Inclusion - exclusion: Bullying and the role of the physical school environment

Abstract

The teaching of fundamental values is a major task in the Swedish curriculum. On a concrete level, this implies equal value and inclusion of all pupils.

In this paper I explore the relation between the occurrence of bullying and the physical environment of schools. In earlier research about bullying, the focus is on social climate, interaction between pupils and between pupils and teachers. With few exceptions, no mention is made of locations where bullying actually occurs in the school building or yard.

I will present syntactical analysis which describes spatial properties and allows connection to behaviour. In this way, the importance of design properties for bullying can be discussed.