HOW TO TACKLE BULLYING
AND PREVENT SCHOOL
VIOLENCE IN EUROPE
Evidence and practices strategies for
inclusive and safe schools
Paul Downes & Carmel Cefai
NESET II 2016
APPROACH
 Synthesises
empirical evidence, EU legal
and policy principles, and health promoting
schools’ principles
 Draws on various research sources
including reviews and meta-analysis, with
particular weight to strong evidence base
 Focus on primary & post primary education
 Does not include cyberbullying
APPROACH
Members of EC’s ET2020 School Policy Working
Group completed brief questionnaire on bullying
prevention strategies in their countries
 International researchers from ENSEC were
invited to respond to similar questions
 Number of NGOs in the area across MS were also
contacted
 Combined picture of strategic issues obtained
from 26 countries

Scale of the problem

School bullying is a serious issue across
regions and countries, with serious and long
term consequences
 It is an affront to the common values of
freedom, tolerance and non discrimination
 It is not only an issue of education policy,
but also a health, youth welfare and child
protection issue
Vulnerable target groups
 Children
with special educational needs and
disability (SEND) are particularly
vulnerable to bullying and more likely to be
over-represented in bullying experiences.
 Discriminatory bullying against minority
children (Roma, migrants, LGBTI) is
widespread in many schools with many
unreported cases
A Serious Health Issue

School bullying has both short term and long
term consequences
 Directly affects mental and physical health
and academic performance of children and
young people.
– in many cases leads to anxiety, depression and
self-harm such as suicide; often leads to ESL

Its harmful effects impact perpetrators as well,
may lead to offending
Need for comprehensive
strategies

There is not simply just one bullying or
violence problem in schools or one simple
solution. The complexity of bullying
requires different solutions at various levels
– need for prevention strategies not only at
universal level (for all), but also at
selected (for some/groups/moderate risk)
and indicated (for few/individuals/
chronic need) levels
Way foreward
 No
magic bullet: international reviews do
not endorse one particular
model/programme, but do highlight the key
features of successful interventions.
– report provides set of evidence-informed
structural indicators that can be used by
schools, regional and national-level decisionmakers in prevention of bullying and violence
An inclusive system approach





Includes a specific response to bullying and violence
prevention, including discriminatory bullying
Recognises differentiated needs and levels of prevention
Includes curricular SEL focus and whole school strategies
(whole school policy, teacher education, parents active
involvement, student voice, family and community
support
Linked to ESL, mental health promotion, non
discrimination
Accommodates, via structural indicators, features of
effective programmes identified in the literature
Social and emotional
education

Strong evidence that a curricular approach to social and
emotional learning (SEL) is key for personal
development to challenge culture of violence in school.
– Classroom time for SEL needs to be given higher
priority in schools - PISA pressure
– SEL for vulnerable groups (resilience perspectiveRESCUR)
– Need for explicit focus on bullying and violence
prevention in these curricula, but with students
involved in design
Student Voice

Inadequate focus on student participation in
design of anti-bullying approaches
 Discriminatory bullying requires challenge
through a democratic school culture
promoting the different voices of students
– young people from minority or excluded
groups must help design curricular
resources addressing bullying and
prejudice.
Parents and families

Working with parents is strongly associated with
decrease in victimisation and perpetration
– but many approaches to parental involvement
are top-down, information-type approaches
rather than ones which actively involve parents
 Family support services for early intervention: a
"one-stop shop" where multidisciplinary services
across health and education are available in
accessible community locations.
Community
A specific strategy for outreach to community
locations to overcome prejudice between groups
– structured cooperation on tasks that are
meaningful for members of different (ethnic,
religious,) groups
– shared communal spaces to bring different groups
together: community centres, arts & sports
facilities, green spaces, afterschool centres, family
resource centres, places of worship
National policies

Need for explicit focus on bullying and
violence prevention in governance
structures and processes, eg.
– school self-evaluation, external
inspection, whole school planning
– national committees for student welfare
to develop inclusive systems with a focus
on bullying and violence prevention,
including discriminatory bullying
GAPS in strategy

Large number of MS do not have national school
bullying and violence prevention strategies
 Most MS do not have common or linked strategies for
ESL and bullying prevention.
 Anti-bullying strategies in MS are generally confined to
universal prevention, without focusing on differentiated
needs of certain groups
– no strategic focus on discriminatory bullying (e.g.
migrants, Roma, LGBTI, those experiencing poverty
or SES exclusion)
Points for discussion



How can MS and the EU Comm involve young people who are
part of minority groups, such as Roma and migrants, LGBTI,
Muslim populations and other minorities in the design of
concrete curricular resources for social and emotional education
(including videos, the arts, websites) that address bullying
prevention and challenge prejudice ?
How can we ensure that interventions don’t make things worse,
especially with older students who will resist old fashioned
didactic methods that seek to change attitudes to outgroups or
violence ?
What key professionals and other groups need to be included in
whole school approaches to bullying and violence prevention to
drive system change in schools ?
Thanks
Common strategy for ESL and
bullying

Possible responses to bullying and ESL show great
similarities and a common strategy may be useful,
including common systems of supports such as
– transition focus to post-primary
– multidisciplinary teams for complex needs
– language support
– family outreach supports
– teacher professional development on issues relevant to
preventing both problems
– social and emotional learning
Gaps in research

Need for more research on
– groups at selected intervention level (moderate risk), particularly
–
–
–
–
the experiences of students from minorities, migrants, LGBTI,
low SES, SEND
resilience (protective factors against negative impact of bullying)
differentiated experiences of bully-victims, victims and
perpetrators, including interventions addressing consequences
effective strategies for parental involvement, community outreach
approaches for groups at risk
Student input into curricular SEL dimension in specific contexts
and specific groups
What works

The most effective programme elements associated
with a decrease in bullying include:
– parent training/meetings
– teacher training
– improved playground supervision
– disciplinary methods (not reducible to punitive or zero tolerance)
– collaboration between professionals
– school assemblies
– information for parents
– classroom management and rules
– whole school anti-bullying policy
– videos