Erasmus+ – SAVE Project
(Schools Against Victimisation from an Early age)
Project Description:
Children suffer a broad range of victimizations which can be understood through some specific lines of inquiry. Developmental victimology proposes that crimes against children have particular effects in victims considering their status as individual in development. Relevant exploratory research into the incidence of victimization among young people indicates that a substantial proportion of children may be exposed to multiple forms of victimization (Turner, Finkelhor, & Ormrod, 2010). This evidence base points to a highly victimized group of children (i.e., “poly-victims”), within which reports of serious detrimental consequences in their well-being are prevalent (Álvarez Lister, Pereda, Abad, & Guilera, 2014).
SAVE’s main aim is to develop the requisite competencies in school staff members to ensure that they are adequately equipped to support and protect child and adolescent victims of violence. The primary project objective is to assist this group of vulnerable students to perform successfully within the school environment, not solely in academic terms, but also in relation to ameliorating their self-regulatory capacities, interpersonal skills and emotional literacy.
In order to achieve this, the SAVE consortium will incorporate innovative methods and the exchange of good practices among four European countries into the creation of a five module, online training programme. The training materials will address different types of child and adolescent victimization: bullying and cyberbullying, child emotional and physical maltreatment, child sexual abuse, and trauma due to war conflicts, and will also include a module specifically designed to assist staff in cultivating resilience among affected young people.
The SAVE project teams anticipates that the project will help to increase the feeling of safety at school, which should assist vulnerable students in dealing with their emotional distress via healthier and more productive means. The project will also increase detection and reporting of children and adolescents at risk in order to provide them with support as soon as possible, preventing chronic violence.
Duration:
September 2018 – August 2021
The Research Team:
The project team involves institutions across four European countries including:
University of Barcelona (Spain), Fundación Vicki Bernadet (Spain), University of Padova (Italy), The Empowering Children Foundation (Poland), and ICEP Europe (Ireland).
Funding:
This project is funded under the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership Initiative.
Project Objectives:
- To build the self-efficacy and capacities of teachers and school staff members across Europe, in relation to supporting students who have been victims of domestic violence.
- To equip young people who have been subject to domestic violence with a range of coping skills designed to enhance their skills in the areas of resilience, interpersonal relations and emotional literacy.
- To improve behavioural and academic outcomes (improved classroom conduct, more consistent school attendance, improved academic achievement, reduce dropout rates) among students who have been victims of domestic violence
- To enhance the collaboration between related organizations across Europe with a view to harnessing and adapting international best practice for the purpose of stimulating local growth and development.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission under the Erasmus+ Programme. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
