In order to realise the potential of all students, everyone should be able to study in a safe school environment. However, bullying hinders the development of students’ skills and competences and can have serious and lasting negative effects on all involved parties. Bullying is influenced by students’ relations with peers, but also parent-youth relationships, school environment, teachers’ attitudes and broader social and cultural factors like norms and beliefs.

In 2017, Estonian organisations active in the field anti-bullying developed The Concept of Bullying-Free Education which aimed to consolidate a value-based anti-bullying approach and outline responsibilities of different stakeholders. Moreover, several anti-bullying interventions have been developed and applied in Estonian schools in the past 10 years. In order to prevent of bullying effectively, these interventions – often project-based and implemented inconsistently – need to become a natural part of schools’ everyday activities and environment. Therefore, it is important to investigate, which anti-bullying interventions and their elements suit different Estonian schools the best.

In our study “The effectiveness of anti-bullying interventions and the experiences of Estonian schools in implementing them” we are analysing the perceived effectiveness of different interventions comprehensively, i.e., not in the isolated context of a single intervention. We will also explore other factors related to the prevalence of bullying in Estonian schools, investigate how exactly interventions are being delivered and what are the greatest obstacles in tackling bullying in schools. Our results can inform support measures designed for anti-bullying work in schools and advance teacher training.

Schools will be contacted for data collection in autumn 2021.