Are schools safe? Anti-bullying practices in primary schools in contemporary Serbia

Master's Thesis from the year 2016 in the subject Pedagogy - School System, Educational and School Politics, grade: 9/B, University of Sarajevo (University of Sarajevo and University of Bologny - Center for Interdisciplinary Studies), course: Human rights and Democracy, language: English, abstract: The issue discussed in this paper is the problem of school bullying at primary schools in the Republic of Serbia as it is proven to grow as an increasing phenomenon. Specifically, attention is given to anti-bullying practices in primary schools in order to analyze if children are free from violence, abuse and neglect. The central research question of the research is why bullying is an issue in Serbia and what the responsiveness of public authorities tackling this issue is, therefore including the accountability of primary schools in Serbia, the responsibility of the educational system for tackling bullying, the measures implemented by teachers/educators. To answer these questions, the paper presents the international and national legislative framework, a theoretical discussion of bullying as a socio-cultural phenomenon, together with a list of key events which stirred the general public and a survey. The study concludes that bullying is an issue in contemporary Serbia because of overall socio-economic conditions in Serbia, lack of expert associates within schools, inadequate prevention and intervention measures, and necessary amendments of the current legislation. Also, the research confirms the initial hypothesis by which current anti-bullying practices in primary schools in Serbia do not stand for effective response and adequate measures to prevent and reduce school bullying.