"צמיחה אישית בקהילה אכפתית": תכנית להפחתת אלימות ולקידום התחשבות בדרך תומכת אוטונומיה

This article presents the structure and some outcomes of the program "Personal Growth in a Caring Community". The program is based on the self-determination theory (SDT, Ryan and Deci, 2000a, b, c) and its applications to education (Assor, 2001, 2003; Kaplan & Assor, 2004), and emphasizes the concept of internalization. We hypothesized that a program based on the theoretical sources indicated above can contribute to the following outcomes: (1) a decrease in violence that is not associated with the suppression of autonomy, and the promotion of caring among students; and (2) teachers' identification with the goals of the reform and their ability to enact the reform in ways that reflect its true spirit. The program was conducted for three years, and was accompanied by research that examined relevant process and outcome variables in three elementary schools serving as the experimental group and three schools serving as matched controls. Quantitative and qualitative findings show that as a consequence of the exposure to the new program, pupils reported a reduction in violence and an increase in the level of consideration among pupils in the classroom. It was further found that pupils from the schools that participated in the intervention program perceived their teachers as limiting violence to a greater extent and suppressing autonomy to a lesser extent, relative to the control group, which was not exposed to the program. Qualitative analysis indicated that support for the teachers’ basic psychological needs, especially the need for autonomy, was perceived by the teachers as particularly important.