Albanian Survey for DDA/HAP

Subcontratar: ALBVIZION

Project description

The Peace and Disarmament Education Project (hereby called PDEP) commisioned the survey in order to evaluate the existing situation on its project priority issues. Such evaluation was carried out through a questionnaire survey on target groups.

The main objective of the survey was to assess the perception of teachers and students on a number of issues linked to peace and security in their community. The survey questions addressed the attitude and perceptions towards gun ownership, violence and crime, peacemaking, tolerance and cultural coexistence.

In adition to the survey, qualitative information was also collected through discussions with teachers, students and members of various school organizations.

Methodology of the survey

1. Population frame
The survey was concentrated in the two pilot high schools of the PDEP project: "Jordan Misja" in Shkoder and "Shefqet Guzi" in Gramsh. The following table:

Table 1: Student population in surveyed schools

As population frame were used the lists of students records, and for the teachers the payroll lists.

2. Sampling
The sample size was 70 for the students (35 in each school) and 30 for the teachers (15 in each school). Both students and teachers that were interviewed were selected using proportional probability to gender, in order to secure the optimal representation of male and females.

3. Interviewing mode
The survey was conducting through self-administered interviewing. Selected students and teachers were given a copy of the questionnaire and they had about 2-3 hours to fill it and turn it back. Survey was conducted on school premises.

4. Survey instrument
A questionnaire was designed which covered four main topics:

• Attitude towards gun ownership and the effect of guns in community life;
• Peacemaking, tolerance and coexistence between different cultures;
• Democracy in schools and the role of school in nurturing and teaching tolerance and peace-making skills;
• Reduction of crime and disarmament in the future

The student and teacher questionnaire shared the same questions and had similarities on those questions that were different. In total, the student questionnaire had 28 items, while the teacher's had 26 items. Most of the questions used were close ended.

The questionnaire's design and the questions used were pre-tested before the field work.

General findings

The survey was completed by all the participants, and had a very high response rate on all the questions. An explanatory analysis of the findings of the survey is presented below.

1. Violence considerations
The first question of the survey asked respondents to choose what they consider violence from a set of different types of violence. Their responses indicate that thereis a narrow perception of violence among the interviewed, in particular among students. Less then half of the students do not consider psychological pressure, social discrimination or verbal offense against individuals as a form of violence. More or less the same situation exists among the teachers.

Question 1: Which of the following do you consider as form of violence?

Given the level of development of the Albanian society this is an expected result. As in other traditional societies physical offense is generally thought to be violence, while other forms of pressure against individuals are moderately and usually tolerated.

2. Weapon ownership and conflict resolution
Based on survey responses, there seems to be a general disapproval to gun ownership. The overwhelming majority of the respondents (90 percent of the students asked and 92 percent of the teachers) are against gun ownership. Almost, all of those in favor of owning guns state self defense, in particular given the weak law enforcement in the country, as the main reason why people should own gun.

Question 4: Should people own guns?

It seems to be a high correlation between personal experience of being victim of the violence and gun ownership as about 95 percent of those that have witnessed violence in the past favor gun ownership.

However, in discussions with the student and teacher communities in both districts it was found out that despite the general disapproval towards gun ownership, people would prefer to personally own a gun if they know that other people in the community own guns.

About 60 percent of the students and 73 percent of the professors think that the best way to resolve a conflict is to try to talk with the person(s) to resolve the conflict, while 13 percent of the students and 20 percent of the teachers think that walking away is the best way to solve the conflict. None of the respondents considers threatening other people with guns is a good way to resolve conflicts.

Question 6: What is the best way to solve a conflict?

However, asked in group discussions, most of the students state that either walking away or fighting the other persons are the two most common experiences they have had in resolving conflicts with their peers. In general, it seems that physical strength with the others (being stronger or weaker than the other party) is the main factor in decisions how to resolve conflict. Culture of peace or cultivated manners by families or schools seem to play a weak role in conflict resolution.

3. Schools role in educating tolerance and conflict resolution skills
Students give conflicting responses to the question of whether the school teaches them how to peacefully resolve conflicts, as 51 percent state that the school teaches them against 49 percent stating the contrary. On the contrary, all teachers state that they teach their students such skills. After talking with teachers and students, we have concluded that the discrepancy comes from the fact that the positive students respondents and all teachers refer as teaching to the general advice or counseling offered rather than specific classes/subjects on the issue. Actually there are no classes dedicated to issues of conflict resolution in schools curricula.

There seems to be a low level of democracy in schools, as majority of the students (60 percent) and 51 percent of the teachers state that students are not asked and/or do not participate in schools decisions. Student involvement is restricted only in the cases of disciplinary measures against their fellow students and school uniform. In all cases their participation is restricted to airing of opinions rather than active participation.

In free discussions there were various opinions with regard to school democracy. While some students felt they should have an active say on the issues that concern them at school, other believed that school means discipline and students should obediently act by predefined rules. Teachers, while appreciating democracy as an important element for all education institutions, seem reluctant towards student involvement in school decisions, fearing this will undermine the authority of the faculty.

4. Violence in the community
There is a general perception of high level of violence in both surveyed communities, mainly in the residential neighborhoods and the city in general, and less in the school community. Weakness of the state in punishing law breakers (40 percent among students and 47 percent among teachers) and injustices in the community (30 percent among students and 43 percent among teachers) are considered by respondents to be the main causes of violence in their communities.

Question 10: What are the main causes of violence in your community?

Majority of all the respondents (59 percent of the students and 50 percent of the teachers) believe that the main way to secure peaceful resolution of conflicts in their community is for people to try to understand and help each other. 13 percent of students and 30 percent of the teachers state as the best way to solve conflicts is sharing in the decisions taken in the community.

It is surprising that though the majority of respondents believe lack of punishment for law breakers to be the main cause of violence in community, only 20 percent of the students and less than 10 percent of teachers consider punishment of them by justice as the best way to secure peace in their community. As indicated in some free discussions, the reason for this might be that people believe that prevention of violence is the only guarantee for peace in the community, and this can be reached only through mutual understanding and assistance.

Question 11: What is the best way to ensure peace in you community

It seems that there are no distinct peacemaking figures in both communities, as almost all the respondents state as peacemaker whom in fact should be, rather than who is. In their responses they refer to general categories of people or institutions such as police, local authorities, NGOs etc, with only a few identifying concrete persons as peacemakers. Among the later teachers and old men are mostly considered as peacemakers by students. Most of the students identify their parents and teachers as the people who teach them how to become peacemaker.

5. Peaceful co-existence with people from different races
Women are widely considered more vulnerable to violence than men. About 75 percent of the students and 73 percent of the teachers believe that women are more likely to be victims of violence compared to men. Some of the reasons for this opinion are the physical vulnerability of women, their low social status, patriarchal mentality of the Albanian society, etc. During these transition years, respondents identify the criminal activity of prostitution exploitation as a potential risk to women.

In general, there does not seem to be any problem with co-existence with people from different cultures. About 52 percent of the students believe that they could get along the same with people from other regions as with them from the their region, while 41 percent believe that they can get along better with people from their own region.

40 percent of the students believe that people get along better with those that belong to the same religion, versus 50 percent that think they get along the same. However, the high number of non respondents shows that students are more sensitive to religion than they state. Their personal experience versus people from different religions or regions remains the same - 51 percent find it easy working with and understanding people form different cultures, versus 32 percent finding it somehow difficult and 17 percent finding it difficult. The main difficulties seems to be due to different dialects, customs and religious rituals.

However, more than 76 percent of the students believe it to be very important to work and cooperate with people from different cultures, versus 16 percent finding it somehow important and only 7 percent believing such cooperation to be not important.

Only about 20 percent of teachers find it easy to work and get along with people from different cultures, while 70 percent find it somehow difficult and 10 percent find it difficult. About 84 percent of teachers consider cooperation with people form other cultures as important.

6. Impact of weapons in the life of the community
In general respondents believe that guns have significantly affected life in their community. About 63 percent of the students think that use of weapons have hurt very much the community, versus 29 percent thinking they have hurt the community somehow and only 4 percent responding they have not hurt it at all. The opinion is shared also by teachers with 67 percent of the teachers responding that weapons have hurt the community very much, 27 percent responding they have hurt the community somehow, and only 3 percent believing weapons have not hurt the community.

At the same time 53 percent of the students think that guns have hurt very much women and children 34 that it has hurt them somehow. About 94 percent of the teachers believe that weapons have hurt very much or somehow women and children.

Majority of student respondents, more then 78 percent, think that profits that people make from weapons sale are a major or somehow a major factor in the existence of weapons in the community. Among the teachers, about 84 percent believe this factor to be very important or somehow important.

7. Efforts to reduce weapons and violence in the community
Both students and teachers are in general not happy with the efforts the community is taking for stopping the sale and use of arms, as more than 67 percent of students respondents and 70 percent of teacher respondents think that there are no efforts or only weak efforts undertaken to this end. Only 26 percent of students and 27 percent of teachers believe the community is making all the efforts it can to reduce weapons.

However, the overwhelming majority of respondents (76 percent of students and 90 percent of teachers) students think that it is somehow possible or completely possible to reduce violence and crime in the community. The main challenges to be faced are reduction of unemployment through strengthening of local businesses, finding a more efficient way for arms collection and strengthening of law enforcement.