EVALUATION OF THE SERIOUSNESS OF ACTS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST IMMIGRANT SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN BOARDING SCHOOLS Olga DECMAN DOBRNJIC,1 Milan PAGON,11 Majda PSUNDER'1' COBISS 1.01 ABSTRACT Evaluation of the Seriousness of Acts of Violence against Immigrant Secondary School Students in Boarding Schools The National Education Institute of the Republic of Slovenia has issued the Guidelines for the Integration of Immigrant Children in Kindergartens and Schools. The difficulties with the integration of immigrant students are of a broad character, and the essay deals with the issue of the safety of the boarding school environment for secondary school students with immigrant parents. In our opinion it is also influenced by the statements, beliefs and attitudes of educators and secondary school students regarding acts of violence. To obtain the answers to our hypotheses, a research project was carried out in which educators (teachers) and boarding school students were questioned as to the level of seriousness at which they evaluate psychological or physical acts of violence against secondary school students with immigrant parents. There are 39 boarding schools in Slovenia which employ 200 educators and at which 5000 secondary school students are enrolled. The research involved all of the boarding schools in Slovenia, including 154 educators and 1331 boarding school students. We recommend the introduction of topics of non-violent culture regarding immigrant secondary school students into the management policy of boarding schools. KEY WORDS: boarding school, secondary school students, educators, immigrants, evaluation of the seriousness of violent acts IZVLEČEK Ocena resnosti nasilnih dejanj nad dijaki priseljenci v dijaških domovih Članek obravnava sistemsko vključevanje tujcev, priseljencev in otrok priseljencev v šolski sistem, ki ga Slovenija rešuje na nacionalni ravni. Avtorji ugotavljajo, da so težave vključevanja teh učencev in dijakov zelo raznolike, ukvarjajo pa se tudi z varnostjo dijaških domov za dijake, katerih starši so priseljenci. Po njihovem mnenju na to vplivajo tudi stališča, prepričanja in odnos pedagoških delavcev in dijakov do nasilnih dejanj. Da bi dobili odgovore na svojo podmeno, so raziskali, kako resno pedagoški delavci in dijaki dijaških domov ocenjujejo psihična in fizična nasilna dejanja nad obravnavanimi dijaki. V Sloveniji I Olga Dečman Dobrnjič, MSc Management, National Education Institute of Slovenia, Poljanska 28, SI-1000 Ljubljana; olga.decman@zrss.si. II Milan Pagon, ScD, PhD Management, College of Business Studies, Al Ghurair University, PO Box 37374 Dubai, UAE; mpagon@agu.ac.ae. III Majda Pšunder, PhD Pedagogy, University of Maribor, Faculty of Arts, Koroška cesta 160, SI-2000 Maribor; maj-da.psunder@uni-mb.si. je v 39 dijaških domovih zaposlenih 200 pedagoških delavcev, v njih pa biva 5.000 dijakov. V raziskavo, ki so jo izvedli v vseh dijaških domovih v Sloveniji, so vključili 154 pedagoških delavcev in 1.331 dijakov. Avtorji predlagajo, da se v politiko vodenja v dijaških domovih vključi več vsebin iz kulture nenasilja do dijakov priseljencev. KLJUČNE BESEDE: dijaški dom, dijaki, pedagoški delavci, priseljenci, ocena resnosti nasilnih dejanj INTRODUCTION In our history and for various reasons, Slovenes have always been faced with individual and group migrations from other cultural areas. As immigrants enter a new cultural territory, the area is also influenced by their own culture. The increase in immigration under the impact of globalisation is spurred by the European integration processes (Josipovič 2006; Mlekuž 2010). Immigrant communities' culture can be defined as a set of values of the immigrant population, closely linked with the following factors (Žitnik Serafin 2008: 189): • the cultural heritage brought by the immigrants from their home country, which they try to preserve and pass on • the cultural heritage of their new country • conditions and motivation to pursue their own cultural activities • conditions and motivation to accomplish their own cultural achievements within the wider society The immigrant culture should not be simply defined as a hybrid between the original culture and the majority culture, as it is also affected by other cultural influences, such as the local ethnical structures of their residential areas, global cultural influences, and immanent internal factors (e.g. age structure, parents' educational structure etc.). In any case the cultural heritage of the immigrant community represents a significant part of the (multi) culture of the area where they reside, attend schools, or participate as actors in the socio-political and economic environment. Various Slovenian authors have stated that education is important to the successful integration of immigrants into Slovenian society, as it can significantly contribute to the possibility of equal opportunities for their personal development and work, as well as their social life, regardless of their origin, gender, beliefs or other characteristics. Through a well-planned integration of immigrant children in kindergartens and schools, we wish to enable them to successfully overcome the learning deficiencies usually arising from their insufficient language skills, as well as from the differences between their family culture and the culture of the new environment. It focuses on the individuals' rights to preserve their original characteristics, while developing a stable and coherent society that would consider the increase of cultural differences due to migrations as an advantage and stimulation for creativity (Zorman et al. 2010; Grum and Temeljotov Salaj 2010). Slovenia formed the Guidelines for the Integration of Immigrant Children in Kindergartens and Schools at national level, with the intent to provide uniform integration and a systematic approach to immigrants' children. They are aimed at institutes of education with pre-school educational programmes, elementary schools, secondary schools and boarding schools in the Republic of Slovenia (Novak et al. 2009; Zorman et al. 2010). The guidelines' legal basis is determined by several international documents and Slovenian regulations in the area of the integration of immigrants' children, as well as some general and specific principles, and the instructions to sustain the principles of integration of immigrants' children within the educational system. HOW SAFE IS THE BOARDING SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT FOR IMMIGRANTS? Several Slovenian researchers have researched the school environment. They have established that boarding schools in Slovenia are systematically included in the educational network of the school system. There are public and private organisations offering secondary school students residence, food, instruction and extracurricular social activities, as well as integration into the schools' internal and external environments. Most boarding school students reside at the schools for three to four years on average, at ages ranging between 15 and 19. The boarding schools' employees include headmasters, educators (teachers), advisors and technical staff. The employees as well as the students come from different environments, so the boarding schools represent a multicultural area where several interpersonal rapports are established within a systematically organised institution. Cultural hybridisation is present, and at the same time a systematic (social) differentiation of individuals and groups occurs. Immigrant secondary school students residing in the boarding schools represent approximately 2% of the entire population (Decman Dobrnjic, Pagon 2010; Cankar et al. 2011). The cultural variety in Slovenian boarding schools could be considered a gift from the environment for a more profound development of the social competences of the secondary school students. However, at the same time some critical situations arise which can escalate into violent acts. The Slovenian Convention on Children's Rights (1990) and several other conventions and regulations defining interpersonal relationships hold that violence at (boarding) schools is intolerable, since every child has the right to be raised in a safe environment. If Philip Zimbardo's research about the Lucifer effect is included, with the supposition of conclusions based on the Lucifer effect in life, the thought of a school (dormitory) environment without violence is an illusion itself (Zimbardo 2009; Decman Dobrnjic, Pagon, Psunder 2011). Secondary school students face increasing difficulties in finding their own space in a peer group. Several studies have dealt with this issue. According to many experts, this is also one of the reasons why violence in the school environment is a growing problem of modern society. Peter Smith (2003) sees violence as a pervasive, shocking, holistic and global problem. He believes the phenomenon of violence escalates in the school environment leading to more serious forms of violence; he therefore suggests that Europe should address the recognition and prevention of violence in the school environment in a holistic way. According to Sonia Maria Pedroso Goncalves, numerous studies reveal that peer violence is less detected in school environments where secondary school students feel safe and where the education process is carried out in mutually satisfactory interpersonal rapports (Pedroso Goncalves 2008: 104). How safe is the dormitory (school) environment for immigrant secondary school students? In her research on ethnic discrimination, Sara Brezigar (2007: 293) reveals that teachers infer ethnic discrimination due to stereotypes and prejudices. She finds this data worrisome since educators have a strong impact on the development of children's and secondary school students' value systems. Amartya Sen (2009) also warns about the drawbacks of the phenomenon, as it fosters a strong and exclusive feeling of commitment to a minority or a majority peer group which can lead to alienation and distancing from other groups. Solidarity within a certain group can exacerbate the differences among the groups, while contributing to a solid rapport among the members of the group. However, at the same time it could detract from other groups or ostracise some individuals from the group itself. An excessive feeling of commitment to a certain group is linked to the culture of violence arising from conflicts of interest. RESEARCH In our opinion, the safety of the (boarding) school environment for immigrant secondary school students depends on the attitude and approach of headmasters, educators and students towards acts of violence against secondary school students (Decman Dobrnjic, Pagon 2010). Based on this thesis, a study has been carried out in all dormitories and boarding schools in Slovenia in order to determine the seriousness with which educators and boarding school students evaluate acts of violence against their students and peers. In the study we were interested in the views, beliefs and behavioural intentions of teachers and students towards various types and forms of violence against students. The research includes 17 different scenarios of acts of violence. There are 13 scenarios of peer violence and 4 scenarios of violence against students within their families. The scenarios included the following types of violence: • physical violence against students • mental abuse of students • sexual violence against students • violence against homosexual students and groups • violence against students explicitly expressing their religious affiliation • violence against students with special needs (students with specific deficiencies and gifted students) • violence against students with immigrant backgrounds About 2% of students in Slovene boarding schools have immigrant backgrounds (Decman Dobrnjic 2012). As we intend to research and prepare guidelines and recommendations for the integration of students with immigrant background into boarding schools, the scope of this article is cases of psychological and physical violence occurring in student dormitories against students whose "cultural roots" come from Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was historically part of the political, social and economic environment of the former Republic of Yugoslavia. We therefore investigated the views, beliefs and behavioural intentions of teachers and students with respect to students who were first-generation with immigrant parents, so for those students the term "immigrants" (in quotation marks) is used in the article. For the purpose of this research we proposed the following five hypotheses, which we checked by means of statistical evaluation: H1: Educators consider violence against "immigrant" students to be more serious than students do. H2: When compared to other respondents, immigrant educators and students from other Slovenian regions consider acts of violence against "immigrant" students to be more serious. H3: When compared to other respondents, foreign educators and students consider acts of violence against "immigrant" students to be more serious. H4: When compared to other respondents, educators and students with immigrant parents from other Slovenian regions consider acts of violence against "immigrant" students to be more serious. H5: When compared to other respondents, educators and students with foreign parents consider acts of violence against "immigrant" students to be more serious. Research Method The research was carried out using the quantitative method of non-experimental pedagogical research, and included interpretation, analysis and synthesis of results using the qualitative research elements of description and explanation. The data were collected through a survey, and the SAS computer pro- gramme was used for statistical calculations. The statistical calculations were performed in order to measure the perceptions, beliefs and behavioural intentions of the educators and secondary school students linked to different behaviours within a wider range of violent acts performed against "immigrant" students. Sample All boarding school headmasters, teachers and secondary school students residing in boarding schools across Slovenia were invited to take part in the survey, while a random research sample (i.e. people willing to participate) was selected. The sample consists of three subsamples according to the respondents' "status". Table 1 presents a comparison of the sample population. Table 1: Comparison of the population and research samples Status Number of people in the population Number of people in % in the school year 2009/10 the research sample interviewed Secondary school students 5,333 1,343 25.18 Educators 212 131 61.79 Headmasters 40 23 57.50 Total 5,585 1,497 26.81 The comparison of the population (secondary school students, educators and headmasters) shows that the research sample of the respondents is sufficient as a reliable source for the obtained results. Level of education of the respondents. According to the survey data, most of the teachers and headmasters involved in the survey have university degrees in various humanities subjects, while three headmasters and two teachers have Master's degrees. All secondary school students have completed their elementary school education and were at the time attending various secondary school programmes. Demographic data. Table 2 presents the descriptive statistics, which reveal that the questionnaire was filled out by more female than male respondents. Such a ratio was expected due to the predominance of females among all educational staff nationwide. More female than male educators are employed in the Slovenian boarding schools, and more female than male secondary school students reside in boarding schools (Decman Dobrnjic 2012). Table 2: Gender of respondents Gender Educators Secondary school students Total f % f % f % Male 45 29.22 571 42.52 616 41.15 Female 109 70.78 772 57.48 881 58.85 The average age of the educators involved in the survey is 45.5, the average age of the secondary school students is 16.72, and the average age of all respondents is 19.68. We were interested in how many educators and secondary school students have a "migration background" (1), which is shown in the Table 3. Table 3: Migration background of respondents "Migration background" includes respondents who or whose parents have moved to Slovenia from other countries Migration background of the respondent Educators Secondary school students Total f f f Foreigners 6 10 16 Parents immigrants 13 50 63 Parents foreigners 3 26 29 TOTAL 22 86 108 Note: The entire research sample of respondents is shown in Table 1 The findings show that 14.26% of educators and 5.6% of secondary school students responding to the survey questionnaires have migration backgrounds. Instruments Three similar survey questionnaires were used as research instruments, for secondary school students, teachers and headmasters respectively (from here on the term "educators" will be used for teachers and headmasters). The questionnaires were identical in the part where the respondents were questioned about their attitudes towards acts of violence. They differed in the demographic data regarding the respondents' status. The respondents were asked several closed questions in order to help measure their perceptions, beliefs and behavioural intents in cases of violent acts performed against "immigrant" secondary school students. Personal perception about the seriousness of a violent act. The criterion for such opinion was obtained by asking the respondents the following question: "In your opinion, how serious is such an act?" Possible responses were presented on a five-level Likert scale (1 - very mild, 5 - very serious). This approach was selected in order to demonstrate our hypothesis that individuals with higher moral standards consider violent acts to be more serious in comparison with individuals with lower moral standards. Opinion of other educators' perceptions about the seriousness of a violent act. The criterion for such opinion was obtained by asking the respondents the following question: "In your opinion, how seriously would most educators evaluate such an act?"The range of responses was the same as with the question above. The question was asked in order to determine the degree to which the respondents consider themselves different from the majority concerning the question of moral judgements. Opinion of other secondary school students' perceptions about the seriousness of a violent act. The criterion for such opinion was obtained by asking the respondents the following question: "In your opinion, how seriously would most secondary school students evaluate such an act?"The range of responses was the same as in the question above. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The survey results supported by comments and discussion are presented below. Analysis of the seriousness of the first case of a violent act Case 1 below presents psychological abuse of "immigrant" secondary school students with respect to their Muslim religious culture. CASE 1 In a boarding school committee meeting, Aisa and two other girls on behalf of the group of all Muslim students residing at the boarding school proposed that they prepare their own menus for the kitchen as they do not eat pork. The president of the committee, Klara, did not see that this was necessary, as the boarding school already offers a wide selection of meals. She added that since they had already lived in Slovenia for several years, they should have got used to our food. All others present agreed with Klara, while Aisa and the two girls persisted with their demand. The discussion led to an argument when Klara said: "If you Muslims don't like something in Slovenia, you can just as well go back to where you came from!" The table below shows the analysis of the responses on the perceptions, beliefs and behavioural intents of the educators and secondary school students regarding Klara's act of violence. Some "hidden violence" against the students by the group can undoubtedly be detected, as they only silently observed the situation. Table 4: Evaluation of the seriousness of the violent act and the respondents in Case 1 Questions and frequent answefs\^ Level of seriousness and respondents In your opinion, how serious is Klara's act? In your opinion, how seriously would most educators evaluate Klara's act? In your opinion, how seriously would most secondary school students evaluate Klara's act? f % f % f % Very mild educators 4 2.61 4 2.63 31 20.67 secondary school students 117 8.78 36 2.70 129 9.66 TOTAL 123 8.16 42 2.78 162 10.75 Mild educators 9 5.88 26 17.11 44 29.33 secondary school students 298 22.36 161 12.06 381 28.54 TOTAL 311 20.64 189 12.52 432 28.67 I cannot decide educators 13 8.50 17 11.18 35 23.33 secondary school students 116 8.70 176 13.18 183 13.71 TOTAL 133 8.83 198 13.11 223 14.80 Serious educators 78 50.98 66 43.42 29 19.33 secondary school students 608 45.61 671 50.26 549 41.12 TOTAL 694 46.05 745 49.34 583 38.69 Very serious educators 49 32.03 39 25.66 11 7.33 secondary school students 194 14.55 291 21.80 93 6.97 TOTAL 246 16.32 336 22.25 107 7.10 Questions and frequent answenî\^ Level of seriousness and respondents In your opinion, how serious is Klara's act? In your opinion, how seriously would most educators evaluate Klara's act? In your opinion, how seriously would most secondary school students evaluate Klara's act? f % f % f % AVERAGE VALUES educators 4.04 3.72 2.63 secondary school students 3.35 3.76 3.07 TOTAL 3.42 3.76 3.03 Numerus - explanation for all tables1 The statistical analysis presented in Table 4 shows that educators consider the act to be more serious in comparison with secondary school students. The educators surveyed believe that the secondary school students would evaluate an act of physical violence as more serious in comparison to the educators; and the students believe the opposite: more students than educators would evaluate the act of mental violence against "immigrant" students as more serious. Evaluation of seriousness of the second case of act of violence Case 2 represents a more serious physical, psychological and sexual act of violence against an "immigrant" secondary school student. CASE 2_ Sajo is a third year secondary school student, an attractive football player, son of Bosnian immigrants. Last week he started "dating" Metka, a second year student. Sašo, his peer, known to hang out with "skinheads"2 and to be fond of Metka, found out about it. One afternoon he invited Sajo to his room for a talk, where three other boys were waiting. They took offSajo's trousers and shaved him round his genitals, threatening him to stay away from Slovenian girls since "Čefurji" (a derogatory term for people from the southern republics of ex-Yugoslavia) have no right to flirt with Slovenian girls. If he keeps following Slovenian girls, something worse might happen to him. Table 5 presents the analysis of responses to the perceptions, beliefs and behavioural intents of the educators and secondary school students for Saso's case of violent act. 1 The numerus is not the same for all the answers of the respondents, as the analysis also includes questionnaires where the respondents did not answer all the questions. The interpretation of the results with frequencies is as follows: total = all respondents who answered the question; secondary school students = total less the educators' answers, less those "without status"; educators = total number of respondents less students, and less the answers of those "without status". The difference in frequency and numerus therefore represents the respondents who did not answer a certain question or did not state their status (secondary school student, educator, headmaster) in the questionnaire. 2 Skinheads in Slovenia are an extremely nationalist subculture with a particularly negative attitude towards migrants from the ex-Yugoslavian countries. Table 5: Evaluation of the seriousness of the act and the respondents Questionsand frequencies of answers Level of seriousness and respondents-^ In your opinion, how serious is Saso's act? In your opinion, how seriously would most educators evaluate Saso's act? In your opinion, how seriously would most secondary school students evaluate Saso's act? f % f % f % Very mild educators 3 1.96 3 2.00 7 4.67 secondary school students 53 4.00 18 1.35 58 4.34 TOTAL 56 3.73 21 1.40 65 4.31 Mild educators 1 0.65 3 2.00 14 9.33 secondary school students 35 2.64 45 3.38 136 10.18 TOTAL 37 2.47 48 3.19 153 10.15 I cannot decide educators 3 1.96 6 4.00 23 15.33 secondary school students 117 8.83 81 6.09 193 14.45 TOTAL 123 8.19 90 5.98 220 14.59 Serious educators 13 8.50 22 14.67 56 37.33 secondary school students 408 30.79 4,41 33.16 544 40.72 TOTAL 426 26.38 468 31.10 608 40.32 Very serious educators 133 86.93 116 77.33 50 33.33 secondary school students 712 53.74 745 56.02 405 30.31 TOTAL 859 57.23 878 58.34 462 30.64 AVERAGE VALUES educators 4.78 4.63 3.85 secondary school students 4.28 4.39 3.82 TOTAL 4.33 4.42 3.83 According to the findings of the statistical analysis of Case 2, the educators evaluated the act of violence as more serious than the secondary school students. The educators surveyed believe that they would evaluate the violent act as more serious compared to the students, and the secondary school students also believe the educators would evaluate the violent act as more serious than they would. The statistical analysis of results shows that the first hypothesis is confirmed: educators evaluate mental and physical violence against "immigrant" students more seriously than the students. We were also interested in discovering how seriously psychological abuse and physical violence against "immigrant" secondary school students is considered by educators and secondary school students with migration backgrounds and by those whose families do not have a migration background. In order to answer the above question, the answers from Case 1 (hereinafter CI) and Case 2 (hereinafter C2) were examined with respect to the demographic data. Due to the complexity of the statement the statistical calculations were carried out in several steps. Table 6: (CI, C2) Evaluation of the seriousness of violent acts against "immigrant" secondary school students by educators who migrated from other parts of Slovenia and other respondents Status of the respondents Average F p N ED migrants from other parts of Slovenia 3.8452 21.76 < 0.0001 155 Other respondents 3.3683 1,352 Note: ED = educators The F value (21.76) and the respective p (< 0.0001) show statistically significant differences in the evaluation of the gravity of psychologically abusive acts against "immigrant" secondary school students between educators who migrated from other parts of Slovenia and the other respondents. The Bonferroni test shows that educators who migrated from other parts of Slovenia evaluate acts of violence against "immigrant" secondary school students as more serious in comparison to the other respondents. Table 7: (CI, C2) Evaluation of the seriousness of violent acts against "immigrant" secondary school students by secondary school students who migrated from other parts of Slovenia and other respondents Status of the respondents Average F p N SSS migrants from other parts of Slovenia 4.4203 1.49 0.2225 157 Other respondents 4.3184 1,344 Note: SSS = secondary school students The F value (1.49) and the respective p (0.2225) do not show any statistically significant differences in evaluation of the gravity of violent acts against "immigrant" secondary school students between secondary school students who migrated from other parts of Slovenia and the other respondents. The Bonferroni test shows that the secondary school students who migrated from other parts of Slovenia do not evaluate acts of violence against "immigrant" secondary school students as more serious in comparison to the other respondents. The second hypothesis can be confirmed in the part which presumes that educators who immigrated from other Slovenian areas evaluate acts of violence against "immigrant" students as more serious; however, we cannot confirm this for the students who immigrated from other parts of Slovenia. We were also interested in the assessment of the seriousness of violent acts against "immigrant" students by foreign teachers and students. Table 8: (CI, C2) Evaluation of the seriousness of violent acts against "immigrants" by foreign educators and other respondents Status of the respondents Average F p N Foreign ED 3.3125 0.12 0.7283 16 Other respondents 3.4158 1,491 The F value (0.12) and the respective p (0.7283) do not show any statistically significant differences in evaluation of the seriousness of violent acts against "immigrant" secondary school students between the surveyed foreign educators and the other respondents. The Bonferroni test shows that the foreign educators do not evaluate psychological acts of violence against "immigrant" secondary school students as more serious in comparison to the other respondents. Table 9: (CI, C2) Evaluation of the seriousness of acts of psychological abuse against "immigrants" by foreign secondary school students and the other respondents Status of the respondents Average F p N HSS - foreigners 3.8125 4.41 0.0359 16 Other respondents 4.3347 1,485 The F value (4.41) and the respective p (0.0359) show statistically significant differences in the evaluation of the seriousness of psychological abuse against "immigrant" secondary school students between foreign secondary school students and the other respondents. The Bonferroni test shows that the foreign secondary school students evaluate acts of psychological abuse against "immigrant" secondary school students as less serious in comparison to the other respondents. Hypothesis 3 was not confirmed. When compared with other respondents, foreign educators do not consider acts of violence against "immigrant" students to be more serious, and foreign students evaluate acts of violence against "immigrant" students as less serious. We were also interested in the assessment of the seriousness of violent acts against "immigrant" students by teachers and students with parents who are immigrants. Table 10: (CI, C2) Evaluation of the seriousness of violent acts against "immigrants" by educators with immigrant parents and other respondents Status of the respondents Average F p N Parents of the ED are immigrants 4.1452 23,60 < 0,0001 62 Other respondents 3.3862 1.445 The F value (23.60) and the respective p (< 0.0001) show statistically significant differences in evaluation of the seriousness of physical violent acts against "immigrant" secondary school students between educators whose parents are immigrants and the other respondents. The Bonferroni test shows that educators whose parents are immigrants evaluate psychological acts of violence against "immigrant" secondary school students as more serious in comparison to the other respondents. Table 11: (C1, C2) Evaluation of the seriousness of violent acts against "immigrants" by secondary school students with immigrant parents and other respondents Status of the respondents Average F p N Parents of the SSS are immigrants 4.4375 0.59 0.4411 48 Other respondents 4.3255 1,453 The F value (0.59) and the respective p (0.4411) do not show statistically significant differences in evaluation of the seriousness of physical violent acts against "immigrant" secondary school students between secondary school students whose parents are immigrants and the other respondents. The Bonferroni test shows that secondary school students whose parents are immigrants do not evaluate physical acts of violence against "immigrant" secondary school students as more serious in comparison to the other respondents. Hypothesis 4 can be only partly confirmed. When compared with other respondents, educators whose parents are immigrants consider acts of violence against "immigrant" students as more serious; however, this is not true for the students since students whose parents are immigrants consider acts of violence against "immigrant" students as less serious than other respondents. We were then interested in the assessment of the seriousness of violent acts against "immigrant" students by teachers and students whose parents are immigrants. Table 12: (CI, C2) Evaluation of the seriousness of violent acts against "immigrants" by educators with foreign parents and other respondents Status of the respondents Average F p N Parents of the surveyed ED are foreigners 3.3571 0.07 0.7910 28 Other respondents 3.4185 1,479 The F value (0.07) and the respective p (0.7910) do not show statistically significant differences in evaluation of the seriousness of physical violent acts against "immigrants" between educators whose parents are foreigners and other respondents. The Bonferroni test shows that educators whose parents are foreigners do not evaluate acts of violence against "immigrant" secondary school students as more serious in comparison to the other respondents. Table 13: (C1, C2) Evaluation of the seriousness of violent acts against "immigrants" by secondary school students with foreign parents and other respondents Status of the respondents Average F p N Parents of the surveyed SSS are foreigners 4.0345 2.62 0.1058 29 Other respondents 4.3349 1,472 The F value (2.62) and the respective p (0.1058) do not show statistically significant differences in evaluation of the seriousness of physical violent acts against "immigrant" secondary school students between secondary school students whose parents are foreigners and the other respondents. The Bonferroni test shows that secondary school students whose parents are foreigners do not evaluate acts of violence against "immigrant" secondary school students as more serious in comparison to the other respondents. Hypothesis 5 has not been confirmed. When compared with other respondents, educators and students whose parents are foreigners do not consider acts of violence against "immigrant" students as more serious. CONCLUSION Our findings show that Slovenia deals with the area of education systematically in order to ensure the successful integration of immigrants in the educational environment. In the long run, this should lead to a culture of non-violence towards "immigrant" secondary school students in the school environment. According to the research results, educators evaluate violence against "immigrant" secondary school students as more serious than do secondary school students. As expected, the respondents also evaluate physical violence against "immigrant" secondary school students as more serious than psychological abuse. The research also reveals that educators with migration family backgrounds evaluate violent acts against "immigrant" secondary school students as more serious when compared to the other respondents. However, this cannot be said for students with migration family backgrounds. Educators whose parents are immigrants do not consider acts of violence against "immigrant" students to be more serious when compared to other respondents. The finding that foreign educators do not consider acts of violence against "immigrant" secondary school students to be more serious than the other respondents is interesting; and foreign students consider acts of violence against "immigrant" students even less serious than other respondents. There are various reasons for such results, one of the possible explanations being that the level of tolerance to violence might be higher in the immigrant culture. Thus this result arouses curiosity and interest in further research. The research shows that the boarding school environment cannot be defined as the most friendly cultural environment for "immigrant" students. We suggest that the management of boarding schools should systematically approach a policy of non-violence towards these students. We believe that boarding schools with their organisational structure and management policy (rules of living in a boarding school, national education program for boarding schools, annual operating plan, vision of boarding schools, etc.) substantially influence (change) the behaviour of educators and students, which consequently leads towards a culture of non-violence towards "immigrant" students in boarding schools. We suggest the pursuit of the integration of "immigrant" secondary school students in group dynamics and boarding school activities, while the educational process should consist of various topical discussions that would increase tolerance in intercultural dialogue. As in any organisation or organised group, violence is present in boarding schools as a systemic and relationship phenomenon. 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