Preventing bullying and violence
Schools can, and should, play a key role in tackling these abuses.
Whole-school anti-bullying programmes are needed, which promote peer support systems and involve active and well-trained teachers and parents, to foster a safe learning environment in which no violence is allowed.
Facts & figures
Half of the world’s students aged 13-15 say they have experienced violence in and around school.[1]
Nearly one in three students of this age say they have experienced bullying or been involved in fights.[2]
More than 700 million children have no legal protection from corporal punishment at school.[3]
What is violence and bullying?
Violence is the threatened or actual use of physical force or power resulting in physical or psychological harm to others.
Bullying is a form of violence. It can be defined as unwanted, aggressive behaviour which involves a real or perceived imbalance of power. It is behaviour that is repeated, or carries the threat of being repeated over time.
Bullying takes different forms in school, including:
- Physical, e.g., hitting, kicking, slapping, shoving, hair-pulling, etc.
- Verbal, e.g., name-calling, teasing, using belittling expressions, etc.
- Relational, e.g., ostracising, spreading rumours, social manipulation, etc.
- Sexual, e.g., sexual name-calling, uninvited touching, propositioning, etc.
Cyberbullying is a distinctive form of bullying. It differs from other types on account of the constant risk of public exposure, the complex roles of observers and the size of the audience that comes with digital technologies.[4].
Bullying is not the only form of student-on-student violence in schools, however. Fights between, and attacks on students associated with gang culture and the carrying of weapons, especially knives, are becoming an increasing problem in various countries.
Why is addressing violence and bullying important at school?
Under the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, schools have a formal duty to protect children from all forms of violence, both physical and psychological.
“Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.”[5]
Failure to protect children at school can have harmful repercussions on their future lives, both educationally and socially - whether they be victims, perpetrators or bystanders.
Students who are bullied are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety, health issues, poor academic achievement and behaviour problems at school, including higher drop-out rates. A small number may also retaliate in violent ways. Students who bully others are more likely to exhibit other behaviour problems at school and to suffer from alcohol or drug abuse, and to engage in criminal activity and abusive relationships in adulthood. Children who witness bullying and violence are also more likely to have mental health difficulties and miss or drop out from school.
Violence and bullying not only affects academic learning, it also impacts negatively on the social development of young people. In particular, students who experience violence and bullying are more likely to have difficulty developing basic democratic competences, such as empathy, respect for others, openness to other cultures and beliefs, tolerance of ambiguity and self-efficacy – all of which lie at the heart of the Council of Europe Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture.
The effects of violence and bullying are not limited only to the students directly involved, but potentially impact on everyone at a school. Unchecked, incidents of violence and bullying lead to an atmosphere of anxiety and insecurity incompatible with learning. They also lead to, or exacerbate conflicts beyond the school gates, which in turn have further consequences for relations within the school.
What are the challenges?
Violence and bullying can be challenging to deal with at school. What is regarded as bullying or violence is sometimes thought of as a matter of subjective opinion. It can be difficult to build a common approach to eradicating from school something which a significant proportion of staff believes not to exist or is not important to them.
The prevailing culture in a school can sometimes work against attempts to reduce violence in its different forms. Rule by fear, over-emphasis on punishment and the prioritization of learning environments which support competitive behaviour all militate against the prevention of violence and bullying. So, too, does the holding of an ideology which accepts violence as a valid response in situations of fear, stress or frustration – as evidenced in the advice commonly given to victims of bullying to fight back and give the bully a ‘taste of their own medicine.’
In such circumstances it can be easy to think that dealing with violence and bullying is simply a matter of stopping fights, giving punishments and imposing order, rather than questioning the wider culture of the school, the examples it sets and the sorts of behaviour it supports.
Many teachers are unaware of democratic approaches of dealing with violence and bullying, such as:
- restorative justice
- conflict resolution
- peer mediation.
Such approaches are not only arguably more effective than punitive ones, but also have the advantage of promoting democratic values and attitudes more widely across a school.
Such approaches take time to learn, however, and require the development of specific types of skills, knowledge and attitudes. They also take time to put into practice. It can be difficult for a teacher to find the time and motivation to deal with violence and bullying in a democratic and constructive way. It is easier just to punish the supposed perpetrator, and easier still to pass the perpetrator up the school hierarchy for a more senior member of staff to punish.
A further challenge in recent years has been the rise of gang culture among young people and the carrying of weapons, especially knives, in as well as out of school. This has led to a rise in the number of serious acts of violence between students and also to the more regular involvement of the police in school affairs, both of which demand new professional skills and ways of working from teachers and school leaders.
How can schools get active?
Taking action on violence and bullying is not just a matter of finding better ways of responding to incidents after they have occurred – though this is important, but also of creating the kind of school environment in which violent incidents are less likely to happen in the first place.
A good place to start is with asking students to review the current situation in their school:
- where they feel vulnerable or in danger
- where they feel safe
- what sorts of violence they have witnessed or experienced
- what they see as the causes of these sorts of violence
- how effective they think the school is at dealing with violence
- what further measures they would like the school to take.
Surveying student opinion provides a good evidence base for targeting measures to prevent violence, e.g., increasing supervision in areas in school where students are fearful of going, creating more opportunities for constructive play during breaks from lessons, etc.
It can also stimulate a whole-school conversation about violence and bullying. Such a conversation is important for arriving at a whole-school policy that everyone can support. It is an opportunity to develop a common language and understanding of what constitutes violence and bullying in school and shared rules on how to approach it, including the reporting and monitoring of incidents. This is why it is essential that the voices of all school stakeholders are heard in the process of policy-development: principals, teachers, students, parents and the local community.
The conversation should also include the opportunity for teachers to reflect on practices that lead to frustration and low self-esteem among students, such as an over-emphasis on competition, over-frequent assessment and unreasonably high expectations of academic attainment. Attention should be given instead to creating a school environment which encourages inclusion and co-operation, and the valuing of individual differences and diversity.
Reflection on current practice goes hand in hand with the provision of opportunities for school staff to develop new skills. The ability to recognise violence in all its forms and to be able to deal with it appropriately are important professional skills for any adult involved in school life.
As young people themselves are often the most effective agents for change in a school, it is important they should be involved in formal initiatives to reduce violence and bullying, such as peer mediation schemes. Such schemes are most effective when taken seriously by both staff and the students involved, for example, by instituting formal recruitment procedures for student mediators and opportunities for high-level training from someone with the appropriate professional expertise.
Initiatives of this kind can be supported in the classroom by making time in the curriculum to talk with students about issues of violence and bullying. It should include discussions about the psychology of bullying, the effects of peer pressure and the influence of social media on young people’s behaviour.
[1] UNICEF Report, September 2018
[4] de Morais & Fernandes, 2017. ‘When bullying crossleakes the screen’. In J. Richardson, E. Milovidov & R. Blamire (Eds.), Bullying: Perspectives, Practices and Insights (pp. 11-16). Strasbourg, France: Council of Europe.
Resources on Preventing violence and bullying
Related schools projects
Address: Via Polaresco 19, 24126 Bergamo.
Country: Italy
Project: “Bullying is not a game”
Working language during the project:
- Italian
Themes of the Council of Europe campaign “FREE to SPEAK, SAFE to LEARN - Democratic Schools for All” covered:
- Preventing violence and bullying
- Tackling discrimination
- Improving well-being at school
Competences from the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (CDC) addressed and where / how they were integrated:
- Valuing human dignity and human rights
Respect, human rights and fundamental freedoms were the focus of conferences and school activities. Linguistic, history and law lessons focused on themes such as equal dignity, cultural differences, status, abilities. Students understood how important it is to defend those who might be disempowered and disadvantaged within the community. - Responsibility
Thanks to targeted law lessons, students understood their duties and obligations and how they ought to act in relation to a particular situation, based on a value or set of values. They also understood the consequences of personal decisions and actions. - Co-operation skills
In technical and vocational subjects, students organised the design work in order to create different outputs. They cooperated with others in a reciprocal and coordinated manner, identifying roles, tasks, a time-schedule and setting group goals.
Target group age range:
- 15 - 19
Level of education:
- Upper secondary education
Short description of the project:
Over the years Istituto Caniana has paid a great deal of attention to many of the themes that are part of The Free To Speak Safe To Learn campaign. Some of the most relevant features and driving forces in our vision of the school are: spreading democratic culture among students, promoting self-expression, social inclusion and active citizenship.
Among all the different projects that take their inspiration from these guidelines the “Bullying is Not a Game” project touches on different aspects of the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture. The project also implements the recent national school curricula guidelines in terms of civic education and social responsibility. Indeed, all these values, known as “Citizenship and Constitutional law” are now compulsory in the Italian Secondary school system, becoming an integral part of the final exam.
The project explores these subjects:
- Preventing violence, bullying and cyberbullying.
- Human rights violations.
- Making society a better place; free from violence and abuse.
Within the framework of this project the whole-school works at different levels (depending on the school year) on an anti-bullying, human rights programme, which promotes a learning environment where no violence is allowed. The project not only aims to make students aware of the problem, recognise it and act effectively against this kind of human rights violation but, with a domino effect, aims to spread knowledge of the democratic values in everyday life, within the family, the local community, making society a better place with no abuse or violence.
These themes are mainly directed at the younger students (1st, 2nd and 3rd year) as recent studies show that children aged between 11 and 17 are at the center of the problem (although the most critical period is between 11 and 13). The phenomenon occurs in school or in a virtual environment. But a bullying culture can develop in any context in which humans interact with each other, from the home to the workplace.
The project started with an online questionnaire addressed to all students, which produced some interesting statistics, supported with comments from the students on the phenomenon of bullying as it was personally experienced by them.
Over the course of two years, the project has seen a full programme of conferences, seminars and activities involving a large number of students and teachers.
The project has been developed thanks to the teachers (whom integrated their curricula programme) but also with the help of experts who held conferences and events to talk about the topic. Some of the most important have been:
Conference “Bullismo, cyber bullismo e molestie” held by a team of journalists from the national newspaper “Corriere della Sera”. The conference gave space also to a lively Q&A time with the students’ questions to the journalists.
Conference held by a lawyer and volunteer of the Bergamo UNICEF Committee. The conference inquired into the meaning of the terms "bullying" and "cyberbullying" (with practical examples) to reveal the civil and criminal consequences resulting from these acts.
Students attended the play “Banna il Bullo” (Ban the Bully), a show which broaches the issues of bullying and cyberbullying paying particular attention to the psychological and emotional dynamics involving parents and children.
Some classes (third year) took part in the “Inter-force Citizenship and Legality Education” project. It was a training activity promoted by the Vittime del Dovere Association, the State Police and the Territorial School Department. During the second part of the conference pupils could interact freely with the police officers about the issue.
Students got great results in different contests about bullying and cyberbullying and an internal exhibition showcasing their work was set up in the school’s hall and corridors.
Aims/objectives
- Preventing violence and bullying.
- Awareness of the bullying and cyber bullying phenomenon.
- Tackling discrimination.
- Knowledge and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
- Improving well-being at school.
- Critical thinking and reflection on the complexity of the contemporary world.
- Correct use of digital technologies and social media.
- Identification of dangerous situations online and offline.
- Team work skills: designing a multimedia product on the subject, implementing it through visual and communication tools, sharing ideas with the group and presenting the project to a wider audience.
Expected results/outcomes
- Students respect, protect and become promoters of the human rights
- Students promote social responsibility identifying and taking action against episodes of bullying they undergo or witness.
- Students improve their communication skills
- Student improve their digital and technological skills
- Students improve their ability to analyse issues and come up with solutions.
- Students improve their cooperative learning and team-work skills
- Multimedia outcome: video, digital animation, posters and T-shirts on the subject.
- Online campaign through the school’s Facebook page and website and during the final school year show which takes place in a theatre.
- Essays on the subject
Students ranked in the first place within the "Best Multimedia Works" category in the “Progetto Educazione alla Cittadinanza e alla Legalità” (launched by “Vittime del Dovere Association”) with the digital animation "Cyberbullying and cyberstalking: get to understand them to defend yourself" and with the following aims: "the messages of the individual graphics are original and they visually convey clear concepts". This video is permanently hosted on the homepage of school’s website.
Caniana Institute's commitment to the project was further recognised the the award of a special bronze medal by the Lombardy Regional Council for the largest number and the quality of work produced on cyberbullying and cyberstalking theme.
Students took part in the national competition “Scollègati dal bullismo” launched by the Ministry of Public Education. Their anti-bullying campaign got great results, and was selected at regional level by the USR Lombardia and sent over to the Ministry of Public Education to compete for the national stage of the contest.
Students took part in the video contest project “No Bullies be Friends”: kids simulated bullying situations in order to produce a short film. The activity helped them understand so much better the consequences of bullying on victims.
On the 7th February 2018 and 2019 our school joined the celebrations of “The National Day of Action against Bullying and Cyberbullying”, setting up an exhibition in the school. The exhibition showcases the students’ work which focuses on the main features of the problem. The exhibition was the results of the students’ analysis of the materials featured on different sites selected by the teachers and the free brain-storming that followed all activities and conferences. Students of the Graphic Design course made posters, videos and digital animations showcasing striking headlines and photographs, while students from the Fashion Design course made some really impactful T-shirts with No Bulls logos.
Changes
- Students adopt core human rights values in their every-day-life.
- Increased awareness of the students of bullying symptoms, online and offline.
- Teachers, parents and students take part together in the bullying prevention and intervention.
- Improvement on problem solving and team-work skills
- Visual and informative material was produced and remains a permanent source of knowledge and social condemnation of the phenomenon.
- Improvement in cooperation between the school and other stakeholders such as the State Police, the Territorial School Department, different Associations, Journalists, media and other institutions.
Challenges you faced
- very tight time schedule to organise some of the activities
- introduction of new elements and skills in the school year curricula programme
- designing the project exhibition and making it happen
Time-frame of the project:
School years 2017/18 and 2018/19 - the project is still ongoing.
Council of Europe materials on citizenship and human rights education used while preparing or implementing your practice:
- Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture
- Living Democracy - manuals for teachers
- Compasito
- Multimedia Material (ex. video “Beat Bullying”, series of cartoons “Democracy and Human Rights at School”, video “Corporal punishment at school: how two parents decided to change things”)
- Other: Law books, Italian Constitution, different online sources.
