"Learning respect"

How a cobra can protect children from violence

Even the youngest children get into fights.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/Andrey Bandurenko )

Conflicts have always existed - but children are increasingly said to lack the strategies to resolve them. This is where a new project by the state of Upper Austria and Gesundheitskassa comes in, which focuses on prevention measures for the youngest children.

Every second pupil in fifth grade was involved in a fight in the 2021/22 school year, every eighth was a victim of bullying - according to the latest HBSC (Health Behavior In School-Aged Children) study. "However, the roots of violence and bullying can be found well before secondary school age," says education researcher Christoph Weber.

"Pupils learn to resolve conflicts"
For this reason, the province of Upper Austria and the Institute for Addiction Prevention have developed a new module for violence prevention in elementary school. "Pupils learn to express their own needs, deal with unpleasant feelings and solve problems without conflict," explains Michael Pecherstofer from the ÖGK regional office.

A good school climate starts with respect, and that can be learned. This is how we help children to resolve conflicts without violence.

LH-Vize Christine Haberlander

Rabbit or cobra?
Together with the province of Upper Austria, it finances this project, which includes 28 special teaching units and training courses for teachers. Among other things, the children are taught what a spiral of violence is and what tactics they can use to help themselves: walking away like the agile hare or saying STOP like the upright cobra.