Inclusion and Violence: Prevalence of peer victimization in students participating in School Integration Projects

Abstract

This study analyses and compares the differences between students diagnosed with and without special educational needs, in terms of their experience of school victimization in a commune of the Region of Valparaíso, Chile, in elementary schools providing School Integration Programs (SIP). A questionnaire of peer victimization (bullying) was administered to a censal sample of 5,769 students, of which 81 participated in the SIPs. Findings from the Odds Ratio analysis indicate greater levels of peer victimization students participating in SIPs, as compared to students not participating in SIPs. The proportion was greater for ciber-bullying (2.42), social exclusion (2.40) and sexual victimization (2.45). These results are discussed in relation to the effects of an inclusion policy that focuses pedagogical attention through individual diagnosis, a process whose risks are labelling, segregation and discrimination.