School-based interventions to address bullying

Abstract

Following some background studies on the nature of school bullying, its prevalence, and the negative consequences it can have, this article reviews the history of anti-bullying interventions over the last 30 years. It considers several major programmes in detail, such as the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, KiVa, Steps to Respect, and Friendly Schools. The nature and evaluation of the interventions is discussed, followed by a review of meta-analyses of the programmes effectiveness. Issues considered are the effect at different ages; components of interventions; work with peers; disciplinary methods, non-punitive and restorative approaches; challenges regarding cyberbullying; the role of parents; the role of teachers and teacher training; set menu versus à la carte approaches; sustainability of interventions and societal context. Conclusions show that interventions have had some success, with traditional bullying. However, further progress is needed in strengthening theoretical underpinnings to interventions, and in tackling cyberbullying.

A systematic literature review of factors that moderate bystanders’ actions in cyberbullying

“…The variables of age and gender have been widely used in these studies as control variables. In some cases, they are analysed and an attempt is made to link them with the observed behaviour, but the results are contradictory or relatively meaningless (Barlinska et al, 2013, 2016Erreygers et al, 2016;Macháčková et al, 2013;Olenik-Shemesh et al, 2015;. For instance Barlinska et al (2015) state that age and gender have no influence in bystander's behaviour.…”

“…Despite the fact that there have been certain controversies about the effectiveness of 'work with peers' in the prevention of traditional bullying (Farrington & Ttofi, 2009;Smith, 2016;Smith, Salmivalli, & Cowie, 2012;Ttofi & Farrington, 2012), we have evidence of the importance of bystander intervention in the prevention of bullying (American Educational Research Association, 2013;Polanin, Espelage, & Pigott, 2012;Pöyhönen, Juvonen, & Salmivalli, 2010), and increasingly that of cyberbullying (Thomas, Falconer, Cross, Monks, & Brown, 2012). The concept of a bystander refers to participants' roles in the bullying, where they are neither victim nor perpetrator (such as those who reinforce or support the bully, those who defend the victim and those who remain on the sidelines as onlookers) (Salmivalli, Lagerspetz, Bjorkqvist, Österman, & Kaukiainen, 1996).…”

The Response of Social Crime Prevention Police to Cyberbullying Perpetrated by Youth in Rural Areas of South Africa

“…The number of nominations received indicates learners' popularity regarding cyberbullying behaviour [34,35]. Therefore, "bullying can be associated with popularity" and interventions that include the identification of popular cyberbullies could influence behavioural change [33] (p. 150) [36]. Similar to the use of the number of received nominations, popularity can also be determined using PageRank.…”

“…Perceptions of cyberbullying victimisation and perpetration are related to school climate and safety [13]. Therefore, the alignment of school culture to its climate is important to bring about behavioural change to teachers, learners, and other officials [36]. The school culture relates to "assumptions, values, and beliefs", and climate relates to "actual behavioral change" [36] (p. 159), since the definition of cyberbullying includes intentions to cause harm [13].…”

‘The more public it is, the more severe it is’: teachers’ perceptions on the roles of publicity and severity in cyberbullying

“…The roles of severity and publicity in cyberbullying are also known to influence bystander responses, and so exploring teachers' perceptions on this issue would be valuable as teachers have an important role in the successful implementation of bystander intervention in the school (Polanin, Espelage, & Pigott, 2012). Despite the debate on the effectiveness of school-based bullying intervention programs centred on working with peers in traditional bullying (Smith, 2016;Smith, Salmivalli, & Cowie, 2012), the role of bystanders that witness traditional bullying and cyberbullying have an important role in the prevention of bullying (Doane, Ehlke, & Kelley, 2019;Menesini, Zambuto, & Palladino, 2018;Polanin, Espelage, & Pigott, 2012).…”