Bullying is a continued concern in schools around the world, including the United States, and determining the most effective approaches for prevention is an ongoing concern. Given the varying ways in which bullying adversely impacts children and youth, it is more important than ever to find effective methods of bullying prevention - additional research is required to determine ideal methods to prevent school-age bullying in significant ways. Using a mixture of perspectives, from public health to psychology and educational professional development, it is possible to find a comprehensive method of lowering incidents of school-age bullying while arming victims of bullying with the tools they need to properly address their issues. Reviewing the nature and effects of bullying, the best possible solution is a nationwide implementation of the KiVa school-wide bullying prevention program, given its successful and effective focus on instilling bullying prevention tactics on teachers and students alike in a variety of contexts.
The most likely solution to prevent school-wide bullying is the implementation of a school-wide bullying prevention program. One potential program that can be implemented is the KiVa program, a comprehensive school-age bullying prevention model that seeks to effectively curb bullying rates and provide proper support for victims (Juvonen et al. 3). KiVa places a unique focus on encouraging greater preventative action on the part of witnesses to bullying. According to research, lower rates of bullying occur when victims are supported by witnesses, and anxiety and depression rates lower for victims with proper support (Juvonen et al. 3).
KiVa intervention works to actualize this approach by providing teachers with professional development materials, unique classroom curricula for students, and specific follow-up sessions with experts after bullying incidents (Juvonen et al. 3). With this intervention, teachers are taught the proper ways to deal with bullies in their classroom, furthering their professional development. Students are also allowed to practice their skills of witnessing and proper bystander responses, gaining safe strategies to address bullying (Juvonen et al. 3). Once implemented, interventions with the KiVa program have led to lower levels of depression and higher self-esteem following bullying victimization among students, and an overall increase in the perception of a caring school climate among students (Juvonen et al. 7). Due to its emphasis on student well-being and its involvement of the entire student and teacher body in its implementation, the KiVa system is the most comprehensive and easy to implement nationwide anti-bullying model currently available.
As with any ambitious change to school curricula and professional development, there are a number of potential drawbacks. For instance, the higher expense of implementing a specific anti-bullying program in schools worldwide may be prohibitive (Bradshaw 322). Furthermore, the KiVa intervention program may not be the best solution as compared to other programs; uncertain which components of program are most effective. On top of that, differences in school cultures could make implementation more difficult (e.g. social environments not adopting the program as earnestly) (Bradshaw 326). Anti-bullying efforts on any kind of organized scale can be difficult to implement, and their efficacy hard to anticipate, particularly given the disparate social contexts in which each school operates.
However, these drawbacks can be explained or mitigated with proper care and consideration in the implementation of these anti-bullying measures. The cost of professional development and curricula is not that prohibitively high for most schools, and will mostly cost teachers and staff time for additional training (Bradshaw 322). What’s more, the changes in school culture that would result are well worth the time spent on this program. While more research is required to determine the specific components of programs like KiVa that work the best, implementing the program itself seems to generally provide strong results, so fine-tuning it in that regard is a secondary concern. Also, the universal nature of KiVa’s principles (offering teachers and students more tools to deal with bullying, incentivizing witnessing and support) allow it to be implemented virtually universally, with the parties involved adjusting those factors as they see fit to address environmental problems that may occur.
Implementing the KiVa antibullying intervention program can go a long way toward addressing the persistent problems inherent to school-age bullying. If implemented slowly, with proper care towards providing proper professional development for teachers before its official rollout, it is possible for the program to work very quickly once fully applied to school contexts. School-age bullying is an incredibly important issue, most importantly because it can be fixed so easily and cost-effectively. With the help of anti-bullying programs like these, teachers and students alike are given the proper tools they need to prevent and mitigate the disastrous effects of bullying on the well-being of students.
Works Cited
Bradshaw, Catherine P. "Translating research to practice in bullying prevention." American
Psychologist 70.4 (2015): 322.
Juvonen, Jaana, et al. "Can a school-wide bullying prevention program improve the plight of
victims? Evidence for risk intervention effects." Journal of consulting and clinical psychology 84.4 (2016): 334.
