Dr Gordana Milavić Hello, my name is Gordana  Milavić. I am the Chair of the Association for   Child and Adolescent Mental Health. I’m delighted  to be with you today and to introduce our Webinar   Series. We are proud to present this series  named in honour of Professor Judy Dunn. The   talks are aimed at disseminating and sharing the  evidence-based research and practice on different   topics related to the wellbeing and mental  health of children and young people. We hope   that parents and those working with children and  young people will find the information helpful. Before I go on to introduce our speakers  for today, I would like to say a few   words about Professor Dunn. She is an eminent  Developmental Psychologist with a stellar career,   spanning over 50 years. She has  specialised in children’s social,   emotional and sociocognitive development,  parent-child, sibling and peer relationships,   and the development of language and communication  abilities. She has many credits to her name,   and I shall mention just a few. She is Emeritus  Professor of Developmental Psychology at King’s   College London. She’s a Fellow of King’s  College Cambridge. She’s Medical Research   Council Senior Scientific Officer, Evan Pugh  Professor and Professor of Human Development,   Penn State University. Chair of the Children’s  Society’s Good Childhood Inquiry and Fellow   of the British Academy and Fellow of  the Academy of Medical Sciences. ACAMH   is honoured and privileged to present this  series of talks in honour of Professor Dunn. I would like to introduce the speaker for  today, Professor Lucy Bowes, and her topic,   “Why do children end up being bullied, or  bully others, and what we can – we all do   about it?” Professor Lucy Bowes is a Professor of  Developmental Psychopathology at the University   of Oxford and Principal Investigator of the  oRANGE Lab. And oRANGE is an acronym which   stands for Oxford Risk and Resilience Genes  & Environment. She received her PhD from the   Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London.  Lucy’s research examines how adverse experiences,   such as bullying and maltreatment,  influence emotional and behavioural   development across childhood and adolescence. The overarching aim of her research is to guide   intervention work, policy and practice, by  identifying factors that promote positive   outcomes among vulnerable children. I  hope you will enjoy her talk today and   have a better understanding of the potential  impact of bullying on children’s wellbeing and   identify risk factors for bullying and the  involvement in bullying after today’s talk. Professor Lucy Bowes Hi, everyone. It’s an  absolute pleasure to be here today. I am Lucy   Bowes, as you’ve just heard, a really lovely  introduction, and I’m delighted to meet with   you all and to talk a little bit about some  research I and others have done on bullying,   and to think about what we can all do about it.  I’m just going to share my screen. Bear with me   one moment. Wonderful, okay. So, in this talk  today, I’m try – going to try to keep to time,   ‘cause I’m really interested in the Q&A, in  particular, afterwards, and having a good chance   for a discussion. But nevertheless, I want to  talk a little bit about what we mean by bullying,   at least in research terms, because it has  quite a specific definition. And think about   those individuals who might be most at  risk of becoming involved in bullying,   either as young people who are victimised or those  who perpetrate bullying. We’ll be thinking about   the impacts of bullying on mental health and then,  a big focus is on what we can all do about this. And I know that we’re all very aware of the  importance of research on risk factors for poor   mental health, and indeed, in national statistics  that came out not very long ago, it was suggested   that up to one in five young people between the  ages of eight and 25-years-old in England had   a probable mental health disorder. So, very high  and concerning prevalence rates. And particularly   concerning because from that same data, when they  zoomed in on children aged 11 to 16, those who had   a probable mental disorder, so who scored high on  different scales of poor mental health, were five   times more likely to have been bullied than those  without one. And I wanted to talk a bit about   this relationship between bullying and mental  health, because it really is quite a complex one. So, when we think about definitions of  bullying and the research definition that   many of us use is that that was coined by Dan  Olweus back in the 90s, and that is “Repeated,   intentional harm where there’s a power  differential between the bully and the victim.”   And this power differential could be anything.  It could be psychological, it could be physical,   it could be social, but it makes it difficult  for the young person who’s bullied to defend   themselves. And there’s a big discussion in the  literature and in the research about whether   this definition needs to be adjusted, whether  we need to widen the scope, but at its core,   we’re talking about aggressive behaviour.  It’s not a one-off and it’s intentional. And of course, there are different types  of bullying involvement. The most common   is often verbal, so name calling and so on. We  have heard about overt and physical bullying,   punching and kicking, taking dinner money,  relational and social bullying, so exclusion,   being left out, having rumours spread about you,  gossip spread about you. And a recent focus of   concern has been on cyberbullying, which is  any type of bullying that takes place in an   online format. There are, you know, very valid  concerns about cyberbullying, but I think us,   in the research area, tend to view it as  just another forum through which bullying   can occur. So, it’s important that we consider it  within this wider scope of bullying behaviours. And actually, although there is research trying  to look at these different types of bullying,   and a question that’s often asked is, “What’s  worse? Is there one that we should be tackling   more than the others?” And like with many adverse  experiences, it’s a little bit more complicated   than that, because actually, what we typically  find is that students who are bullied are often   targeted in multiple different ways. So, those  of whom who experience the most common type,   verbal bullying, a large proportion may  have experienced other types of bullying,   as well. So, it’s often difficult, actually, to  disentangle these different types of bullying and   identify individuals who really only experience  one type and not another. What we can say is that,   you know, the more bullying that one experiences,  the greater the risk of negative impacts. So, then, thinking about the scale of the  problem. One study I was involved with,   and a few years back, looked a huge number  of responses from adolescents in the UK aged   15 years, so over 110,000. And really  concerningly, even at this older age,   found that up to 30% reported some form of regular  bullying, so that’s two to three times a month or   more in the past couple of months alone. That’s  a snapshot of 15-year-olds. It’s concerning,   because actually, bullying rates typically  decline over age, so by 15 years they’ve   certainly gone down compared to primary school.  So, these are really quite high prevalence rates. And not all children are affected similarly. We  know that young people with special educational   needs and disabilities are more likely to  experience bullying. These – this was from a   study that looked at the, sort of, the relative  prevalence rates of bullying. But certainly,   again, what we can say is young people  who have autism spectrum condition,   or ADHD, for example, are much more  likely to be victimised by others,   and there is some indication, as well,  that they may be more involved in bullying   in other ways, as well. So, they also  perpetrate bullying type behaviours. Other difficulties, as well, for example,  like developmental language delay,   we’re looking at in our lab and we also find  that young people with developmental language   delay are more likely to experience bullying. And  I flagged this because although I will talk a lot   about what we can do on bullying, I think this  is one area where we really desperately need   more research. We need to understand whether our  current interventions are sufficient and whether   our current definitions are sufficient,  and what additional support we can have. So, what we have is a risk factor with a  high prevalence rate, and unfortunately,   a wealth of evidence that this particular risk  factor, being bullied in childhood, looks to   be particularly harmful for young people’s mental  health. So, in some work that I was involved with,   we looked at the risk of childhood bullying  on later depression at 18 years and found that   even accounting for lots of other variables that  might explain both whether or not young people are   bullied or whether or not they develop depression,  we found that up to 26% of depression in this,   sort of, late adolescence/early adult period,  might be attributable to bullying involvement,   if this is a causal relationship. So,  that’s really quite concerning, and this   high proportion is in part because bullying,  unfortunately, is so common and because we find   evidence of this strong relationship with various  different types of mental health difficulties. And it’s not just depression. There is evidence,  and from longitudinal studies that have followed   children over time, into adolescence, adulthood  and even into older age, and they’ve found that   being bullied as a child is associated with things  like anxiety and depression, but also behavioural   problems, externalising difficulties, difficulties  at school with school achievement and attainment,   self-harm, suicidal ideation and even  psychotic symptoms. So, it’s a – very   much a non-specific risk factor for a broad  range of difficulties across the life course. The most widely accepted model of bullying  is based on the socioecological model,   and I wanted to, sort of, focus on that for  a little bit, because whether or not young   people are involved in bullying, it is not just  down to any one simple thing. But thinking now   about bullying perpetration and why this might  happen. We know that there are individual factors   that might increase a child’s likelihood  of being involved in perpetrating bullying. One of the models of bullying looks at the  function of bullying is “goal directed aggression,   with the aim of increasing social status,” and  that’s particularly true for young people who need   to feel powerful. They may have either low  self-esteem themselves, or they may be driven   by these, sort of, aims for social status.  And in settings where social status may be   achieved by more aggressive forms, we typically  say they’re more at risk of perpetrating bullying. Young people who have difficulties regulating  their emotions, from anger, but also   irritability and sadness, are more likely to be  involved in bullying. Those with impulsivity,   who are finding it tricky to inhibit their  behaviours, might be more likely to be   involved in bullying. Again, so typically  young children with ADHD, for example,   who are more likely to lash out or just struggle  with their emotions, are overrepresented in these   groups. But it’s not just young people with ADHD,  of course. It’s, you know, lots of young people   and these are just some of the individual level  factors that can increase risk for perpetration. In terms of being bullied, the most common  individual factors for that are low self-esteem,   depressive symptoms, symptoms of anxiety or social  withdrawal in younger years. But the individual,   of course, is nested within their, sort  of, their relationship space and different   relationships seem to matter when we’re  thinking about involvement in bullying. So,   again, the peer group really matters. So, the  young people involved in perpetrating bullying,   those who might have this need for social  status, if they’re in a peer group that   reinforces these negative behaviours, that are  providing positive reinforcement for aggression,   maybe assisting the bullying behaviours  in some way, sharing messages online,   cornering someone, spreading those rumours,  this can all serve to facilitate perpetration. But it’s not just the peer group that  matters, either. There’s a strong role,   I would say, of parent-child relationships and  this could be from social learning mechanisms,   so parents who might be more aggressive,  where there are more violence at home or   negativity in the home environment. They may  provide an increased risk for a child to be   involved in bullying, and that might  be through social learning mechanisms,   so modelling behaviours, but of course,  it would also be through other mechanisms,   as well. Parents who are more aggressive are more  likely to have offspring who are more aggressive,   but these relationships matter. I’ve put on here  ‘parents’ but some of our work has also looked   at siblings, and we know that young people who  are bullied by siblings at home are also more   likely to be bullied at school. And the sibling  relationship seems to be particularly important. Again, for victims of bullying, relationships  really matter. So, negative relationships,   maltreatment, sibling bullying, are  an increased risk factor for bullying,   but positive relationships  seem to be really important   in promoting resilience. I’ll talk a  little bit more about that later on. So, beyond the, sort of, the network of people  around a young child is the community that they   find themselves in, and different communities  might increase risk of bullying in different   ways. Thinking about the neighbourhood, some work  that we’ve done have found that neighbourhoods   where there is increased antisocial behaviour,  violence, gangs, children living in those   neighbourhoods are more likely to be involved in  bullying, both as bullies and as victims. It could   be to do with the, sort of, local norms around  use of aggressive behaviour to gain resources. And it’s not just the neighbourhoods, of course,  and a lot of research has focused on schools.   And we know that school norms around bullying  and aggression seem to really matter. They may   be set by Teachers. So, we know that bullying  rates are particularly high where Teachers are   very stressed, where they may feel unsupported by  their – the school system. They may be struggling   themselves. They may, unfortunately, reinforce  peer hierarchies and these – this can be in   subtle ways. It could be if there is a child  that Teachers are finding tricky to manage,   unfortunately. This may also set a  signal for the other children in the   class that this child is one that we can  – that I am talking to in a particularly,   you know, maybe a more negative way.  And this, unfortunately, might serve to   reinforce existing hierarchies, or even set  hierarchies, within the classroom setting. So, Teacher stress, Teacher burnout,  these factors do play a role, but also,   Teachers’ attitudes towards bullying.  Whether they take it seriously,   whether they consider this to be a  factor that children need to, sort of,   get on and learn how to deal with themselves or  whether they model supportive behaviours. And,   of course, I think most Teachers would  do the latter, so please remember, when   I’m talking about risk factors, it’s always the  minority of cases that we’re talking about here. So, thinking, then, beyond communities of schools  and neighbourhoods, we know that societal norms   also matter. And here, we’ll be thinking about  broader social norms around the use of dominance,   the use of aggression, to gain resources,  to gain social status and means. We know   that gender norms are often played out in the  school. So, bullying often – you often see,   sort of, gender norms coming up in bullying.  So, girls who don’t follow particular norms   might be bullied for that by others, who  might be seen as different in some way,   boys as well. Transgender youth are much  more likely to be bullied by their peers,   unfortunately, and also, to suffer poor mental  health as a consequence of this bullying. We know that social norms around exclusion of  minority groups, for example, are often played out   in school. And so, we cannot isolate these, sort  of, individual and school related variables from   these wider social norms. We have to understand  that it occurs in a context. It doesn’t mean that   we cannot intervene and support young children  who are being bullied, and support schools who are   dealing with bullying and families, but we do need  to remember that this does exist in a context. Okay, so moving forward, I really wanted  to focus on what we can actually do about   bullying. What can students do? What can parents  do? What can Teachers and schools do? Well,   thinking about students that are involved  in bullying, when I talk about bullying,   it really is the minority of students who are  directly involved. So, when we think about young   children, or young people, who are involved  in bullying, only around 8% - ooh, excuse me,   it’s got an animation – only around 8%  might be involved as children who bully   others and about 12% might be victimised  by bullies, but they are the minority. A small group of children might be actively  assisting the bully, or reinforcing it in some   way, maybe by laughing or crowding round to see  what’s happening. But actually, the biggest group   of young people are those who are present,  they’re not laughing and they’re not sharing,   but they are present, they witness the bullying,  and they do not feel able or confident to anything   about it. And again, another group of young people  might have more confidence, might have ways,   or discussed ways in which they feel able to  support young people involved in bullying. So,   those we might think about as defenders  of young people who are being victimised. And so, there’s a real social dynamic involved in  a classroom context when we think about bullying,   and that’s interesting ‘cause it contrasts  with what happens if you speak to individual   students. And of course, when you ask a child or  a young person what they think about bullying,   nearly all of them will say that it’s wrong  and that they wouldn’t endorse using these   kinds of behaviours and that they don’t agree  with it. But despite holding these, sort of,   anti-bullying attitudes, many students,  those outsiders, will behave in ways,   whether they know it or they don’t, that  unfortunately, serve to maintain bullying,   or even worse, that actually may  fuel the bullying behaviours. And we know this from research that’s  looked at classroom dynamics and bullying,   and we know that in classrooms where students tend  to reinforce the child that’s doing the bullying,   rather than provide more active support to  their bullied classmates, you tend to see   higher prevalence rates of bullying. We also  see that in those kinds of classroom settings,   the more vulnerable children, so, for example,  those with – who are more socially anxious,   more withdrawn, more shy, are more likely  to end up of targets of bullying. So,   this dynamic can be really important and actually,   educating young people around the different  roles in bullying can be quite transformative. And so, how can we actually support students?  Well, providing empathy, training empathy,   understanding what it’s like to feel left out, to  feel excluded from a group, which really is at the   heart of bullying, can be really important. But,  of course, you shouldn’t just expect young people   to be able to stand up and stand in. I often  take a moment here to think – I think probably   everyone on this call has been in a situation  where maybe they’ve been with other people,   they’ve been in some kind of public space  or a work environment, and someone’s said or   done something that makes us feel uncomfortable.  Maybe not directly to us, maybe to someone else. And for those of you who have experienced  that, and I know I have, myself,   then perhaps you can relate with this feeling of  finding something to be wrong, but not knowing,   or not feeling confident enough to be  able to step in. Not knowing what to do.   Not knowing how to help. Worried that you  might make the situation worsen, somehow,   or that you might put yourself at risk, and  it’s a really horrible and uncomfortable   feeling. And if we felt that as adults, many  of us, imagine then being in a classroom,   where, you know, the peer influence is so  strong and caring what others think about   you is really at the core of, you know, of  childhood, particularly into adolescence. So, then, of course, it’s one thing saying that we  must support young children who are being bullied,   or support adolescents who are being bullied,  but actually, doing that is not easy. So,   we need to work with young people to help them  identify ways in which they feel confident and   able to step in or to gain support and to help  young people who are involved in bullying. We   need to all work together to do this. It won’t  work if we just ask one person to step in. It   really has to be about changing the norms so that  everyone supports those per – those young people   who are being targeted. And also, understanding  that small things matter. It can be as simple   as going and sitting next to someone. It can  make a huge difference. Asking if someone’s   okay or if they want to join in a game can make  a really big difference to a young person’s life. Okay, so, then, thinking what can parents  do in this situation? I think for parents,   understanding that it’s really our behaviour that  children are learning from, more than our words   and what we tell them at home. So, modelling  kindness, modelling inclusion, really matters,   and that can be in all sorts of ways. That can be  how we talk to others in front of our children,   but it can also be when your child is  having a birthday party, for example.   Think about who they’re inviting and also, who  they’re not inviting. It’s also – you know,   it’s very common to see that young children who  have special educational needs are often the ones   that are missed out on those kinds of birthday  invitations or playdates. Perhaps unknowingly,   or perhaps because it might be that  parents don’t know how to integrate,   or are unconfident, not confident  in having a young person there,   but all of this matters because we want to model  inclusion. We want to model support and care. If your child has been bullied, or  comes to you and talks about bullying,   it’s really important that we provide space  to listen to that young person, really to hear   what’s been going on, for them to talk, for  them to share what’s going on. If actually,   they come to you and – or you hear that your  child has been bullying someone else, again,   understanding where that young person is  coming from, really listening to your child   matters. And it’s very difficult, I think, as  a parent. Our first step is often, or our first   reaction is often to be defensive, “My child  wouldn’t do that, they know better than that.” But rather than, you know, starting a conversation  where you feel defensive if another parent   or a Teacher comes to you to say that your  child has been involved in bullying others,   try first to find out more about the  situation. Find out what was going on,   what the young person, or your young person was  doing, what the actual context around this was,   and take this as an opportunity for  your child to learn something important.  It may be that your child was absolutely  unaware of the consequence of their actions,   they didn’t realise, or it may be that  your child was feeling hurt or upset by   something or was annoyed at another child  for a previous action. But really listening   to your child and understanding, and talking  them through it, promoting empathy, helping   them to see what that might have felt like, from  another’s perspective, can be really useful here. And if your child is the one who’s being  bullied, taking this seriously. So,   bullying can have serious consequences, so we  need to provide that space for young people   to share how they’re feeling,  validate how they’re feeling,   listen to their responses. We know that trying  to say, “Well, it doesn’t matter,” or “It will   end,” you know, “This isn’t a serious concern,”  or dismissing it, is probably not very helpful. On the one hand, I think we just need to listen  with curiosity. We also don’t want to share the   message that this is something that will,  you know – that’s not possible to stop,   that will keep going forever, or that the  world’s a bad and scary place. We just need   to be able to hear our children and  provide safe spaces for them to talk. Work with your child’s school. Going  to see the school, talking with them,   following up to see what actions they have  implemented and how they’re working is really,   really important. So, keeping that  conversation with school going,   wherever possible. And beyond the, kind  of, immediate dealing with a situation,   there may be other ways to support a child. So,  for example, building in other opportunities for   healthy friendships, increasing playdates with  different children, for example, or joining   different clubs. And providing opportunities  for your young person to gain self-confidence,   so that they feel better able to tackle difficult  situations at school and don’t feel so alone. I wanted to share this slide from some work  that we did some years ago, where we were   looking at relationships at home and whether  or not they promoted resilience to bullying,   both in terms of how well children did emotionally  and behaviourally, following episodes of bullying.   And really, in summary, what we found here is  that having warm and positive relationships at   home really do promote resilience to bullying,  both in terms of emotional bullying, so children   will have fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety  if they’re in a home where there’s high levels   of maternal and sibling warmth, and a better  overall positive atmosphere at home, compared   to those children that don’t have these resources.  They will also show more behavioural resilience,   as well. So, really promoting strong relationships  at home, I think may be really important. And really, I think one message that I – is  very important is that it’s not just about   whether our children are directly involved  in bullying, whether they’re perpetrating   bullying or whether they’ve experienced  bullying themselves, because actually,   bullying is a problem that affects everyone, and  because of that, it also concerns all parents. So,   really, what we need to be doing is  promoting, sort of, active bystander   behaviour. Talking to children about this,  thinking about what can be done to support   someone who’s being bullied, modelling  active support, modelling empathy. So, moving beyond parents now, what can Teachers  do? Well, Teachers’ role really is crucial,   I would say, and most bullying, I should also add,  does happen at school. It’s even more common to   experience face-to-face bullying at school than  it is for something like cyberbullying, online,   most of the time, and Teachers are at the  forefront of this, so their role really matters. Their role matters in identifying cases of  bullying that might be going on in the school,   to support individual children who are directly  involved, but also, as I mentioned earlier,   in terms of influencing classroom norms, making  students’ private attitudes visible. So, helping   to promote this anti-bullying attitude that many  children hold. And actually, students’ perception   of what their Teacher thinks about bullying  also matters and affects, or seems to influence,   the level of bullying. So, in classrooms  where children don’t think Teachers care,   don’t think they would step in, you see higher  prevalence rates of bullying. But on the flipside,   in classrooms and in schools where young  people feel heard, feel listened to and   believe that Teachers will step in, you  see lower prevalence rates of bullying. And I think there is also lots of positive  news from intervention research, as well,   about what schools can do, and there’s been a  number of systematic reviews, where evidence has   been collected from lots of different randomised  controlled trials of anti-bullying interventions.   And the, kind of, nutshell of this is that  school-based programmes, particularly universal   programmes that target the whole school, are  effective in reducing bullying prevalence rates. I wanted just to focus, in the last part of  this talk, before we open it up for discussion,   on one programme that we have been trialling  here in the UK, and that’s the KiVa Anti-bullying   Programme. This is one that’s potentially  one of the most promising programmes,   that’s being used worldwide for reducing  bullying, in this case in primary schools,   so for young people aged, actually, between  seven and 12. And it’s been taken to scale   and evaluated now, in several different  countries, with evidence of effectiveness. So, the KiVa Anti-bullying Programme was developed  at the University of Turku by Professor Christina   Salmivalli, and it really was following, kind  of, discussions with the Finnish Ministry of   Education and Culture, after bullying was really  highlighted as an issue in the country. And they   had decided to put a, sort of, a nationwide focus  on tackling bullying. And this is an example of a   programme that has been taken to scale and proven  to be effective year-on-year. At one point, it was   used by over 90% of public schools in Finland,  so it really did go wide. And as I mentioned,   it’s been evaluated and is also available in  several other countries, including here in the UK. And at the core of the KiVa Anti-bullying  Programme is the idea that it’s about   influencing group dynamics. It’s not really about  changing children who are bullied in any way. So,   we’re not just looking at young people who  are victimised and trying to promote better   self-esteem or better friendships, as if somehow,  we can make them less vulnerable to bullying. It   does acknowledge that individual characteristics  might put young people at increased risk, but it’s   not really about those characteristics, at all.  It’s understanding the norms of the classroom   that might put those children at increased risk in  the first place. And the idea is that influencing   the behaviour of bystanders can reduce the  rewards, the social rewards that might be   gained by young people who are bullying others.  And if you reduce the social rewards gained by   bullying others, then actually, you reduce  the motivation to bully in the first place. That being said, young children who are bullied  at school need to feel that they’re heard and   need to know that they’re helped by adults in  the school. So, the programme has different   elements. It has indicated actions for those young  people who are directly experiencing bullying, to   enable them to feel listened to and to make sure  that indicated actions have changed. And also,   whole school universal actions, where the effort  is in changing social norms around bullying. Children who are bullying others also need to  be confronted for their unacceptable behaviour.   They need to learn that this is wrong,  that this is not acceptable behaviour,   this is not what we do. And again,  that’s a core component of the KiVa   indicated actions between those who  are directly involved in bullying. So, in terms of the, sort of, intervention  elements, or components, KiVa ha – is mostly   classroom delivered, so it’s taught by Teachers,  and these student lessons involve a focus on   things like understanding what it’s like to be  part of a group and what it’s like to feel left   out. Who is left out and why? Promoting empathy  for those who are, and then teaching about the   role of bystanders, the fact that if you witness  bullying, but you don’t do anything about it,   actually, unfortunately, you might send  a signal or a message that this is okay,   or worse, that you endorse it, that you  think that this is a good thing. And you   can make the impact of bullying worse  for the student who’s being bullied. So,   helping children to understand that, but then to  think about how they can change their behaviour   to support the young people who are being  targeted, how they can become active bystanders. Beyond the, kind of, core student lessons, there  is also a KiVa team. Those are for, sort of,   direct instances of bullying. It’s usually a  team of three per school, but it can be more,   depending on the size of school, and there are  very clear guidelines that they can follow for   tackling indicated actions of bullying.  And it involves having an – different   meetings with the young people directly  involved, coming up with a plan and also,   checking back in and making sure those instances  of bullying have reduced and ideally, stopped   altogether. Because of the understanding that  bullying often takes place where Teachers are not   present, the programme has things like hi-vis  jackets for Teachers, to make their presence   more salient in the school, particularly  in unsupervised times, like breaktimes. There’s also a lot of identifying as a KiVa  school, to remind everyone in the school that   “We are a KiVa school, that we” – you know,  “we support people here, we promote empathy,   we promote understanding, and we step  in and help others.” And that’s done   by posters around the school, very  visible posters, to really remind,   and also, by making sure that everyone  in the whole school is trained on what   it means to be a KiVa school. So, that’s  anyone from the teaching staff, but also,   those helping in the dining room, for example,  and TAs, everyone present in the school. There are also some parent materials. I’ll  talk about that in a moment. Not very many,   but there is some work that goes back home  and some online games to try to facilitate   some of the learning goals. And the KiVa  is monitored by yearly online surveys,   which the schools receive the results  of, so that they can actually track   their own progress and see how bullying  rates are changing within their school. Thinking about some of the activities within  the classroom element. This involves things   like group discussions, small group discussions,  learning by doing, and all of this is designed   to create awareness of how groups might maintain  and fuel bullying, and to provide safe strategies   to support victimised peers. I should say that  the activities themselves were co-developed by   Teachers in Finland and have been adapted and  modified for use in other settings, as well. The parents’ involvement, I would say, is a little  bit light touch for my liking. I think parents   really are important, but with many school-based  interventions, there is a limit, unfortunately,   to how much we can engage parents, at least  when we’re running trials. But nevertheless,   KiVa has things like an information letter to  parents and a guidebook that’s sent to them.   There’s a “Back to School Night,” where parents  hear about the work of KiVa in their child’s   school. I’ve talked a little bit already  about the posters and the hi-vis jackets. The KiVa team are the ones who hold those  discussions with those directly involved in   bullying, but they also do things like utilise  pro-social or very high-status peers, to help   support the work in the classroom. You know,  sharing this message that “Your help is needed,”   that “You’re setting standards for others. How can  you help young children who are being excluded or   bullied, and how can you protect,” or “how can  we all protect, children from further bullying?” And the values taught by this particular  programme involve things like respect for others,   respect for one’s individual rights. Tolerance  of different behaviours and different ways   of presenting oneselves and a shared  responsibility of everyone’s wellbeing.   That it’s not just about a few, but actually, it’s  everybody’s responsibility to support each other. Some of the data from Finland is very  positive. So, this is just looking at   the national rollout of bullying using their  annual survey and you can see, year-on-year,   reductions in bullying, as evidenced by this  rollout. There’s also, as I’ve mentioned,   been randomised controlled trials. The one  in Finland was very effective. The one in the   Netherlands also showed significant reduction in  victimisation, also, in Italy. We have just run   a big trial in the UK, and I would love  to have been able to share the results,   but they are still embargoed at this time. But  as I mentioned, KiVa is also available in the UK. It isn’t the only programme that we have  to target bullying. So, I also wanted to   mention just a couple of others, in case anyone  is interested, because the data for KiVa really is   about primary school, so bullying in the younger  years. For secondary school, there was a trial   by Professor Chris Bonell and colleagues and  Russell Viner, called the INCLUSIVE trial,   that had really strong evidence of success, as  well, in both reducing bullying and victimisation,   but also improving young people’s mental health.  And that programme works a little bit differently. The framework is around restorative justice  and techniques. So, if anyone is interested   in programmes that use restorative justice, or  indeed any other information around bullying,   I would encourage you to have a look at the  tools provided by the Anti-Bullying Alliance,   and I’ve put the link in here. And for anyone that  wants to find out more about the KiVa programme,   this is the, sort of, big KiVa website,  but you can also, through that link,   have a look at what’s going on in  the UK and where KiVa is available. But I wanted to thank you all for listening and  I hope I’ve left us with lots of time for us to   have a good discussion. So, please, I welcome any  questions. If you could pop those in the chat,   that would be wonderful. I will stop  sharing screens now. Oh, actually,   if you could stop – I can’t stop sharing  screen, but if you could do that for me,   that would be wonderful. Thank you, that is great.  Brilliant, and I’m going to have a look and turn   it over to you now, for everyone in the chat.  Thank you [pause]. Thank you, also, everyone,   for sharing your backgrounds. It’s been very  interesting to know who’s on the call [pause]. One thing, while I’m waiting for people to add  in some questions. So, we have been working on   adapting KiVa for use in special schools in  the UK. So, we have a paper on that. KiVa,   good question, it’s a – so, some – Gabriella asks,  “What does KiVa stand for?” It’s a Finnish word,   and I’m not even going to try and pronounce  it, but it means ‘kindness’. And so,   we’ve used the same name because the branding  and everything is still from Finland [pause]. So, we have – Rebecca says, “It’s difficult  to know how to act when the bullied child   doesn’t want Teachers to act, speak to the  bully, because they feel it makes it worse.   What would you suggest?” That’s a really great  question. I think that’s also true for parents,   Rebecca, and I, sort of, hesitated on that  slide, because I do want to encourage parents   to talk to the school, and also, for  Teachers to step in. But it – but we   also want to make sure we’re listening to  our young person, and I think that’s very   common because of the powerlessness  and the fear around the young person. So, I guess, speaking with the child to  understand what they do feel able to do,   is an important step. Talking  with them and saying, you know,   “This is not all on you and this really is  unacceptable, so I will be reinforcing the   message to my class for everyone that these  behaviours are unacceptable, and that when   you see these behaviours, if you do nothing,  unfortunately, you are supporting them.” So,   then it becomes less about that individual child  and more about influencing those classroom norms,   I think is what I would encourage for  Teachers, so that it goes beyond the child. But then, making sure that you’re having regular  check-ins with that child, seeing how it’s going.   If it’s not change – if the situation is not  improving by tackling the broader, sort of,   support and maybe providing opportunities  for increasing peer support, perhaps,   by asking another child to step in and stand  up for that child, then I think, at some point,   you’d have to say, “Well, listen, because  unfortunately this behaviour is continuing,   I really need to speak to those involved. This  is unacceptable and I’m going to bring them in.”   And I think you – I think at some point,  we really have to, if it’s not changing. So, Juanita says, “Do the same principles  apply to cyberbullying and similar approaches   work?” Another excellent question. Yes,  I would say everything suggests that the   same principles do seem to be involved with  cyberbullying, perhaps with some differences.   So, it’s still the case that the function of  bullying might be to gain your own – you know,   gain visibility in some way, gain social  power in some way. So, the core element   of doing something online is for visibility,  to make your actions seen and this essence   of public ridicule that’s at the heart of  bullying still plays out in online space. It is often the case that children who are bullied  at school and that bullying will be taken online,   and it may be, and it often is, the same  peers that are bullying them at school,   that are doing that online, but not  always, of course. It can be others. Most interventions – school-based interventions  do seem to improve cyberbullying, as well,   to an extent. But I suppose the challenge  is if it’s beyond the school and if it’s not   just young people at school who are doing  the bullying. But the same principles of   stepping in and supporting people who  are being bullied also playout online   and becoming an active bystander,  making sure you’re not sharing messages,   or countering negative messages with positive  messages, also seems to be effective. So,   I would say at the heart, actually, of supporting  young person, understanding what it’s like to be   excluded and stepping in as an active bystander,  still plays out online, to a similar extent. Kathy asks, “When are my results on  the UK programme?” As soon as it is   accepted for publication. I wish I could share  now. It’s a bit frustrating that I can’t. There   was an early study of KiVa in Wales, but we  have just finished a very large study with   118 primary schools across the UK. I will  be sharing them widely when they are out,   and I will make sure that they are available  and that you’ll be able to find those. Michael says, “Thanks for a really  helpful presentation. How would   you help schools in developing their  understanding definition of intent? I   have a school that has a tick list of four areas,  based on the Anti-Bullying Alliance definition,   and due to most instances not meeting the  four areas, the school believes that they   have almost no bullying. They’ve also said that  children with SEN can’t be intentional bullying   others.” I’m really glad that you highlighted  this, and this actually speaks to some of the   questions around – that I have, and other  Researchers have, around the definition. I like the – so, the INCLUSIVE trial, that  I mentioned at the end, actually went beyond   a narrow definition of bullying because of this  issue. Because of the fact that it’s quite hard,   sometimes, to know if something’s intentional.  Also, the power differential can be difficult,   because sometimes you can have almost an unhealthy  relationship or friendship, where the power   differential flits between students. So, it’s  not always obvious, but certainly, the dynamic   is unhelpful and is an aggressive one that’s  not positive. And for those kinds of situations,   things like restorative justice, or promoting  positive relationships, is still really helpful. I think the intent thing is also partly due to  the fact that bullying falls under harassment,   so it’s a term used in law, as well. So,  intent becomes really important there.   But I think what I would focus on with the  school, or any school, is we shouldn’t get   stuck on definitions when we’re recording.  We should be listening to our young people.   And whether or not we know that something’s  done intentionally is – that is important,   but let’s face it, how a young person feels is  the most important. And if your young people   are struggling and they’re finding things –  they’re finding school not a safe place to be,   or a place they don’t want to be, then the  school, of course, wants to support those   young people. And in order to be able to  do that, we need to understand how to make   every child feel included and supported. So, I  can understand the point about the tick boxes,   but I think it would be more about how to promote  a school that has healthy wellbeing, supportive   relationships and is really flourishing,  beyond just a, sort of, a tick box approach. Your point, as well, about children with SEN, I  think is a really valuable one. So, I do think   there is – you know, we might not call it bullying  within our research definition, but certainly,   when you have reactive aggression, it matters  and it’s difficult to manage in the classroom.   But understanding why some children might be  lashing out at others is really important,   and again, that would be understanding the  context. It does depend on what’s going on. So,   for example, a child who’s autistic might  be lashing out because another child may be,   intentionally or not, doing something that they  find really hard and really overstimulating,   and it comes out as aggressive behaviour. I’ve – you know, I know about situations where  it can be as simple as someone’s wearing a   particular shirt, or has a – you know,  is doing something, maybe making a noise,   and they’re really struggling to manage their  emotions around the child and it comes out. So,   trying to understand the context, separating  children to try to reduce that, kind of,   overstimulation, can be really important. It  might not fit our research definition of bullying,   but it’s also not behaviours that we want  in our school. So, thinking about how we can   provide support, in those instances, I think is  really needed, which is really why my lab is now   focusing in on that. ‘Cause I do think we probably  need more and we need some adaptations to what   we currently have to make sure that we’re better  supporting those stu – schools and those students. KiVa – so, there was a question about ‘KiVa  costs’. Yes, it does, and it does have a   small cost. It’s definitely less than the  pupil premium. I believe the current price,   it’s less than £2,000 per school, in total.  The training, I think, is about £600,   but some of the cost is for the annual survey.  Sometimes what we find is schools are already   subscribing to various different programmes,  so this can be something that is quite good.   It fits within the PHSE curriculum, but of course,  there is a cost. I would love for it to be free,   but it isn’t. I think restorative  justice also has a cost, as well. “About the presentation. I work in CAMHS on Isle  of Wight. Lots of issues for young people going   through transition from primary to secondary,  where they felt more support was available in   primary school, but felt lost who to speak  to and feel trust once in secondary school.”   That’s a really important point, and some of  my earlier work looked at this transition,   and there are a couple of things. One, when  you see this transition to secondary school,   bullying prevalence rates tend to peak, so you  have a spike. Some of the theory is that the,   kind of, the social status, the social  relationships, take some time to settle,   so we see an increase at school entry. Also, young  people are more nervous, more shy. There’s lots   of other reasons, as well, why we might expect  this to be a delicate or a difficult transition. I think we don’t know that much about what  works, then, but I would suspect things like   parents making sure they’re – have space for  their child to talk to, to feel supported,   to facilitate friendships, new friendships  being made. Finding out who – which Teacher   the young person feels most comfortable  with. In secondary schools, of course,   changing Teachers all the time can be tricky,  and just because someone is your Form Teacher,   you might not feel able to talk with them. But  oftentimes, what you’ll find is that there is   one Teacher whom that child feels closer to and  maybe more able to speak to. But I think that   is an area where we need to do more work and to  make sure that we’re really supporting children. We have a question on whether people –  duh, duh, duh, duh, duh. “Is there any   evidence that bullying is worse in single-sex or  co-educational schools?” Good question. Hmmm, no,   there isn’t evidence that it’s worse,  but there’s certainly evidence that it   takes place. I paused because interestingly, the  majority of bullying takes place within sex. So,   it’s more likely that girls will bully girls  and that boys will bully boys, but that’s,   you know, that’s just the majority of cases.  That’s clearly not all cases. And you get more   bullying at younger years among boys than among  girls. So, the pause was I suppose it’s possible   that you might see more bullying in boys’  schools, but I haven’t seen that reported,   actually. And I think it’s because bullying takes  place in this broader network of other factors. It probably wouldn’t be as simple as just  co-ed or single-sex. I think it would depend   on things like the norms around bullying in that  school, what Teachers do to support young people,   to promote positive behaviour, and to  make sure it’s clear that bullying is   unacceptable in this school. And I think  it’s those factors that really influence   the prevalence rate of bullying, more than  just whether it’s co-ed or single-sex [pause]. Anita said, “Coming back to addressing the bully  when the child’s reluctant or scared for the bully   to be confronted, I agree addressing issues in  the classrooms or whole schools works. At the   same time, I believe once an adult steps in when  witnessing this kind of behaviour, it does not put   the bullied child in fear and instead, instils the  sense of safety.” Again, I agree with you, Anita,   and I do think it is important, because we – you  know, young people are frightened, and they’re   scared to step up and step in. And although we  want to listen to them, we also want to scaffold   them and support them and provide the support for  them, and to show them that they’re being listened   to and actions will be taken. So, making a  way to do that sensitively really matters. And you’re absolutely right, and the evidence  supports that, that when action is taken,   in the majority of the cases, the bullying will  lesson. It will get better. Just by providing a   space for the child to speak, so, I think that’s  – that is the first step. I think making sure that   children are listened to matters, but we do have  to follow that up with actions and we have to make   sure that the bullying stops, fundamentally.  It cannot be allowed to continue. Thank you. Karina says, “Has the KiVa Programme been  able to change the school culture and has   it reduced bullying?” So, bullying – KiVa has  been shown to do that in nearly every trial,   so to reduce bullying victimisation, yes.  School culture’s an interesting one. So,   some studies have looked at things like school  climate, so children report on their perception of   school climate and that’s been shown to improve. I was trying to think of other measures. So,   we have looked at things like Teacher wellbeing,  as well, in our trial, and how Teachers are doing,   because we know that that plays an important  role. Other studies haven’t tended to look   at the Teacher wellbeing within the study and  I think that’s really important. Particularly   – I don’t – I can’t speak to the other places  where KiVa has been trialled, but I know that   the UK context is one and that we’re dealing with  a massive amount of Teacher burnout and stress. Our Teachers are under so much strain and I – and  we know from other research, that where Teachers   are really stressed and really struggling,  we will see a rise in behavioural issues and   particularly bullying in the classroom. So, one  thing we were really keen with was not to burden   Teachers, actually. Ideally to support them and to  reduce their load by providing helpful strategies,   but certainly not to overburden them,  and whenever you’re providing, you know,   more lessons for the Teachers to  give, that can be really difficult. We have to be sensitive to the fact that Teachers  are already dealing with so much, and I hope one   thing that may have come through this talk is that  bullying is not just the Teacher’s responsibility,   either. I mentioned I wished that KiVa had  more involvement of parents, because I think   we sometimes view bullying as a problem  with schools, and we limit it to schools,   and we think that the intervention has  to just be at school. But bullying really   is everyone’s problem, and it really is  something that parents need to work on,   too, not just if your child is directly involved,  but all parents having that conversation. And we   need to think broadly about the norms that we’re  setting for our young people, and I think that’s   essential and not often spoken about enough,  ‘cause I think that makes a big difference. Great. I think we are nearly at time. It’s the  last three minutes. I know that we had a survey,   so if people have a moment to fill in the  survey, that would be really great. We’d be   very grateful for your comments. But I wanted  to thank everyone, again, for coming to the   webinar and for asking such great questions.  For those of you who have any more questions,   or if I haven’t answered your question and  you – or you would like to go into more,   please do email me. You’ll find my email address  – in fact, I’ll just pop it in the chat now,   so everyone has it, but you’d be very  welcome to. But thank you again for coming.