The Dangerous Child: Swedish Teachers’ Stories About School Violence in a Rebellion Group on Facebook

This qualitative article explores a Swedish teachers’ rebellion group (TRG) on Facebook with the aim of exploring teachers’ stories about violence in school. Facebook groups for teachers, such as the TRG, are common sites where teachers discuss and share professional matters and both public stories and subjective experiences. In this article, we focus on narratives about children who are perceived by the teachers as dangerous in various ways. The concept of the formula story, together with child and teacher agency, helps us to explore the symbolic and emotional aspects at stake when the teachers discuss the dangerous child in the TRG. In the analysis, an ambivalent image of the dangerous child emerges where child and teacher agency intersect with each other and with other human and non-human actors. This image challenges contemporary ideas and ideals about children and childhood as well as the teaching profession. The conclusion broadens our notions of the child and reflects upon the outcomes of applying agency to the context of school violence.