SAVE

Schools Against Victimisation from an Early age

Overview and Objectives

Victimisation in childhood is not uncommon. Children can experience a range of adverse and traumatic situations, including sexual abuse, domestic violence and bullying. Educators can foster resilience in children – but they must also know what to do if they suspect a child is being victimised.

SAVE’s main aim was 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 was 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.

The project objectives were:

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 organisations across Europe with a view to harnessing and adapting international best practice for the purpose of stimulating local growth and development.

Activities/Outputs

The SAVE consortium incorporated innovative methods and the exchange of good practices among four European countries into the creation of a four module, online training programme. The training materials address different types of child and adolescent victimisation: bullying and cyberbullying, child emotional and physical maltreatment, child sexual abuse, and also includes a module specifically designed to assist staff in cultivating resilience among affected young people.

Impact

The SAVE project team 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.

Partners

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).