act in accordance with the agreement, the agreement or contract stipulated between the parties involved in the conflict.

Indeed, the School conflict must be addressed and resolved as far as possible considering all the above.

Finally, it should be emphasized the impact that the personological characteristics of the intervening parties have on the conflict and its solution. The conflict tends to escalate when one of those involved is aggressive, authoritarian, dominant, dogmatic, suspicious. Although Stagner believes that the issue lies in perception, the way a conflict is perceived depends on the context and the personality characteristics of the participants.

In short, in conflict situations in the classroom It is essential that the teacher assumes the existence of the conflict in order to look for alternatives to handle it constructively. Depending on the magnitude of the conflict and the teacher's preparation in solving the problem, he may request the guidance or intervention of the psychologist. Defining the causes and intensity of the conflict specify how to handle it. The ostrich attitude to the conflict does not solve it. Constructive conflict solutions improve interpersonal relationships in the group and favor school environment and student learning, as well as the emotional well-being of plot actors school.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to School conflicts: everyone's problem, we recommend that you enter our category of Socialization problems.

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