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Institute for Effective Education, University of York: What works for bullying prevention programmes?
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A new research brief from Child Trends synthesises findings from experimental evaluations of 17 bullying prevention programmes for children and young people. The authors based the effectiveness of a particular approach on whether or not the programme worked to improve any of five outcome categories: physical and verbal bullying, social and relational bullying, bullying victimisation, attitudes toward bullying, and being a bystander of bullying.
The authors note that the relatively small number of bullying programme evaluations limited their ability to draw generalisations and conclusions; however, they do offer several initial findings from their research, including:
Programmes that involve parents were generally found to be effective.
Programmes that use a whole-school approach to foster a safe and caring school climate—by training all teachers, administrators, and school counsellors to model and reinforce positive behaviour and anti-bullying messages throughout the school year—were generally found to be effective.
Mixed results were found for programmes that included social and emotional learning, such as self-awareness, relationship skills, or responsible decision-making.