This paper reports on a systematic review of what is currently known about violence in mainstream schools across the four countries of the UK (Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland). Funded by the British Educational Research Association (BERA), this research formed part of an innovative strategy to produce accessible, up-to-date information on key issues of interest to a wide audience (e.g. general public and professionals, including teachers). The review on violence in schools was the first BERA “Insight” to be published (Brown & Winterton 2011) by this new initiative, underlining the salience of the topic for a variety of audiences.

   Inevitably, questions for the review covered thorny definitional issues and whether the review should adopt a broad or a more narrow definition of school violence (Brown & Munn 2008). Other research questions included:

• The nature and extent of violence in school and how this is measured.
• What is known about the causes of violence.
• Characteristics of those who commit violent acts and characteristics of victims of violence in schools.
• What can be done to prevent violence in schools and classrooms.
• Examples of successful interventions in classrooms and playgrounds.
• Implications for policy and practice.

   Initially, this paper will focus on the review process and methodological issues. It will then identify the main findings and address a key question which is of considerable concern to policy makers and educationalist across Europe: “Is violence in UK schools is actually getting worse?” Finally, it will argue that the phenomenon of violence in schools is changing in certain respects but not in the ways often implied by the media. In conclusion, it will maintain that such changes require to be understood in the wider social context the everyday lives of children and young people living in materially advantaged societies.

Brown, J. & Winterton, M. (2011) Violence in UK schools: what is really happening? INSIGHT (1) British Educational Research Association. Brown, J. & Munn, P. (2008) 'School violence' as a social problem: charting the rise of the problem and emerging specialist field’, International Studies in Sociology of Education, Vol.18 (3 4), pp. 217-228.