Longitudinal disciplinary and achievement outcomes associated with school‐wide PBIS implementation level

Positive behavioral interventions and support (PBIS) is a multitiered framework for behavioral support that is being increasingly implemented in schools. Although research has linked PBIS to improved student outcomes, less research is longitudinal and considers both academic and behavioral outcomes. This study examined the relationships between changes in school‐wide (i.e., Tier I) PBIS implementation level and changes in disciplinary and achievement outcomes over a 2‐year period. Participants included 85 Ohio schools with data on PBIS implementation fidelity (from the tiered fidelity inventory, or TFI), out‐of‐school suspensions (OSSs), and statewide achievement tests for the 2015–2016 and 2016–2017 school years. Linear regressions were conducted to examine the degree to which changes in TFI Tier I scores predicted changes in OSS and achievement scores when controlling for school‐level demographic variables that also were related to the outcome variables. Changes in TFI Tier I scores was found to significantly predict changes in OSS per 100 students but not changes in achievement scores.     

Homophobic and transphobic bullying: barriers and supports to school intervention

This study explores the perceived barriers and supports identified by school staff in tackling homophobic and transphobic bullying, using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model as a framework. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants from five separate second-level/high schools (two designated disadvantaged schools, and three non-disadvantaged schools), within an area of Dublin, Ireland. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the resulting data. Findings indicated that the main barriers in tackling homophobic and transphobic bullying included students’ perceived discomfort in discussing their sexuality with teachers, teachers’ discomfort in discussing issues (including an associated lack of training), a lack of priority given to these types of bullying, and parental views on homosexuality. Perceived supports included consistency in dealing with these types of bullying, appropriate training, and support from management. Relationships were also evidenced between some perceived barriers and supports, with the absence of these factors being perceived as a barrier, while their presence was perceived as a support. Findings are considered within the context of previous research. The strengths and limitations of the study are discussed, as are its practice implications, and implications for possible future research.     

Preventing and confronting school bullying: A comparative study of two national programmes in Norway

Efforts to prevent and curb school bullying have resulted in a proliferation of anti‐school‐bullying programmes, many based on intuitive appeal rather than systematic evidence. This article presents a comparative analysis of two Norwegian programmes whose developers have demonstrated the effectiveness of their interventions: the Olweus Programme and the Zero Programme. By probing the key components of these programmes, the article provides schools with information about two prominent anti‐school‐bullying programmes that, to varying degrees, and mainly based on quantitative evaluations, have been found to work. In weighing up the potential of lesson drawing (both nationally and cross‐nationally), schools will attach significance to the probability of positive effects, to issues concerning intensity of implementation, and to the prospect of adapting programme content to school culture and school‐specific problems. It is important too that schools keep up to date with current research in the field, including studies that offer qualitative insights.     

Bullying Among Young Children: Strategies for Prevention

Bullying is an increasing problem within childcare facilities, preschool programs, and public schools. As a result, many districts are instituting anti-bullying intervention programs. This article defines bullying and explains the direct and indirect forms it can take. First, it examines research on bullying during the beginning years of school. Next, it explains how relational aggression occurs and the importance of positive peer support systems within their schools. The article concludes by examining the effects of consistent anti-bullying initiatives (e.g. conflict resolution strategies, daily check-ins, journals, and peacemaking activities) that address bullying behaviors among young children. Through consistent and clear interventions, students can build positive peer relationships that promote a safe and healthy school climate and culture.     

School bullying in Korea and christian educational approach

The central purpose of this study is to examine approaches for dealing with the problem of bullying (wangtta in Korean) in schools from the Christian educational perspective. There has been much development in both research and practice in the 1990s and 2000s relating to bullying in Korean schools. Most Korean research on bullying, however, has almost exclusively focussed on verification of the facts that bullying or peer rejection is a widespread phenomenon in schools. This study, however, is mainly concerned with how to tackle effectively the bullying problem on the basis of Christian educational philosophy. To do this, this paper suggests a four stage approach to dealing with bullying: namely, clarifying the Christian school ethos, leading to determine the school’s bullying policy. With the bullying policy, school anti-bullying programs could be developed in order to create a bullyingfree school environment.     

Towards the construct of cyberconvivencia / Hacia el constructo ciberconvivencia

Abstract

The quality of social relationships in schools has been considered to be a relevant issue in the prevention of problems related to educational convivencia, such as bullying. Nowadays, these relationships have been enriched by digital devices, which not only offer new potentialities, but also new problems. In fact, convivencia has turned into cyber convivencia and some phenomena, such as bullying, have turned into cyberbullying. In this study, we analysed the possible relation between direct school convivencia and virtual life, and particularly, the predictive power of the school convivencia over cyberbullying. For these purposes, we surveyed 893 Compulsory Secondary Education students (45.9% girls) about the quality of the convivencia and the involvement in cyberbullying. The results offer a good fixed structural equation model in which the quality of the horizontal and vertical relationships is a predictor variable of cyberbullying. Therefore, the results in this study are proof of the relation between the quality of the direct school convivencia and the problems that arise in virtual environments.     

Psychology's Contribution to Understanding and Managing Bullying within Schools

This paper investigates the extent to which psychological theory and research has contributed to how bullying is managed within schools. Teachers' awareness of the behaviours that constitute bullying, gender differences leading to identification difficulties, and low levels of reporting are discussed as plausible reasons for teachers' low intervention rates. Pupils' attitudes towards and responses to bullying are examined within the contexts of self‐efficacy, self‐acceptance and level of problem‐solving skill. Subsequent anti‐bullying interventions focusing on these aspects are explored and the importance of a whole‐school approach emphasised.     

学校欺负行为干预研究综述

欺负行为是中小学生之间经常发生的一种特殊类型的攻击性行为,它对儿童及青少年的身心健康发展具有很大的伤害性。因此,受到许多国家研究者的广泛关注,并开展了相应的干预研究,也取得了一定的效果。了解国内外学者所做的有关学校欺负行为的干预研究,对我们开展学校欺负行为干预研究,促进学生健康成长有一定的借鉴意义。     

Spinning our wheels: reconceptualizing bullying beyond behaviour-focused approaches

Bullying behaviours remain common in schools despite an abundance of policies and programs aimed at curbing them. In this paper, the author argues that such policies and programs are problematic not because they are flawed in themselves, but because they draw from the dominant and usual ideas about what bullying is taken to be. These ideas are presented as more fundamental problems that contribute to ‘wheel-spinning’ where efforts to reduce bullying are concerned. Key concepts that inform such ideas, specifically safety and diversity, are interrogated. The paper advocates for a new framework by which to think about and conceptualize bullying that moves away from those that highlight behavioural and developmental perspectives. Implications for education administration, especially with regard to supporting marginalized students, are explored.     

Improving the School Learning Environment to Reduce Bullying: An Experimental Study

A framework based on research on bullying and on educational effectiveness was offered to schools to assist them in developing strategies and actions to improve their learning environment, their policy for teaching, and their evaluation mechanisms in order to reduce bullying. At the beginning and end of the intervention, the Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire and a teacher questionnaire measuring three school factors (school policy for teaching, school learning environment, and school evaluation) were administered to the experimental and control groups. This experimental study reveals that the intervention had both a direct impact on the reduction of bullying and an indirect impact through improving the school factors. Implications for research into supporting schools to reduce bullying are given.     

Mapping the landscapes of bullying

Past bullying research has consistently identified common locations (e.g. bathrooms, hallways, playgrounds) on school campuses where bullying occurs, but not specific locations. This limitation does not allow researchers to take into account the unique geography of individual schools and how it contributes to bullying. A random sample of 741 grade 4–6 students from nine different elementary schools identified where bullying occurs on a campus map and this information was analysed in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). While this study offers preliminary findings (e.g. diffusion of bullying, specific locations for bullying) that increase awareness about bullying, the emphasis in this paper is to present a new methodological tool in the analysis of bullying. The use of GIS mapping to analyse bullying offer researchers an advanced instrument to understand the experience of bullying within the physical context of a school. These preliminary findings focus future research.     

Bully/victim problems in school: Facts and intervention

Bully/victim problems among school children are a matter of considerable concern in Scandinavia and, more recently, in a number of other countries as well. Estimates based on the author’s large-scale surveys indicate that some 9% of the students in grades 1 through 9 are fairly regular victims of bullying and that 6–7% engage in bullying others with some regularity. It is argued that it is a fundamental democratic right for a child to be spared the oppression and repeated humiliation implied in bullying. The author has developed a school-based intervention programme against bullying, the effects of which were evaluated in 42 schools over a period of two years. Analyses indicate that the frequency of bully/victim problems decreased by 50–70%. In addition, the prevalence of antisocial behaviours in general such as vandalism, theft, drunkenness and truancy showed a substantial drop. The main content of the “core” programme as well as its key principles are presented. The overriding goal of the programme can be described as a “restructuring of the social environment”. The programme emphasizes behaviours and attitudes characterized by a combination of positive involvement from teachers and parents, firm limits to unacceptable behaviour (“we dont accept bullying in our class/school”), and consistent use of non-hostile non-corporal sanctions on rule violations. Explanations of the positive results include changes in the opportunity and reward “structures” for bullying behaviour.     

Bystander Behaviours Among Israeli Children Witnessing Bullying Behaviour In School Settings

As part of an international study that examined students' bystander behaviour when witnessing bullying in the school environment, we asked 216 junior high and 190 elementary Israeli school students to respond to a questionnaire addressing various issues related to bystander behaviours, following viewing a video showing various bullying incidents. Results showed that more than half of the students observed verbal and physical bullying and more than third of the students observed sexual coercion type of bullying on a weekly basis. Overall, most of the students reported that they would not support the bully when witnessing bullying and would support the victims and/or call a teacher. In other words, verbally they possess the right attitude towards bullying. Further analysis of students' responses, based on their status in relation to bullying, that is, reported being a victim, bully, bully/victim or neither, revealed that victims tend to report calling teachers more than students who reported being bullies and also bully/victims. Notably, bullies as bystanders were more likely to support bullies and not to get a teacher. Implications of these results for teachers who attempt to combat bullying in their schools are discussed.     

Does the Content of Anti-Bullying Policies Inform us About the Prevalence of Direct and Relational Bullying Behaviour in Primary Schools?

The current study investigated whether the quality of school anti-bullying policies allows the drawing of any conclusions about the extent of bullying problems in schools. That is, do schools with a more detailed anti-bullying policy have lower rates of bullying? A total of 2377 children in primary schools (six year olds/year two: 1072; eight year olds/year four: 1305) were individually interviewed using a standard interview about bullying experiences. A detailed content analysis scheme that closely followed the core whole-school intervention approach was carried out on a total of 34 schools: 24.5% of the children reported being directly victimised very frequently and 45.9% reported being relationally victimised frequently or very frequently. No correlation between the content and quality of anti-bullying policies and the prevalence of direct bullying behaviour was found. Conversely, an inverse relationship was found for relational bullying behaviour: schools with the most detailed and comprehensive anti-bullying policies had a higher incidence of relational bullying and victimisation behaviour. Inspection of school anti-bullying policies per se provides little guide to the actual amount of direct bullying behaviour in schools.     

Integrating Models of Collaborative Consultation and Systems Change to Implement Forgiveness-Focused Bullying Interventions

Through collaborative consultation with school staff, school psychologists have increasingly helped schools add bullying prevention and intervention programming to their service delivery systems. As schools search for ways to lessen the impact of bullying on the social-emotional health and academic achievement of students, forgiveness education is an area that may offer another perspective to bullying prevention and intervention. In order to infuse forgiveness education into schools' current tiered-service delivery systems, school psychologists and their district partners can use the frameworks of collaborative strategic planning (CSP) and the concerns-based adoption model (CBAM) in tandem to guide the development and implementation of forgiveness-focused bullying interventions at the core, supplementary, and intensive levels of a multitiered system of service delivery.     

Investigating the effect of school‐wide positive behavioral interventions and supports on student learning and behavioral problems in elementary and middle schools

Many states have scaled up School‐Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SW‐PBIS) with the goal of improving student behavior and academic outcomes. Although the effects of SW‐PBIS on behavioral and discipline outcomes have been promising, the findings for academic achievement have been inconclusive and are often limited to cross‐sectional data. This paper examined the longitudinal effect of SW‐PBIS on student behavioral problems and academic achievement growth in elementary and middle schools using propensity score matching. We found no statistically significant longitudinal effects of SW‐PBIS on either student behavior problems or academic achievement among elementary and middle schools in this quasi‐experimental design, even though the positive direction of longitudinal changes would be identified. The result raised questions about the efficacy of SW‐PBIS using a statewide achievement test when scaled up to a state level. Additional research is needed to better understand the impact of SW‐PBIS using rigorous scale‐up designs.     

Transtheoretical-based bullying prevention effectiveness trials in middle schools and high schools

Background Bullying threatens the physical and mental well-being of students across a broad range of schools. Tailored interventions based on the Transtheoretical model and delivered over the Internet were designed to reduce participation in each of three roles related to bullying (bully, victim and passive bystander).

Methods Effectiveness trials were completed in 12 middle schools and 13 high schools in the USA. A diverse sample of 1237 middle (6th–8th grade, with 45.1% in the 7th grade; ages 11–14) and 1215 high school (9th–11th grade, with 41.6% in the 9th grade; ages 14–17) students were available for analyses.

Results Analyses showed significant treatment effects for both intervention groups when compared to control for both the middle and high school programs.

Conclusions Given the relative ease of dissemination, these programs could be applied as stand-alone practices or as part of more intensive interventions.     

Relationships between school climate,bullying and delinquent behaviours

Given that schools are, potentially, powerful sites for influencing adolescent behaviour, it is important that there is greater understanding of the psychosocial aspects of the school climate that can be leveraged for this purpose. The research reported in this article used structural equation modelling (with data from a sample of 6120 students at Australian high schools) to examine the influence of the psychosocial school-level environment on students’ self-reported experiences of bully victimisation (i.e. being victims of bullying) and engagement in delinquent behaviours. Further, we examined whether bully victimisation mediated the relationships between school climate variables and delinquent behaviours. School connectedness and rule clarity were negatively associated with both bully victimisation and delinquency (p < 0.05), and teacher support was negatively associated with bully victimisation (p < 0.01), confirming the importance of these aspects of the school-level environment. However, affirming diversity and reporting and seeking help both had positive influences on bully victimisation (p < 0.05), raising concerns about the ways in which these aspects of the school-level environment might have been promoted. Importantly, bully victimisation was found to mediate the influence of five of the six school climate constructs on delinquent behaviours (p < 0.001). This study advance our understanding of how specific aspects of the school climate influence the prevalence of bullying and delinquent behaviour, adding weight to the call for educators to actively monitor and enhance psychosocial aspects of the school climate in order to improve student behavioural outcomes.     

Partnership in education: lebanese evolution of a finnish educational model

In recent years, several anti-bullying programs have been developed, for instance in the UK, USA and New Zealand, but how successful these programs might be outside their own cultural context has not been investigated. This paper describes an action research project, the aim of which was to determine whether a pro-active model against intolerance and school harassment, originally developed and empirically validated in Finland, could be adapted to Lebanese primary schools. The findings indicate that while the Finnish model's core values and its approach are both desirable and applicable in Lebanon, interpretation of some of the key principles is problematic. The study serves as an example of problems encountered when attempting to ‘import’ foreign educational solutions for local problems, particularly where both the culture and the teaching and learning context differ significantly from those in the original study.