Pablo Castro-Carrasco1,2*
David Cuadra-Martínez3
Verónica Gubbins4Fabiana Rodríguez-Pastene-Vicencio5
Claudia Carrasco-Aguilar5Vladimir Caamaño-Vega1,6
Martina Zelaya1- 1Research Center on Subjective Theories, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, Universidad de La Serena, La Serena, Chile
- 2Research Office, Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca, Chile
- 3Department of Psychology, Universidad de Atacama, Copiapó, Chile
- 4Faculty of Education, Psychology and Family, Center for Psychology, Education and Family Research, Universidad Finis Terrae, Santiago, Chile
- 5Department of Mediations and Subjectivities, Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaíso, Chile
- 6School of Psychology, Universidad Santo Tomás, La Serena, Chile
Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic increased school violence and worsened the school climate in Chile. In Chile, punitive control policies such as the Safe Class Law (Ley Aula Segura) have been adopted. A key actor in the public debate is the Chilean Teachers’ Union, due to its potential impact on new public policies on the issue.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to reconstruct the subjective theories of school violence and school climate presented by the Chilean Teachers’ Union after the COVID-19 pandemic, in its public discourse broadcast on the web news.
Methods: Based on a documentary study, a case study design and qualitative methodology, embedded in the FONDECYT project No. 1231667, titled “The social construction in Chile of school climate and school violence after the return to face-to-face education,” web news (N = 36) were analyzed in which the Chilean Teachers’ Union explains school violence and school climate after the pandemic.
Results: We found subjective theories that explain the meaning of school violence and school climate, and external factors associated with the serious deterioration of these educational dimensions after the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, we obtained a set of measures such as inclusive policies, curriculum, participation in the development of educational policies, and refunding public education that teachers propose to solve these phenomena in the future.
Discussion: In the context of a union that has historically considered public policies to be non-participative in their formulation and distant from the schools’ reality, these findings have important implications for understanding the arguments of the Teachers’ Union about the need to improve mental health and working conditions as crucial elements for addressing school climate and school violence.
1 Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic, specifically the fact that students did not attend school in person, had a psychosocial impact on educational communities. Among the most affected dimensions of the school educational context as evidenced in Chile in 2022 are the mental health of students (Montero-Marin et al., 2023), their social–emotional development (Levine et al., 2023), as well as climate and violence in schools (Lobato, 2023; Vidić et al., 2023; Muñoz-Troncoso et al., 2024). The general context of Chilean education before the pandemic is being one of the countries with the highest levels of educational inequality in Latin America (OECD, 2023). This situation has remained persistent in the last few years.
The available data show that this system has produced school segregation and citizen dissatisfaction regarding the quality of the educational offer (Bellei and Munoz, 2023). This has motivated several student mobilizations, supported by teachers and families in 2006, 2011 and 2018, demanding the right to a public, high-quality, non-profit and equitable education. In parallel, teachers mobilized for better working conditions demanding the state to solve what has been called the “historical debt” in terms of non-payment for social security taxes (Colegio de Profesores de Chile, 2013). In this regard, the Colegio de Profesores de Chile (Chilean Teachers’ Union) plays a pivotal role in leading these demands (Ortiz-Mallegas et al., 2022). The Chilean Teachers’ Union has committed to install demands and proposals at a global educational level, even beyond the union level. For this reason, they have positioned themselves as a relevant social actor in Chile (Reyes Aliaga, 2021). They supported the mobilization of Chilean students in 2006 and 2011, where they played a key role in the negotiations and signing of subsequent agreements.
Regarding our study, school climate is one of the most important dimensions of schools (Charlton et al., 2020) and is defined as the interactions and behaviors that occur among members of the educational community (Zapata and Zapata, 2024). It is assumed as a fundamental axis for the participation of the different educational strata and the promotion of democracy, education for life and citizenship training (Cuadra et al., 2022).
Meanwhile, school violence is considered a complex, heterogeneous and multicausal phenomenon (da Cunha et al., 2023) that harms the lives of students and the different educational actors, their development and well-being (Escuadra et al., 2023). While violence implies different institutional and symbolic expressions as forms of social domination, it is also a concept used to account for verbal and physical aggression among members of a community, attempts against life, mass shootings, psychological, sexual and cyber aggression (da Cunha et al., 2023; Hu and Wang, 2024; Pitzalis and Spanò, 2023; McDonough and Abrica, 2023). In this regard, Escuadra et al. (2023) pointed out that there are 246 million children who suffer school violence due to various causes.
Additionally, there is empirical evidence of the great global impact on school climate during and after the pandemic, manifested in the increased intensity, frequency and different types of violence in schools (Da et al., 2023). This highlights the importance of better understanding on how to address social–emotional education, school climate and violence in the context of education in emergencies (Suárez-Guerrero et al., 2024; Mutch, 2022).
Over the last time, worldwide research has sought to promote the development of policies for school climate focused on dialogue, democratic participation, care and respect for others, yet practices based on control, punishment and zero tolerance policies are becoming increasingly common (López et al., 2022). An example of these practices in the Chilean case is the Safe Class Law (Ley Aula Segura), which intends to address school violence by granting powers to school principals, based on procedures for the expulsion of students in situations of major violence (Galdames-Paredes and Rioseco-Sánchez, 2023).
However, some studies on climate and violence in Chilean schools show that teachers identify affective, social–emotional and value shortcomings in their students; educational subjective theories from which they regulate their teaching practices (Kelchtermans, 2009) to educate in ways of coexisting (e.g., Retuert Roe and Castro-Carrasco, 2017). However, there is no research on how the Chilean Teachers’ Union gives meaning to school climate and school violence beyond the school microsystem. A point of increased public debate in Chile on these issues occurred in the post-pandemic return to face-to-face classes. The Chilean Teachers’ Union was an important actor in the public discourse in that period.
1.1 Multiple meanings of school violence and school climate in Chilean public policies
Although both school violence and school climate have become increasingly important worldwide, international literature has not reached a clear consensus that allows for a precise differentiation between these concepts or their points of convergence. On the one hand, school violence is understood as an unbalanced power relationship (Hernández and Saravia, 2016), frequently linked to situations of bullying, prejudice, discrimination, and physical or psychological aggression, both face-to-face and virtually (Samara et al., 2024; Moretti and Herkovits, 2021). Its causes are associated with factors such as poverty, residential segregation, neighborhood safety, school type, social networks, media, and family educational styles, as well as broader social influences (Herrera-López et al., 2022; Zografova and Evtimova, 2023; Von Reininghaus et al., 2013).
Historically, school violence has been contrasted with school climate (clima escolar) and school coexistence (convivencia escolar). In the English-speaking context, school climate has been considered a preventive factor, focused on the positive perception of interactions (Benbenishty et al., 2016; Moore et al., 2023). In Iberoamerica, school coexistence has been defined more as a form of peaceful and democratic coexistence (Sainz et al., 2023; Andrades-Moya, 2020; Urbina et al., 2020), although there is no consensual definition (Andrades-Moya, 2020; Fierro-Evans and Carbajal-Padilla, 2019). In addition, educational communities interpret school coexistence through medical, socioemotional and disciplinary models (Ascorra et al., 2018).
The significant impact that school violence has on educational communities has motivated a growing interest in research, with the aim of better understanding both its expression and its causes. Olweus (1989) set a milestone in the conceptualization of bullying by defining it as persistent mistreatment involving abuse of power, although recent research understands it as a type of persistent interpersonal violence, which does not always occur between peers and can manifest itself in various ways (Debarbieux, 2003; de Ribera et al., 2019).
The diversity of approaches to school violence and school climate has important implications for research and intervention design (Fierro-Evans and Carbajal-Padilla, 2019). Internationally, zero tolerance policies have persisted despite their low preventive effectiveness (Fierro-Evans, 2013; Cohen and Moffitt, 2009).
Based on these initiatives, the country created the first National Policy on School Coexistence (Política Nacional de Convivencia Escolar) in which coexistence was associated with a rights-based perspective, with a formative approach to citizen and democratic development, with ethical consistency, and oriented to equality (Contreras et al., 2019). Subsequently, and gradually, interactions in educational centers began to be regulated from a set of laws, as well as different updates of the National Policy on School Coexistence in the years 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2024.
Thus, policies on school coexistence in Chile have evolved toward hybrid approaches that merge punitive and formative logics, in a sociopolitical context strained by these contradictions (Ascorra et al., 2018; Carrasco et al., 2012).
As we have said, there are no studies that analyze the beliefs that teachers’ unions communicate publicly through the media. Nor has it been explored whether, in Chile, the perspective stated by the main teachers’ union has a formative, citizenship, democratic, mental health or hybrid approach, which could have punitive or formative logics or a combination of them (Contreras et al., 2019; Ascorra et al., 2018; Carrasco-Aguilar et al., 2018). We know that the way in which this association explains these phenomena, when publicly transmitted, can influence reforms or new educational policies. In particular, the return to face-to-face classes after the pandemic was an opportunity to study the public discourse of the Chilean Teachers’ Union through their collective subjective theories, disseminated through the media.
1.2 Teachers’ subjective theories about school climate and school violence
The constructs we propose to study, school climate and school violence are inherently polysemic and multifaceted (Ascorra et al., 2018; Bradshaw et al., 2021). These concepts have been explored from different approaches related to the social construction of meanings, such as logics, perceptions, beliefs, visions and paradigms. In this study, we propose to explore the public discourse of the Chilean Teachers’ Union based on an approach that aims to identify those collective and explanatory beliefs— collective subjective theories (CSTs) —which significantly direct actions related to the facts and situations they explain (Flick, 1992).
The CSTs model focuses on the argumentative structure (Groeben and Scheele, 2000) within everyday knowledge (Flick, 1998), constructed from representations that explain some aspects of the social world. The value of this model lies in its potential to delve into the structure of these representations, which act as explanatory theories or models and are directly related to social action. Specifically, in the scope of school climate, it is relevant to study the structural collective aspects behind school conflicts (Carbajal, 2013).
One way to study the thinking of a collectivity is to reconstruct (Flick, 2023) how they explain and comprehend events. This has been investigated by the “Research Program Subjective Theories.” Subjective theories are a type of representation or belief with an argumentative structure (Groeben and Scheele, 2000; Shang et al., 2022). They are intuitive explanations (Groeben and Scheele, 2020) that individuals or collectives elaborate in everyday life (Grotjahn, 1991) to understand the world and their own behavior or actions, justify their actions (Flick, 1992) and future orientation (Catalán, 2016). Subjective theories can be collective and may be expressed either explicitly or implicitly in the media. For instance, the headline “‘Investigate the board’: Library book banning remains concern for free press advocates” (Daily News Journal, 2020), in its argumentative structure, communicates a subjective theory that can be reconstructed (Groeben and Scheele, 2000) as follows: If books are banned from libraries, then those who advocate freedom of press will be against it.
This study, therefore, contributes to the study of these structural aspects, particularly those present in the public discourse of the Teachers’ Union, in terms of their causes, intervening conditions (Strauss and Corbin, 1990) and strategies or recommendations (Flick, 1992) for addressing them. The focus on CSTs is justified by its potential to research a type of knowledge constructed to guide and orient action. This action orientation is one of the main reasons for choosing this construct, especially considering that educational public policy discourse is closely linked to decision-making and has direct consequences for the school system.
Accordingly, different studies on future teachers have found a set of beliefs in which the family, positive school climate, dialogue in the school community are recognized as essential to prevent and intervene in situations of violence in schools. However, these studies show that preservice training does not prepare teachers with enough tools for handling school violence, presenting challenges to develop conceptual tools for school climate and for diversity management, among other issues (Mendoza et al., 2022; Huang et al., 2018).
In general, some aspects related to the research on school climate and school violence have been addressed through the study of STs such as education in values (e.g., Marková, 2013), cross-curricular school aspects (e.g., Gonzalez et al., 2019) or inclusive education (e.g., Fajardo and Castro-Carrasco, 2020). Specifically, previous findings about school climate and school violence show subjective theories of multiple educational actors. For instance, a study made with school principals found that they perceive school violence as a relevant social problem, attributing its origin to external influences coming from society in general, including the media (Von Reininghaus et al., 2013). Likewise, Retuert Roe and Castro-Carrasco (2017) indicate that school climate is influenced by the type of institutional management and leadership, the students’ context and the type of climate among teachers.
In Brazil, Ferraz’s (2023) study explored the subjective theories of teachers in Brazil on the promotion of ethical coexistence and the prevention of school violence, with focus on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings revealed that teachers who participated in systematic training on school climate issues presented fewer STs that inhibit action (Catalán, 2016). In addition, they identified topics related to conflict resolution, bullying prevention, virtual climate problems, and strategies to address students’ emotional distress as a priority in their continuing education.
A study carried out in Peru (Mercado, 2020) revealed a lack of argumentative strength in the theories elaborated by the teachers interviewed, who distanced themselves considerably from what is proposed by the academic literature on bullying. These findings suggest that the teachers constructed their STs spontaneously while expressing their discourses, possibly due to the lack of experience or unawareness of the topic. Although they recognized bullying as a problem to be addressed, they lacked the notions to deal with it accurately from their teaching practices.
The research by Alarcón-Alvial et al. (2020) focused on reconstructing subjective theories (ST) on classroom climate and instructional time in low socioeconomic school contexts. Their findings revealed that STs include the identification of facilitators for time management, such as good student behavior and teacher commitment. However, they also pointed out obstacles, such as students’ negative disposition toward learning, improvisation in teaching, and non-favorable characteristics of the institutions. In addition, it was concluded that adequate classroom climate management is key to improving student performance and behavior, highlighting the importance of teacher commitment and closeness, as well as disciplined student behavior.
Other studies link the implementation of cross-curricular objectives and values education with CSTs. Gonzalez et al. (2019) explain that Chilean teachers approach cross-curricularity through sporadic activities or as a response to emerging contingencies. In this context, disciplinary management and the affective bond with students act as moderators in the establishment of rules, assigning to the management of school climate and reflection on teaching practice a key role in values education (Castro-Carrasco and Cárcamo, 2012) and in the prevention of school violence.
Lastly, studies on parents’ STs are related to their role in students’ learning and their ability to motivate learning through teaching support at home (Maso and Terrazas, 2016). Some parents are more flexible in teaching certain rules, especially regarding the integration of their children in peer groups, normalizing certain behaviors in school interaction (Cuadra et al., 2022).
Despite the existence of an initial body of research on the subjective theories of teachers and other educational actors in this area, most of it focuses on the school microsystem. Specifically, to this date, there are no studies that analyze the subjective theories found in the teachers’ public discourse (González, 2007; Scollon, 2008) and linked to the role of teachers in school climate and school violence found in the web-based written media in Chile. In teacher training there is an important and growing body of research on subjective theories. Basically, it is known that teachers elaborate subjective theories to explain the functioning of educational processes, as well as their own teaching practices. This occurs especially when teachers do not have formal knowledge to explain the phenomenon in question (Cuadra et al., 2017). This research focuses on studying the existing gap regarding the collective explanations present in the exosystem (Bronfenbrenner, 1987) found in public discourses on school climate and violence. In our particular case, in the discourse of the Chilean Teachers’ Union in the context of the return to face-to-face education.
1.3 Teachers’ unions and public discourse
To an international level, specifically in the figure of teachers, some studies evidence a tendency of the media to broadcast a negative image of the teachers (Edling and Liljestrand, 2020). For example, attributing an over-responsibilization to teachers for educational outcomes (Goldstein, 2011) or a lack of teaching skills (Edling and Liljestrand, 2020). Three practices in journalistic coverage about teachers are described in Baroutsis (2017): the first is to broadcast information about teachers as an absolute truth; the second is the emphasis on exclusive responsibility for negative educational outcomes; finally, the third practice is the broadcast of tabloid information about teachers by the press.
The significance of studying this type of representations in the media lies in the fact that they select certain topics, giving them relative relevance and assigning attributes to the subjects involved in the media coverage (Rodríguez-Pastene et al., 2020). The press media influence the attitudes of individuals and communities, promoting behaviors in the citizenry, especially during emergency situations, such as COVID-19 (Shalvee and Sambhav, 2020).
One of the mechanisms used by teachers’ representatives to broadcast their educational demands, needs and opinions is the press. As the opinions and demands of these union leaders are disseminated through the media, their public discourse has the potential to influence not only those they represent (Cornejo et al., 2007) but also public policies (Marianno et al., 2022; Ortiz et al., 2024) and society’s general understanding of education (Aiziczón, 2018). The above is supported by the fact that the broadcast of news is an important mechanism for information and social transformation (Goffman, 2006). On this premise, the role of the media as a selector of events comes into play; a key filter when it comes to presenting reality. Additionally, there is evidence that teachers’ unions had an influence on the reopening of schools in the United States during the pandemic (Marianno et al., 2022).
The Chilean Teachers’ Union is the national organization of Chilean teachers founded in 1974, and considered as a unitary and democratic organization in defense of teachers’ rights. According to the latest statistical summary of education from the Chilean Ministry of Education, as of 2023 there are 263,690 teachers in the Chilean system (Ministerio de Educación, 2024) of which 60,000 are unionized (Colegio de Profesores de Chile, 2024). The Teachers Union is the most important and representative organization of Chilean teachers (Reyes Aliaga, 2021), in terms of the number of unionized teachers, the legitimacy of its representation and its capacity to negotiate with the state (Scherping Villegas, 2013).
Thus, although the role of the discourse of teachers’ organizations has been widely described, particularly in its historical influence on educational reforms in Latin America (e.g., Ascolani, 2010; Gindin and Finger, 2013). In this regard, the Chilean Teachers’ Union stands out as one of the key actors in educational policy debates, playing a crucial role in stimulating these discussions (Cornejo et al., 2007). However, there is a significant gap in the research regarding its impact on the public circulation of educational ideas.
1.4 Research questions
Considering all the above, the research questions of this study are: What are the subjective theories on school climate and violence held by the Chilean Teachers’ Union in its public discourse after the first year of the post-pandemic return to face-to-face classes? What measures does the Chilean Teachers’ Union propose to address this phenomenon in schools in the post-pandemic context?
The general objective is to reconstruct these subjective theories, and at a specific level:
1. To describe the meaning of school climate and school violence, from the subjective theories found in the media.
2. To describe the factors that influence school climate and school violence that appear in the news narrative of the Chilean Teachers’ Union.
3. To reconstruct the subjective theories that function as justifiers of improvement measures proposed in these news items, within the context of education in emergencies after COVID-19 lockdown.
2 Materials and methods
2.1 Type of study, methodology and design
This study followed a documentary type (Bowen, 2009) with social media data that used qualitative methodology with a descriptive and interpretive approach (Flick, 2023). Based on a case study design, a set of web news items that broadcast narratives of the teachers, that is, teachers with union directive representation functions of the Chilean Teachers’ Union (Colegio de Profesores de Chile), was analyzed.
2.2 Sampling
A purposive and convenience sampling was performed (Flick, 2023) of 36 press news in Spanish, published digitally, from January 01, 2022, to December 31, 2022 and corresponding to the speeches of teachers with union directive positions of the Chilean Teachers’ Union, who have made statements in web news items about school climate and school violence.
The criteria for the inclusion of these news items were: (a) that the news item was produced by a digital media and (b) that it directly or partially addressed school climate and/or school violence. The following were excluded: (a) the same news item published by more than one digital media, (b) news items on blogs, Instagram and Facebook. Accessibility was achieved by using Google news, considering as search engine the words “convivencia escolar” (school climate), “violencia escolar” (school violence), “Colegio de Profesores, Chile” (Teachers’ Union, Chile), “magisterio” (teaching profession), “profesores” (teachers), “Chile.” In the advanced search configuration, the search date was programmed from January 01, 2022 to December 31, 2022. A total of 79 news items were obtained, which once filtered resulted in N = 36 that were used for data analysis. Table 1 shows the news that were subject to qualitative analysis.
Table 1. News items selected.
2.3 Data analysis procedures
The news items were analyzed by thematic coding for qualitative data analysis (Flick, 2020) and specific subjective theories analysis (Catalán, 2016, 2021). Thematic coding consists of analyzing the information based on two processes. First, an intra-case analysis was performed, which consists of systematizing and synthesizing the information of a case– for this study each news item– generating a representative motto of the news item (Flick, 2020), which is a brief description of the most representative subjective theory of the case (see Table 2). Subsequently, an inter-case analysis was carried out, which made it possible to compare the individually analyzed news and to determine a common superstructure of subjective theories (Groeben and Scheele, 2000), according to the topics and sub-topics representative of the objectives of the study. For the specific analysis of subjective theories, subjective theories in the news items were reconstructed (Groeben and Scheele, 2000) on the basis of their explicit explanatory structure (“if-then” type or similar) or else this structure was inferred by the researchers (Catalán, 2021).
Table 2. Results of the intra-case analysis.
2.4 Credibility
In this study, we applied Lincoln and Guba (1985) criteria to assert credibility by triangulating the perspectives of multiple news items where different leaders expressed their subjective theories. The inclusion of various discourses, through quotations drawn from the news items, also allows the reader to build their own opinion on the consistency between the researchers’ interpretation and the original quotations. In addition, purposeful sampling by selecting news items that address multiple issues related to school climate and violence enriches the analysis. To increase the reliability of the findings, the textual segments were analyzed in depth by several members of the team, thus incorporating diverse interpretations.
3 Results
3.1 Summary of the intra-case analysis
Table 2 shows a synthesis of the intra-case analysis. The date of publication of the news item, the reconstructed motto and the most representative subjective theory of the news item are presented.
3.2 Results of the inter-case analysis
Three thematic categories were found that account for the meaning of school climate and school violence, the factors that the Chilean Teachers’ Union considers to be the cause of these, and a set of subjective theories that prescribe measures to improve the problems in this educational dimension.
3.2.1 School climate: meanings
From the news items reviewed, it seems that school climate includes a set of dimensions that allow an understanding of its meaning. In general terms, school climate is understood as the interpersonal relationships that occur in educational contexts, being positive when the school community manages to share and listen to each other. In addition, this educational dimension is considered to be at a critical point, the most negative and worrying condition being the phenomenon of school violence.
In the news items reviewed, the teachers state the following topics as constitutive of school climate:
a. The right to education and ongoing studies as a protective factor. In this dimension, teachers consider the right to education and continuing studies as a right that the state must ensure. There is an important post-pandemic school dropout rate, a problem that shows a violation of the right to comprehensive education. This phenomenon would occur due to the psychosocial effects of COVID-19 on students and their families. One of the news items reviewed indicates that nationwide, more than 50 thousand students have dropped out of the system and around 1.2 million schoolchildren have serious attendance problems. This would have an impact on the overall development of students, lack of future job opportunities and risk of delinquency.
b. Quality education as a right. In several of the news items analyzed, an important claim of teachers points to the quality of education based on certain indicators, the most pointed out being the lack of economic resources and infrastructure. For instance, one of the cases is titled “CGC, teacher and community leader in Temuco: There are schools that are the backyard of the municipal education” (news item No. 21, Table 1). In the case cited, there is an emphasis on how the local authority has abandoned an educational establishment in terms of economic resources for the improvement of infrastructure. Another case raises the situation of a school with a high enrollment of Mapuche students at risk of losing an important part of its land, which has a strong historical and cultural link with these native people.
Phenomena such as the neglect of economic support, the infrastructural disregard and the delay in the improvement projects of educational establishments are considered by the teachers as a sign of lack of concern on the part of the educational community, discrimination toward public education, authoritarianism in decision making and ideologization in accordance with the neoliberal logic of the prevailing economic system, affecting school climate.
a. Educational inclusion as an indicator of positive school climate. For teachers and in some of the news items reviewed, educational inclusion is an important component of school climate. Two conditions of educational inclusion are pointed out in some of the news items as very relevant. The first condition is related to the educational integration of ethnic culture, specifically, Mapuche culture and language. Although some political efforts in this regard are recognized, the real concern for reinforcing, revaluing, re-signifying, and paying respect to what has to do with areas of ethnic cultural meaning and relevance is questioned. The second condition refers to gender education and particularly to the inclusion of transgender students.
b. Teachers’ working conditions. Two sub-dimensions related to school climate and teachers’ working conditions were found in the news items reviewed. The first refers to the historical debt in the payment of the taxation of teachers and how settling it would improve the dignity of teachers and decrease the vulnerability of these professionals. Some efforts in this regard are recognized, but more actions and political will are required to dignify the work of teachers by canceling this debt. Teachers value the possibility of participating in the construction of the proposal. In this news, we can see how dignifying the teachers is an imperative. News item No. 20 is an example of this, where an educator representing the Chilean Teachers’ Union states: “… thanks to the Regional Ministerial Secretariat of Education and their team who have been kind enough to nominate me. It is a recognition for all of us who are still alive, especially the normalist teachers, who are fighting for this, someday, to be repaired and to work for the dignity of teachers.”
The second refers to the reduction of the 40-h work week. On this matter, the teachers actively support the policy of reducing the working hours, since this improves the teachers’ life quality, their mental health and reduces the work burden. In addition, as a chain effect, it is emphasized that this measure has an impact on school climate at the students’ level, since the improvement of the teachers’ mental health produces a relief in school climate in general. One of the news items expresses this as follows: “the Chilean teaching body makes public and official its support to the Labor Reform that reduces the working hours to 40 [weekly], because it dignifies the teacher” (news item No. 5).
a. Teachers’ mental health. Closely related to the second sub-dimension, a third sub- dimension refers to teachers’ mental health. The news referring to this matter state that the mental health of teachers has deteriorated mainly due to the pandemic, although previous and even historical conditions that have somehow deteriorated the health of teachers are also mentioned. For instance, the non-payment of the historical debt, or the work burden experienced before, during and after the pandemic. It is suggested that the State should establish mechanisms for the protection of teachers’ occupational health. News item No. 14 pointed this out: “the panel forum concluded with the agreement that teachers’ mental health is everyone’s responsibility, from the government to the school management itself, where school plans and resources must be organized by the community itself, to focus them on the meaning of learning, which was an unexpected effect of the pandemic, since this situation forced schools to move forward with the mission of educating in common-unity….”
b. Community mental health as an indicator of healthy climate. The mental health of the educational community is considered as a sub-dimension of climate in schools. Mental health is frequently mentioned in the news reviewed both as an argument for the establishment of improvements in the quality of education and as a goal in educational policies.
In this thematic category we also found a set of subjective theories that explain the deterioration of climate in schools. The analysis made it possible to establish the following:
a. Pandemic subjective theory. The subjective theory states that, since a pandemic occurred, there are problems of school climate. This subjective theory associates the pandemic to the development of stress in the educational community and therefore, to a deterioration of climate in schools, which is even expressed in violence and school dropout.
b. Subjective theory on face-to-face post-pandemic classes. At this point, face-to-face attendance in the classroom refers to negative aspects. It is argued that the pandemic prevented presence in classes, which caused damage to school climate. Additionally, the return to physical attendance during and after the pandemic is considered a source of stress and problems in interpersonal relationships when it occurs abruptly and not gradually.
c. Subjective theory on the lack of resources. This subjective theory states that the lack of resources limits the availability of teaching materials and prevents having an adequate infrastructure for classes, which accentuates the social–emotional damage caused to students.
d. Subjective theory on political ideology. This subjective theory poses a deep problem on the meaning and understanding of education, expressed in educational policies. Thus, neoliberal policies lead to low-quality public education, authoritarianism, and imposition. An example of this is the aforementioned Safe Class Law, strongly criticized and considered useless as a legal tool.
e. Subjective theory on the curriculum. In this subjective theory, teachers explain that it is necessary to consider civic education in the curriculum in order to educate about school climate. It implies its inclusion and/or increasing the time assigned to this type of education. However, it is also explained that every time the teaching body tries to educate on climate, there is a political interventionism of a sector that does not agree with the type of activities planned.
f. Subjective theory on the assessment system. In this subjective theory, it is argued that the SIMCE assessment (Chilean System for Measuring the Quality of Education) generates competitiveness among educational communities, which produces stress and thus, worsens school climate. Therefore, it is deemed essential to eradicate this type of assessment and replace it with another system.
3.2.2 School violence: meanings
The news reviewed show that school violence is a worrying phenomenon, which is on the rise, frequent, difficult to solve and has diverse manifestations.
It is considered that violence inside schools has increased in severity, even being associated with delinquency, robbery or shootings at school entrances. It is also noted that there has been a greater frequency of episodes inside schools in the post-pandemic period, even calling it a true “outbreak” (news item No. 8, Table 1).
As for the types of violence, the reviewed news items point out practices such as harassment, bullying, sexism, male chauvinism, quarrels and threats. Although symbolic and psychological violence is also considered, such as the neglect of the physical environment as a reflection of the unworthiness toward the educational community, authoritarianism, classism, discrimination and the promotion of competitiveness among students endorsed by standardized tests.
At the teachers’ level, work burden is mentioned as a type of violence that generates stress. Attention is also drawn to the violence that teachers are receiving from students. Some news items even warn of teachers being stabbed when they have stepped in to break up student quarrels. At this same level, one news item also mentioned allegations of school violence against teachers and should be investigated, and if culprits are found, sanctions should be considered.
The phenomenon of school violence is most evident at the student level in the news items reviewed. Cases reviewed describe physical and psychological aggression among students, abuse, harassment, fights, spreading of violent situations through on-line social networks, delinquency and even deaths. A group of subjective theories explaining school violence was found in this thematic category:
a. Subjective theory of social unrest. School violence is the product of an awareness of the injustices and inequalities manifested during the social unrest. Thus, student protests are expressed through violence.
b. Subjective theory of face-to-face classroom. School violence is a consequence of the lack of face-to-face interaction during the pandemic, and later on, of an abrupt return of face-to-face classes. This would have generated a gap in the development of social skills and the subsequent use of violence as a method of conflict resolution. As an example, news item No. 26 states: “The return to face-to-face classes has been marked by high levels of violence and the Ministry of Education should propose a concrete plan to work on everything related to climate in schools.”
c. Subjective theory of mental health. School violence is the result of a deterioration of mental health due to education in emergencies, which has generated burnout, stress and a diminished quality of life. This was reported in news item No. 23 (Table 1) that stated: “Undoubtedly, having been locked up for two years in terms of the pandemic, which is still not over, leads to all these situations of restrained emotionality to explode in different ways.”
d. Subjective theory of social reproduction. School violence is a social problem linked to inequalities, injustices, authoritarianism, competitiveness, individualism, and the use of violence to address conflicts. Therefore, the school only reproduces this social model. This is how one of the news items narrates it: “It has to do with a deeper issue, which is the type of society we are building.”
e. Subjective theory of the parental role. School violence is produced by a shortage of parental skills for the upbringing of children. This was reported in news item No. 18 (Table 1): “many conflicts we have had with violence have been caused by parents rather than by the students themselves. Parents sometimes justify the actions of the students instead of assuming their mistake.”
f. Subjective theory of public policies. School violence is produced by a political neglect of public education and inefficient measures on the part of the authorities. In this last matter, the Safe Class Law is mentioned as a failure.
g. Subjective theory of management in the educational community. School violence is considered a deep and structural problem, one that teachers and schools have no tools to address. In this regard, one of the arguments is that there is insufficient information in order to identify cases of violence in a timely manner within the schools.
3.2.3 Measures for addressing school climate and school violence
In relation to the third objective considered in this research, some subjective theories arose as justifications for measures that should be implemented to improve school climate and reduce violence in schools. Table 3 shows the subjective theories reconstructed.
Table 3. Proposals for addressing school climate and school violence.
4 Discussion
The general objective of this study was to describe the subjective theories of school climate and school violence reported by the Chilean Teachers’ Union after COVID-19 lockdown in its public discourse broadcast in news on the web. A set of subjective theories about the meaning of school climate and school violence, the factors associated to these dimensions and proposals for their addressing were found. These results contribute to the understanding of one of the most relevant scopes of the school, which is fundamental to achieve democratic participation, education for life and citizenship training (Zapata and Zapata, 2024). In addition, the results are added to the theoretical development achieved on the teachers’ thinking, based on the subjective theories they elaborate to explain educational phenomena, understand their own professional behavior and guide their teaching practices (Cuadra et al., 2017, 2022).
The first specific objective was oriented to describe the meaning of school climate and school violence, based on the subjective theories found in the press media. In the case of school climate, it was found that teachers understand it as the set of interactions that occur in the educational context. In addition, teachers consider that positive school climate includes the right to education and continuing studies, since this is considered a protective factor for the comprehensive development of the student. Along with this, educational quality as a right, educational inclusion, teacher working conditions and mental health are also included in this meaning.
In general terms, studies on school climate have defined it from at least two perspectives: with emphasis on a rights-based and democratizing approach and other on security, depending on the geographical area (Ascorra et al., 2022). However, as the axis of this construct, scientific literature highlights human interactions at school, school life, attitudes of the different educational agents, social interaction skills and participation (Zapata and Zapata, 2024).
Based on the findings of this study, it can be observed how teachers place social justice at the center of the meaning of school climate, associating it also with highly influential dimensions in school life, such as mental health or the conditions of teachers’ work. The aforementioned can be influenced by the political affiliation of leaders (Colegio de Profesores de Chile, 2013). This may be understood as well when considering that Latin American teachers have permanently fought for educational quality and against reforms that they perceive as imposed and distant from the real problems of schools (Gentili et al., 2004). Thus, these subjective theories emerge collectively among teachers, probably due to a historical social struggle of teachers to ensure educational quality, having an important role in their belief system and in teaching decisions related to climate in schools.
As part of the second specific objective of this study, a set of subjective theories that explain the state of school climate was found. Thus, the COVID-19 pandemic affected school climate, due to the deep negative impact on the social–emotional development of the students and the deterioration of the mental health of the educational community, as described in the scientific literature (Cortés-Albornoz et al., 2023; Montero-Marin et al., 2023; Levine et al., 2023).
The abrupt return to classes is also mentioned, causing stress in the educational community and worsening school climate, which is in line with the work of Andraca et al. (2023). Furthermore, the lack of resources, political ideologies perceived as antidemocratic, a curriculum that neglects the social–emotional development of students, and a standardized learning assessment system, are considered important sources of deterioration of climate in schools. Other studies on subjective theories have also identified factors such as affective, social–emotional and value deficiencies of students (Retuert Roe and Castro-Carrasco, 2017) and limited teacher training to address school climate (Cuadra and Catalán, 2016).
In the case of school violence, the subjective theories found show that teachers understand it as a serious problem, frequent, difficult to solve and with diverse manifestations. This is in line with the characterization of this construct in the literature (da Cunha et al., 2023; Escuadra et al., 2023) and with the level of severity it has reached after the pandemic (Da et al., 2023; Escuadra et al., 2023). Although it is likely that the manifestation of school violence depends on the resources available to educational establishments (Bellei and Contreras, 2023).
Along with this, according to the second objective of this study, subjective theories that explain school violence were identified. In general, teachers refer to: (a) social causes, such as social unrest and the generation of awareness of citizens’ rights and social injustice, the social reproduction of violence in schools and educational policies that do not place enough value on public education (b) pandemic psychosocial impact, the impaired mental health that favors school violence and an abrupt return to face-to-face classes, and (c) causes related to the lack of capacities to address the phenomenon at the school and family level. In this regard, it is interesting, the social causes and the impact of the pandemic are non-influential external factors (Chiriac et al., 2023), thus restricting the possibilities of action to address the problem.
These findings are in line with those reported by Mendoza et al. (2022) on future teachers, where the role of the family, sociopolitical conditions that promote dialogue, and work along with the school community are essential factors to prevent and intervene in situations of school violence. In addition, these findings on subjective theories shed light on the critical knots in the political approach to violence in schools, based on the experience of the Chilean Teachers’ Union. Regarding the meaning that this union attributes to school climate, it can be concluded that the subjective theories of the Chilean Teachers’ Union match a hybrid approach within the different meanings of school climate present in the Latin American literature (Fierro-Evans and Carbajal-Padilla, 2019), between the conception of school climate as Education for Citizenship and Democracy and the school climate understood as Social–Emotional Education.
Finally, the third objective made it possible to reconstruct a set of proposals for the improvement of school climate and reduction of violence in schools. A set of measures for the multiple dimensions of school climate and school violence was identified. This finding is particularly relevant, given that these represent subjective theories that justify present and future teaching actions (Catalán, 2016; Cuadra et al., 2017) in the addressing of these educational dimensions. Moreover, they serve as an important input for planning educational policies and micro-policies, given that they emerge from a long experience of teachers’ struggles for educational quality (Gentili et al., 2004).
This study has some limitations. The subjective theories found only apply to the case studied, that is, the discourse of the Chilean Teachers’ Union published in the web press in the year 2022. Future studies could be oriented to analyze the discourse of the Teachers’ Union after a few years of return to face-to-face classes in order to analyze continuities and changes after the pandemic. The sample could be extended to other types of cases, for example to obtain the viewpoint of teachers who are in charge of courses or those who participate in leadership teams, given the experience they have in the management of school climate at a micro-systemic level. Furthermore, it would be interesting to conduct comparative studies with unions in other countries, to elucidate whether there are characteristics of the Chilean context that explain the STs of the Teachers’ Union, which may be characteristic of the Chilean culture and could, in turn, allow for a better understanding of the STs of this union. In addition, only news in the web press were reviewed, considering its accessibility and free access, but not including other types of formats, which provides only a partial view of the phenomenon.
Finally, it is worth noting that this study not only contributes to a better understanding of school climate and school violence in the discourses circulating through the media. It also highlights the subjective and experience-based knowledge of teachers, in this case, of Chilean teachers, to solve one of the most serious educational problems faced by many schools globally (Lobato, 2023; Vidić et al., 2023). The Chilean Teacher’s Union’s history of advocating for improvements makes their STs influential in shaping public policies and the perception of the education system in Chile. Identifying their STs broadcast on web news, on issues like school climate and school violence helps understanding the collective comprehension of these phenomena.
Data availability statement
The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author/s.
Ethics statement
This research was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Universidad de La Serena, Chile.
Author contributions
PC-C: Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. DC-M: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – original draft. VG: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing – original draft. FR-P-V: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing – original draft. CC-A: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing – original draft. VC-V: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing – original draft. MZ: Project administration, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.
Funding
The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was part of the ANID project FONDECYT Regular No. 1231667, titled La construcción social en Chile de la convivencia y violencia escolar post vuelta a la educación presencial. Un estudio de teorías subjetivas colectivas (The social construction in Chile of school climate and violence after the return to face-to-face education. A study of collective subjective theories).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Publisher’s note
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Keywords: subjective theories, school climate, school violence, teachers union, Covid-19
Citation: Castro-Carrasco P, Cuadra-Martínez D, Gubbins V, Rodríguez-Pastene-Vicencio F, Carrasco-Aguilar C, Caamaño-Vega V and Zelaya M (2024) Subjective theories of the Chilean teachers’ union about school climate and violence after the pandemic: a study of web news. Front. Educ. 9:1455387. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2024.1455387
Edited by:
Alberto Crescentini, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, SwitzerlandReviewed by:
Anabel Paramá Díaz, Universidad Isabel I de Castilla, SpainErikson Saragih, University of North Sumatra, Indonesia
Copyright © 2024 Castro-Carrasco, Cuadra-Martínez, Gubbins, Rodríguez-Pastene-Vicencio, Carrasco-Aguilar, Caamaño-Vega and Zelaya. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Pablo Castro-Carrasco, cGFibG9jYXN0cm9AdXNlcmVuYS5jbA==