Different Approaches to Address Bullying in KiVa Schools: Adherence to Guidelines, Strategies Implemented, and Outcomes Obtained

We examined the extent to which school personnel implementing the KiVa® antibullying program in Finland during 2009–2015 systematically employed the program-recommended approaches (confronting or non-confronting), used one or the other depending on the bullying case (case-specific approach), or used their own adaptation when talking to perpetrators of bullying, and whether they organized follow-up meetings after such discussions. In addition to investigating adherence to program guidelines, we tested how effective these different approaches were in stopping bullying. Finally, we tested the contribution of follow-up meetings and the number of years KiVa had been implemented in a school to the effectiveness of the interventions, using reports from both school personnel and victimized students. The data were collected annually across 6 years via online questionnaires and included responses from 1221 primary and secondary schools. The school personnel were more likely to use the confronting approach than the non-confronting approach. Over time, rather than sticking to the two program-recommended approaches, they made adaptations (e.g., combining the two; using their own approach). Two-level regression analyses indicated that the discussions were equally effective, according to both personnel and victimized students, when the confronting, non-confronting, or a case-specific approach had been used. The discussions were less effective when the personnel used their own adaptation or could not specify the method used. Perceived effectiveness was higher in primary school and when follow-up meetings were organized systematically after each intervention, but unrelated to the number of years KiVa had been implemented.

Under the Law: Favoring a religion or encouraging respect? A legal challenge to an antibullying program

When the San Diego Unified School District implemented an antibullying program in response to reports of bullying of Muslim students, a group of citizens complained that the program constituted an unconstitutional promotion of one religion. Julie Underwood discusses the resulting case, Citizens for Quality Education v. Barrera (S.D. Cal 2018) and explains what it teaches educators about the appropriate responses to religion-based bullying.

English as a Tool to Prevent Bullying and Encourage Equalities: The KiVa Project

Through the combination of the KiVa project and the English language beyond its formal academic aspects, this work aims to achieve an efficient antibullying program that fits the students’ needs. The main objective of this research is to prevent bullying, to encourage equalities and to ensure that bullying victims can count on the support of the class group to feel more confident about themselves and to not be afraid. To carry out all this, we suggest using English as students’ L2 in order that it serves as a tool to prevent bullying. Moreover, English is chosen as the subject since it is a neutral common language for all the students, and leads to an environment of equality in the classroom and to the suppression of group roles. Some methodological strategies were implemented in Primary and Secondary to compare the results obtained, to reach the goals and to improve the use of English language through communication.