Workstream 1 Research on good practices of bullying prevention targeting children in preschool and elementary school Objectives

In Romania, the policy is primarily aimed at preventing violence. The Order of the Minister of Education, research and Youth no. 1409/29.06.2007 – The national strategy of the Ministry of Education, Research and Youth on reducing violence in all preacademic educational units (http://administraresite.edu.ro/index.php/articles/8213) sets out to nationally coordinate the activities, as well as to monitor and assess the implementation of the national strategy on reducing violence in all preacademic educational units. The Minister of Education, Research and Youth established the National Council for preventing and fighting violence in the educational environment, formed of representatives of the Ministry’s directorates which operate in the preacademic education field, as well as of representatives of the Learning Sciences Institute, the National Council for Teacher’s Training in Preacademic Education, and the National Council for Curriculum. The strategy sets out general principles and recommendations regarding the prevention and fighting of violence in schools, the roles and attributions of the institutions from the educational system and of some institutional structures newly created in this field of action, as well as an operational intervention plan at school level.

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  provides that every school must have measures to encourage good behaviour and prevent all forms of bullying amongst pupils. These measures should be part of the school’s behaviour policy which must be communicated to all pupils, school staff and parents;
  
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  gives head teachers the ability to discipline pupils for poor behaviour that occurs even when the pupil is not on school premises or under the lawful control of school staff.
  

Schools are also required to comply with the Equalities Act of 2010. A key provision is a new public sector Equality Duty, which came into force on 5 April 2011. The Duty has three aims. It requires public bodies to have due regard to the need to:

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  Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Act;
  
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  Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it; and
  
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  Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.
  

Under the Children Act 1989 a bullying incident should be addressed as a child protection concern when there is ‘reasonable cause to suspect that a child is suffering, or is likely to suffer, significant harm’. Where this is the case, the school staff should report their concerns to their local authority children’s social care department. Even where safeguarding is not considered to be an issue, schools may need to draw on a range of external services to support the pupil who is experiencing bullying, or to tackle any underlying issue which has contributed to a child engaging in bullying.

Schools are held accountable for their anti-bullying policies through the inspection framework. The new Ofsted inspection framework which came into force in January 2012 includes ‘behaviour and safety’ as one of its key criteria for inspections. Schools should be able to demonstrate the impact of anti-bullying policies.

All participating countries have policies addressing bullying, though the extent and specificity of these differ, with some directly aiming to address bullying, while others focus on the broader topic of school violence or well-being.

In Italy, recent national legislation specifically targets bullying, and has led to a range of national actions and initiatives, and further legislation, some of which is very prescriptive. National preventative strategies need further development, however.

In Denmark, England, Latvia and Romania no specific legislation relates to bullying, but in all cases there are legal frameworks and policies that are related to tackling bullying, though these appear most extensive in Denmark and England.

In Denmark, these fall under the educational environment legislation, which mandates that pupils are entitled to a safe and healthy learning environment. As one of many things the Act deals with the psychological educational environment, which bullying is a part of. Since 2009 schools are also required to have an anti-bullying strategy.

A similar situation exist in England, where it is ‘compulsory for schools to enforce measures that will encourage good behaviour and prevent all forms of bullying’, and this forms one (small) part of the school inspection process. A number of other laws are also used to tackle bullying, including equalities legislation and the malicious communications act which may be used to outlaw forms of cyberbullying. Extensive guidance for schools is provided by the Department for Education.

In Spain, policy in this regard is made at the level of the regions, and tends to fall within the broader policy of promoting ‘convivencia’, the improvement of the interpersonal relationships and on the pacific resolution of conflicts. Regional governments are active in taking action to promote convivencia through a range of programmes and initiatives.

In Latvia the main legal framework related to child protection, which rather limits its applicability in cases of non-violent bullying, but the ‘Friendly Schools’ movement, which encompasses a fifth of Latvian schools, aims to create a positive psychosocial environment and good relations, while national standards also mandate discussion and teaching on in-school relationships.

In Romania, the main policies relate to preventing and reducing violence through a national strategy which involves key educational stakeholders.

Overall, then, while all countries have policies and initiatives relating to school and classroom climate, some of these may be more suited to addressing bullying than others.

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   Existing reports and analyses about bullying created by govermental, academic and non-governmental organisations
   

A range of research and reports exist regarding bullying in the countries involved in this project. These will be reviewed by country below.

There a wide variety of studies about bullying in Spain (e.g., Ortega & Angulo, 1998; Ortega & Mora-Merchán, 2000, 2008; Avilés, 2006; Garaigordobil & Oñederra, 2009), but only few of them have been carried out with national samples. The most relevant are the study developed by the office of Spanish Ombudsman (Defensor del Pueblo-UNICEF, 2006) and the research led by Queen Sofía Centre for the Study of Violence (Serrano & Iborra, 2005).

Ombudsman’s study (2006) did not include an overall rate of bullying but did establish 13 forms of abuse divided into 6 categories (Social Exclusion; Verbal Aggression; Indirect Physical Aggression; Direct Physical Aggression; Threats and Extortion; and Sexual Harassment). The most habitual form of harassment, according to the percentages of victimized schoolchildren, was verbal aggression (insults: 23.2% occasional-3.9% severe; offensive name-calling: 21.4% occasional-5.2% severe; denigration 27.3% occasional-4.2% severe). The most common form of abuse employed by perpetrators was also verbal aggression, which was more frequent in comparison with the percentage of victims in occasional episodes but less frequent in more severe episodes (insults: 30.2% occasional-2.3% severe; offensive namecalling: 25.8% occasional-3.4% severe; denigration 32% occasional-3.7% severe). The study also revealed a considerable number of schoolchildren who claimed to ignore certain companions (32.7%), whereas 10.5% said they felt ignored by others.

Serrano’s and Iborra’s study (2005), carried out by telephone using random sampling, showed global percentages of involvement in bullying. 14.5% of those asked said they had been the victims of aggression at school, while only 7.6% admitted to having been the perpetrator. The study also showed that three in every four students had witnessed attacks at school. It is important to note that this study differentiated forms of school violence and forms of harassment, harassment being understood as any episode which fulfilled at least three of the following five criteria: the victim felt intimidated; the victim felt excluded; the victim perceived the perpetrator as being stronger; the aggression increased in intensity; the aggression usually took place when the victim was alone with the perpetrator. Taking this limitation into account, the study concluded that 2.5% of the sample group had been the victim of harassment at school.

The last studies about school bullying have also mentioned cyberbullying as a new phenomenon of growing concern in Spanish schools (Observatorio Nacional Convivencia, 2010).

Almost all these studies are focused on secondary schools and the last years of primary schools. In fact, there is a lack of research aimed at pre-school or first years of primary school, with only few representative studies. Ortega and Monks (2005), with a sample of pre-school students, found kids tend to use direct aggression (face to face) rather than indirect aggression (e.g., spreading rumors), the aggressors were not perceived as such but were more rejected than others, the defenders were the most popular, the victims were not perceived as weak or as most rejected, which contrasts with the results of studies with older students. Their data also confirms the presence of unjustified aggression in preschool: 12% aggressors, 12% supporters, 14% of victims, and 29% who held the role of defender.

We also have to mention Albadalejo’s study (2011) focussing on pre-school, and first and second grade of primary education. Its main outcomes point out bullying exists in preschool and primary school, but with lower rates than other studies focus on later years in primary or secondary school. They also found that playground is the place where bullying more frequently occurs. Finally, they stated that students tend to tell teachers when bullying appears rather than to parents. Iborra et al. study (2011) found 12.79% of records of school violence were registered between students 3-8 years old.

4b) Denmark

In Denmark there are also a number of important recent studies of bullying. These are listed below.

Figure 6c. shows the percentage of children who are bullied at least a few times a month, 1994-2010

When measurement of the prevalence of bullying among Danish schoolchildren started in 1994 there was a very high incidence of bullying. 25% of 11-15 year olds were susceptible to being bullied.
Since then there has been a very welcome development, possibly as a result of the many different actions to the problem. From 1998-2002 there was a decrease in the incidence of bullying in Danish schools, and this trend continued in 2006 and 2010, so that we now find that 6% of Danish children are exposed to bullying at least a few times a month.

Extensive research on interventions against bullying has shown that efforts to combat bullying are effective if they are comprehensive and involve all levels of school ('whole school approach').

Website with the danish report: http://www.hbsc.dk/downcount/HBSC-Rapport-2010.pdf

eXbus (Exploring bullying in schools)

eXbus is an interdisciplinary research project focused on bullying in schools. The research concerns how instances of bullying originate and develop, how they are maintained and how they, possibly, are dismantled.

The eXbus research demonstrates the complexity of bullying as a phenomenon – there is a wide network of relations that are relevant to include to fully understand school bullying.

The projects key findings are:

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  It is a basic necessity for pupils to feel they are part of the community of the school class. If this is threatened social exclusion anxiety can arise.
  
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  Cyberbullying has its own peculiarities, in that positions seem to be dispersed and distributed rather than clearly fixed in positions of bully, victim and bystander.
  
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  The ‘home – school’ cooperation with mutual disempowerment between parents and teachers is essential to combatting bullying.
  
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  Experiences of bullying during childhood make their mark on adult life.
  
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  A regional survey on bullying among 1052 school children shows how the culture of the school class has a significant impact on the prevalence of bullying.
  

The reports describe the implementation, development and results of Free of Bullying. Head of research: Jan Kampmann concludes: "It is clear to see that children are significantly better at handling teasing and bullying in the schools and Day Care Centers that are working intensively with Free of Bullying".

Reports in Danish: http://www.friformobberi.dk/fl/fagfolk/omfriformobberi/forskningogevaluering

(documents previously submitted in English edition)

A new evaluation will be conducted in 2013.

Website with information in Danish: http://www.friformobberi.dk/fl/fagfolk/omfriformobberi/forskningogevaluering

“Børnerådet” / National Council for Children.

A questionnaire survey about the impact of social wellbeing on children's learning. The study is carried out in autumn and winter 2012/2013 among 1914 students in public school 7th-10th grade in Roskilde Municipality, the 14th largest municipality in Denmark. For the vast majority of the children in the study well-being in class was important for them to learn something. Nine out of ten students agree that they learn more if there is a good atmosphere in the class.

The project aims to generate knowledge about bullying in Day Care Centers (3-6 year olds), and to contribute to research on how bullying in Day Care Centers is different from (and similar to) the process which is well known from schools.

Since 2000, a yearly survey on the condition of children and adolescents in Italy has been carried on by Eurispes-Telefono Azzurro: the 1st National Report on the Condition of Children and Adolescents was published in 2000 and it contained the theme of the “abuse among children”. In the survey answers related to bullying and to victimization were compared. The data showed that acting and receiving bullying involved boys more than girls. Children in the South and the Islands were more likely to claim they bullied (18.8%), while those in the North were more likely to declare themselves bullied (18.1%). The 3rd Report Eurispes-Telefono Azzurro, in 2002, registered the first significant results about bullying: in response to the question "Have you ever hit or threaten someone?", more than half of male children (55.3%) and adolescents (63.8%) responded affirmatively; one-third of male children (33.4%) claimed to have seen "threats or acts of bullying continues by peers" occur in their school, and almost 20% even reported the occurrence of "continuous physical violence by peers". Among adolescents an increase of two forms of prevarication: "continuous threats or bullying by peers" (from 33.5% in 2002 to 35.4% in 2004) and "continuous physical violence by peers" (from 10.9% to 16.8%) was found between 2002 and 2004. In the 2010 survey "dissemination of false or bad about yourself" had been inserted among the behaviors identified as bullying. This item was endorsed by a great number of both children (about 22%) and adolescents (26.6%: a 22.8 for males and a 30.4% for females). The females in the 2010 survey, moreover, claimed more frequently than in previous years to have received "Repeated unjustified offenses "(27%),"Provocations and/or repeated teasing" (27.4%) and threats (9.1%). This shows that these forms of psychological abuse are the most widespread, and that they occur in the form of "defamation". Furthermore, this form of bullying often takes the form of xenophobic bullying (8,2% of cases) or is directed towards those students who are unable to defend themselves or do not react (38,4% among children and 63,6% for adolescents).

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  It is much easier to prevent than to fight violence in schools. Teachers from all schools are invited to this training, not only teachers from the schools that are confronted with special cases of violence.
  
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  Aggressiveness is a feature of any human being, this is why it is important to learn how to positively manage it. The purpose of the training isn’t to end violence in the schools that the teachers come from, but to offer a communication framework and information for all school actors, to debate, to share experiences and to take actions in order to create a harmonious educational climate.
  

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  Communication with teachers from other schools is an important source to understand and prevent such phenomena.
  
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  A school without violence is a school where learning is done in a positive way. The training is not only about rehearsing school violence prevention practices, but it offers a significant space to tackle all educational practice elements that are implicitly connected to violence as an obstacle to learning.
  
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  The training activities within the course aim to increase the understanding and of school violence, the identification of examples of best practice in the field of school violence prevention, and the development of resources regarding the strategies for school violence prevention.
  

- Some of them refer the relationship between violent behaviour and drug addiction, in schools. A study on this matter has shown that, in 2002, in all 99 high schools in Bucharest, the number of preteenagers and teenagers using drugs had increased (11%), and also that violent behaviour was induced by drug addiction. Thus, 15% of the students argued with their teachers, 13.9% argued or fought with their colleagues, 6.97% stole money or objects, and 6.39% ran away from home. The proximity context factor seems to be important: 40% of the high school students who use drugs belong to families with hostile relationships and behavioural backgrounds, where arguments between family members, especially between parents, are frequent.

- Another study, done in high schools in Cluj-Napoca, showed that 47.6% of the interviewed students have suffered physical aggressions only once, and 4.3% almost daily. Out of 100 girl students, almost 19 have suffered at least once a form of sexual abuse, and out of 100 boys, 4 have been sexually abused.

- In Oradea, partnership between schools and local authorities, police, child protection agency, health care authorities, NGOs and the church had positive effects; some specific actions – organizing social integration centres, night shelters, social housing and family counselling – and programmes to prevent juvenile delinquency – drug use, school abandonment, creating youth associations – have led to a decrease of violence in this city and in schools, implicitly.

The preliminary report “Save the Children” within the project “Youth against Violence”– http://salvaticopiii.ro/upload/p0001000300060008_Prezentare_finala.pdf showed that during school year 2009 -2010, 55 cases of school violence were officially reported.

According to a research done in 2007 by the World Health Organization (OMS) together with the World Psychiatry Association and the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, schools in Romania are in the second place in a classification of violence, which includes 37 countries. More than 70% of the Romanian students admit they are afraid of the aggressive behaviour of their schoolmates.

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  there are several databases which include violent incidents in schools and high schools, based on the notified institution: school, ISMB, Police,112, but they are not integrated and there is no unique institution that has a real perception of the phenomenon
  
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  analyses done for a period of 4 years shows that there are groups of children that show pre-delinquent or delinquent behaviours in the street, as a result of school or family abandonment. These groups have 4-10 members, they drink alcohol and sometimes use drugs.
  
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  the situation in preacademic schools and surrounding areas in 2011/2012 shows:
  
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    150 offenses notified in the academic year 2011-2012;
    
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    of the 150 notified offenses, most incidents took place between colleagues, in school;
    
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    based on the type of offense, the situation is the following: 99 counts of light physical aggression with no hitting /bodily injury, 2 attempts to steal goods, 11 threats (8 in school, 3 in the surrounding areas), 6 thefts (2 in school and 4 outside school);
    
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    the no. of the cases of aggressiveness has remained constant compared to last year;
    
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    the biggest share belongs to verbal aggressiveness, especially between students;
    
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    the main reasons of the acts of violence are the lack of a proper communication, revenge, the need to dominate and the need to show off;
    
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    most cases of aggressiveness are recorded in areas near schools;
    

reactive strategies. Proactive strategies were divided into three broad categories: whole-school approaches; classroom strategies and playground strategies. Whole-school approaches