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

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  To seek out the best practices for bullying prevention and intervention programmes targeting children in preschool and elementary school implemented in European countries
  
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  To identify well known principles used in school programmes against bullying/victim problems and which can be adapted to the special context of kindergarten and elementary school
  

1. 
   Executive Summary
   

The project definition of bullying characterizes it as aggressive behavior that (a) is intended to cause distress or harm, (b) involves an imbalance of power or strength between the aggressor and the victim, and (c) commonly occurs repeatedly over time (Limber, 2002; Olweus, 1993a; Nansel et al., 2001);

Bullying may take many forms, including physical bullying; teasing or name- calling; social exclusion; peer harassment; bullying about race, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity; and cyber bullying (bullying through email, text messaging, or other digital means).

Bullying, as a form of peer victimization, differs from other forms of aggression among children (e.g., conflict between peers) (Espelage, Holt, & Henkel, 2003; Olweus, 1993a, 2001; Olweus, Limber, & Mihalic, 1999; Pellegrini, 2002);

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.

Research on bullying is taking place in all six countries in the study, but differs both in extent and emphases, often related to differences in policy environment discussed above.

While the different countries each present their own best practise evidence, there are a great number of commonalities in the evidence presented.

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  The need to address a range of actors, including pupils, parents and teachers
  
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  The need to address the whole school or institution in developing anti-bullying strategies
  
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  The need to focus on relationships, values and school and class climate
  
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  The need for interactive and varied activities that allow pupils to develop their understanding through active learning and discussion
  
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  The need to develop clear rules for detection and disciplinary procedures when incidents occur
  
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  The need for monitoring behaviour outside the classroom, e.g. on the playground and outside of school.
  

A significant number of EU projects on bullying and school violence have taken place in participating countries over recent years, focussing on a range of issues from mapping the problem to broad or more specific interventions and overviews of existing evidence.

2. 
   Project Understanding of Bullying
   

Bullying is commonly characterized as aggressive behavior that (a) is intended to cause distress or harm, (b) involves an imbalance of power or strength between the aggressor and the victim, and (c) commonly occurs repeatedly over time (Limber, 2002; Olweus, 1993a; Nansel et al., 2001);

Bullying may take many forms, including physical bullying; teasing or name- calling; social exclusion; peer harassment; bullying about race, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity; and cyber bullying (bullying through email, text messaging, or other digital means).

Bullying, as a form of peer victimization, differs from other forms of aggression among children (e.g., conflict between peers) (Espelage, Holt, & Henkel, 2003; Olweus, 1993a, 2001; Olweus, Limber, & Mihalic, 1999; Pellegrini, 2002);

Research has indicated that bullying involves large numbers of children and youth in all socio-economic backgrounds, in racial groups that have been studied, and in areas of different population density (urban, suburban, and rural settings)(Nansel et al., 2001);

There are gender differences in the types of bullying that children experience, such that boys are more likely than girls to report being physically bullied by their peers (Harris, Petrie, and Willoughby, 2002; Nansel et al., 2001) and girls are more likely than boys to report being targets of rumor-spreading and sexual comments (Nansel et al., 2001).

Girls report being bullied by boys and girls, while boys report being bullied primarily by other boys (Melton et al., 1998; Olweus, 1993).

Bullying has been found to be related to negative psychosocial functioning among children who are victimized, including lowered self-esteem (Hodges & Perry, 1996; Olweus, 1993a; Rigby & Slee, 1993); higher rates of depression (Craig, 1998; Hodges & Perry, 1996; Olweus, 1993a; Salmon 2000; Slee, 1995); anxiety (Craig, 1998; Hodges & Perry, 1996; Olweus, 1993a; Rigby & Slee, 1993); feelings of loneliness (Kochenderfer & Ladd, 1996; Nansel et al., 2001); suicidal ideation (Rigby, 1996); and higher rates of school absenteeism (Rigby, 1996);

Children and youth with disabilities and children and youth who are lesbian, gay, or trans-gender, or who are perceived to be so may be at particularly high risk of being bullied by their peers (Dawkins, 1996; Hershberger & D’Augelli, 1995; Hunter, 1990; Nabuzka & Smith, 1993; Pilkington & D’Augelli, 1995; Rigby, 2002; Yude, Goodman, & McConachie, 1998; Whitney, Smith, & Thompson, 1994);

Children and youth who bully are more likely than their peers to hold beliefs supportive of violence (Bosworth, Espelage, & Simon, 1999;) and are more likely to influence their peers to engage in bullying others over time (Espelage et al., 2003);

Research suggests that there is no single cause of bullying. Rather, individual, familial, peer, school, and community factors may place a child or youth at risk for bullying his or her peers. (Limber, 2000; Olweus, Limber, & Mihalic, 1999).

Research indicates that perpetrating bullying is related to other problem behaviors, including vandalism (Solberg & Olweus, 2003), fighting (Nansel et al., 2001; Nansel, Overpeck, Haynie, Ruan, & Scheidt, 2003), drinking alcohol (Nansel et al., 2001), smoking (Nansel et al., 2001), truancy (Byrne, 1994), dropping out of school (Byrne, 1994), carrying weapons (Nansel et al., 2003), high-risk gun ownership (i.e., guns owned for reasons other than sport; Cunningham, Henggeler, Limber, Melton, & Nation, 2000), and other antisocial behaviors (Solberg & Olweus, 2003);

Numerous bullying prevention programs, curricula, and strategies have been developed in recent years for use in schools (e.g. Beane, 1999; Committee for Children, 2001; Froschl, Spring, & Mullin-Rindler, 1998; Garrity, Jens, Porter, Sager, & Short- Camilli, 1994; Newman, Horne, & Bartalumucci, 2000; Olweus, 1993a; Stein & Sjostrom 1996);

Existing research indicates that bullying at school may be significantly reduced through comprehensive, school-wide programs that are designed to change norms for behavior (Olweus, 1993a; Olweus, 1993b; Olweus, Limber, & Mihalic, 1999; Whitney, Rivers, Smith, & Sharp, 1994);

3. 
   Governmental published data on policies used in partner countries for addressing bullying in preschool and school settings
   

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 the federal Spanish system there is no national policy, but all seventeen Spanish regional governments have a specific regulation to address bullying in schools (the first measures appeared in the 90’s), and have developed a range of actions in this area. These policies are not specifically oriented to a specific educational level, but are aimed at all phases of compulsory education (primary and secondary). Linked to those regulations, regional governments have also proposed specific actions to develop policies against bullying. These actions were directly focused on bullying at the beginning, but they became oriented to the improvement of the “convivencia” (improvement of the interpersonal relationships and on the pacific resolution of conflicts). As result of this change in the orientation, some regional governments established different organisations (observatories) and some actions were proposed. Some typical examples are:

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  Advisory Units: in Murcia, a Unit for the Convivencia was created which organizes, coordinates and updates resources for improving the school convivencia, one of their top educational aims. The schools can request assistance for specific interventions in serious cases such as those related to bullying. Other observatories are the Observatory of the School Convivencia of the Valencian Autonomous Community,on which the plan for the School Convivencia of Castilla y Leon is based. In this model the observatories offer a service of protection and legal assistance to teachers, inspectors, and pupils that have been victim of any kind of school violence from a pupil or his/her relatives. However, in other regional governments the perspective is different. For example, the Institute for the Convivencia and School Success of the Balearics is based on the intimate and bidirectional relationship between convivencia and school success rather than on legal protection of school staff.
  
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  Global Programmes: the programme “You are not alone” of the Canary Islands offers materials and resources for all members of the educational community. Special attention is given to support for the victim and his/her family through the Service for prevention and support against school bullying. In Aragon the program “I count on you” was developed. In Catalonia, there is a Program of Convivencia and School Mediation.
  
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  Good Practice: regardless of the programmes taken as a reference in Spain, special importance should be given to the particular experiences developed by the schools themselves. For this reason many regions support the dissemination of good practice. For example, Cantabria, Castilla y Leon, Murcia, Andalusia and Asturias (ENCUENTRASTUR) provide examples of good practices within the educational community through the internet. Two examples are the protocol of action in case of conflicts (IES Gil de Junterón de Beniel) and of the vigilance of risky zones such as the playground (Colegio El Taller) which have shown positive results with regards to a decrease in aggressive behavior. Also, in Galicia, the Total Plan of the Convivencia of Galicia - Plan Integral de la Convivencia de Galicia - (2007) integrates all of the actions for the improvement of the convivencia.
  
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  Materials and Supporting Programmes have been established by public administrations for the support of the work developed by the schools. For example, the plan of school Convivencia developed by Castilla y Leon has batches of documents related to the school convivencia and the project “Join us for the Convivencia” – “Súmate a la Convivencia” offers a guide about school bullying (FETE-UGT y Aventura, 2005); Asturias, as the initial activity of the Observatory of Childhood and Adolescence - Observatorio de Infancia y Adolescencia –, has issued the materials called “Are you going to allow it?” – “¿Lo vas a consentir?” - (Asturias, 2006); Extremadura has created a WebQuest (Escudé & Collell, 2008); several regions such as Andalusia are using published materials for families, teachers and pupils (Collell & Escudé, 2004a,b y c); in the Balearics there exists the Program of Social Competence and School Mediation - Programa de Competencia Social y Mediación Escolar - (CEC-IB, 2008). The Plan of the School Convivencia - Plan de Convivencia Escolar – in Castilla y Leon integrates the program IESocio, which is a tool that evaluates the relationships between peers through different variables of convicencia and sociometric methods. Initiatives are also taking place in the Basque Country and Castilla La Mancha, among others.
  
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  Protocols of Action: after some serious cases, greater consciousness of the necessity for schools of having concrete rules for acting against severe cases of bullying developed. Today, most of the regional governments have issued a protocol of action in cases of bullying. For example, Cantabria, the Basque Country, Andalusia, Castilla La Mancha and Asturias.
  
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  Helplines or services have been established for providing support in the event of bullying: the first one, established in 1998 in Andalusia, was “The Friend Telephone” – “El Teléfono Amigo” - (Ortega, Kulis & Ortega, 2001). Today, other regional governments, such as Cantabria, Madrid, La Rioja, the Basque Country amongst others have set up corresponding services.
  

Chapter 1 - Rights and obligations:§ 1 states that students and other participants in public and private education are entitled to good teaching so that learning can take place in a safe and healthy manner. The educational environment in schools and other educational institutions has to promote students opportunities for development and learning, and therefore also includes the school’[s psychological and aesthetic environment.

According to the educational environmental law all schools must make teaching environment evaluations at least every three years and these should be publicly available at the schools.
The school's management is responsible for the impelmentation of the requirements educational environmental Act. However, there are no penalties if the law is not observed (e.g. if there is bullying at a School).
Anti Bullying Strategy

Since August 2009 it has been mandatory that all schools should create a set of values ​​that include a general anti-bullying strategy. The ‘Notice on the promotion of good order in schools’ states that:

It is the school boards that have the formal responsibility for the anti-bullying strategy to be made​​, but it must of course be done in close collaboration with the school management.

In Italy, the first national legislation to prevent and contrast bullying was ONLY published by the Ministry of Education in 2007. The aim of this document was to indicate some opportunities, resources and tools for schools to help them to manage bullying in collaboration with other Institutions and educational settings.

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  creation of a network of permanent regional Observatories which have research, training, monitoring and informative functions,
  
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  creation of a national website (www.smontailbullo.it),
  
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  activation of a national green number(800 66 96 96),
  
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  collaboration with the Police forces (i.e. Postal Police) to monitor aggression through web and to inform students about the risks of Internet and about the legal issues connected to cyberbullying (for a more detailed review, see Genta, Brighi, Berdondini & Guarini, 2009; Guarini, Brighi & Guarini, 2010).
  

In 2007 the Ministry of Education also published some guidelines and instructions on use of cellular phone phones and other electronic devices during teaching activities, imposing disciplinary sanctions and highlighting the co-responsibility of parents and teachers. This document bans use of cellular phones by teachers and students during school hours. Moreover, following several cases of bullying at school, theDPR no. 235 of the 21^stNovember 2007 which amends the 'Charter of students in secondary schools' includes more severe measures in case of offences against the respect of the human being or that can be dangerous for the safety of the others. The Charter also provides that parents and students shall sign, at the moment of the enrolment, a joint responsibility Pact, aimed at defining the rights and duties of the school, students and their families.

No specific government policies in regarding bullying in preschool and school settings exist in Latvia. However, rights and interests of children are protected by several laws.

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  Chapter XVI in The Criminal Law determines responsibility about sexual abuse: “Criminal Offences against Morals, and Sexual Inviolability”;
  
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  Chapter XIII in The Criminal Law determines responsibility about physical abuse: “Criminal Offences against Bodily Integrity of Persons”;
  
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  In Chapter XVII: “Criminal Offences against the Family and Minors” section 174 tells about special criminal offences “Cruelty Towards and Violence against a Minor”.
  
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  Criminal liability about psychological violence if victim has physical or mental suffering.
  

The States Inspectorate for Protection of Children`s Rights (An agency under Ministry of Welfare of the Republic of Latvia) has created the "Friendly school" movement. It’s mission is to improve the psychosocial school environment, to promote relationships to be based on mutual respect and cooperation between children, parents, teachers and school administration.

Goals:

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  To improve cooperation between children, teachers, parents and school administration and cooperation with other agencies and local government;
  
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  To improve preventive work in schools to prevent violence
  

Currently, only 165 out of 807 schools in Latvia are involved in movement.

The movement organizes competitions for children (for example – make short movies about bulling), and organizes conferences and seminars, and invites schools to participate in "Good work storage" - a virtual place where school pupils or students can share their experiences. "Good work storage" is made to encourage students and teachers to implement and document their initiatives, which focuses on improving school environment and relationships. The movement invites schools to share good practise examples of the ‘classroom hour’ special lesson, which are published on the website.

http://www.bti.gov.lv/lat/draudziga_skola/labaka_klases_audzinasanas_stunda/
State General Education Standards

State general education standards regulate the key objectives and tasks of general education programmes, the minimum content, including the compulsory subjects and standards, as well as student learning assessment principles and procedures, and mandatory national tests. The standards state that it is required to talk and teach about tolerance and relationships in the subjects of social science, literature, religion or ethics.

There is a special lesson in schools – called “classroom hour”, usually once a week, where one of the topics is relationships in school. However, the amount of information, content and methods depend exclusively on the teacher’s initiative, experience and knowledge. Teachers and the National Centre for education admits that despite the standards and guidelines there is lack of methods and methodology that can be used in daily work in school.

3e) Romania