Abstract
Abstract Background School violence undermines educational participation, psychological safety, and wellbeing, particularly for marginalised learners. In Sierra Leone, school violence occurs within wider structural conditions including poverty, gender inequality, disability stigma, post-conflict recovery, and weak institutional accountability. However, limited empirical evidence explains how different forms of school violence are experienced, perceived, normalised, and responded to by students and school communities. This study explored the psychosocial dynamics of school violence in Sierra Leone, with particular attention to marginalised students, including students with disabilities, pregnant students and young mothers, and students experiencing poverty or limited family support. Methods We conducted an exploratory qualitative study using a participatory orientation across 11 schools and surrounding communities in Western Area Urban, Western Area Rural, Koinadugu, Bombali, Bo, and Karene districts of Sierra Leone. A total of 366 participants took part across 127 qualitative interview sessions, comprising individual interviews and small group interviews with marginalised students, teachers, parents or guardians, school staff, community stakeholders, education actors, and child protection stakeholders. Participants were selected purposively to capture diverse experiences of school violence and its responses. Data were analysed thematically, combining deductive codes informed by structural violence and ecological systems theory with inductive codes generated from participants’ narratives. Reflexive team discussions, triangulation across participant groups, and iterative coding were used to strengthen analytic rigour. Results Participants described multiple forms of school violence, including corporal punishment, verbal humiliation, sexual harassment and exploitation, economic exploitation, peer bullying, physical fights, and sexual violence among students. Corporal punishment was commonly framed by some teachers, parents, and community members as an accepted disciplinary practice, although participants also described growing awareness that it is prohibited. Marginalised students experienced intensified vulnerabilities. Students with disabilities described bullying and social exclusion; pregnant students and young mothers described shaming, stigma, and fear of disclosure; and students experiencing poverty were more exposed to economic and sexual exploitation. Reporting was constrained by fear of reprisals, mistrust of confidentiality, stigma, and power asymmetries between students and teachers. Stakeholders proposed teacher training in positive discipline, confidential reporting mechanisms, counselling and referral systems, community sensitisation, strengthened oversight, and targeted responses to substance use, including Kush. Conclusion School violence in Sierra Leone is not only a disciplinary or institutional problem but also a psychosocial process shaped by normalised violence, fear, stigma, coercive power relations, and reduced student agency. Interventions should therefore combine policy enforcement with psychologically informed strategies that strengthen safety, trust, reporting, trauma-informed support, inclusive school climates, and positive teacher-student relationships. These findings provide evidence to inform school safety and violence prevention efforts in Sierra Leone and comparable low-resource and post-conflict settings.