‘It’s All About Context’: Building School Capacity to Implement a Whole-School Approach to Bullying

Abstract

Student bullying behaviours are a significant social issue in schools worldwide. Whilst school staff have access to quality bullying prevention interventions, schools can face significant challenges implementing the whole-school approach required to address the complexity of these behaviours. This study aimed to understand how schools’ capacity to implement whole-school bullying prevention interventions could be strengthened to promote sustainability and improve student outcomes. Qualitative methods were used to observe schools over time to gain insight into their implementation capacity to improve student social and emotional wellbeing and prevent and ameliorate harm from bullying. A four-year longitudinal, multi-site case study intensively followed eight schools’ implementation of Friendly Schools, an Australian evidenced-based whole-school bullying prevention intervention. Regular in-depth interviews with school leaders and implementation teams over four years led to the refinement of a staged-implementation process and capacity building tools and revealed four common drivers of implementation quality: (1) strong, committed leadership; (2) organisational structures, processes and resources; (3) staff competencies and commitment; and (4) translating evidence into local school policy and practice. This paper considers the strengths of qualitative data in understanding how and why bullying prevention interventions work as well as actions schools can take to enhance their implementation and sustainability of complex social interventions.

Friendly schools’ bullying prevention research: Implications for school counsellors

“…Friendly Schools’ strategies recommend counsellors (time permitting) use informal activities such as joining student camps, visiting classrooms, presenting at assemblies, or participating occasionally in student co-curricular activities to build relationships with students. Some study schools have also changed the location and physical environment around counsellors’ offices to enhance student confidentiality, comfort and accessibility (Pearce et al, 2021).…”

Feasibility, acceptability, and appropriability of a national whole-school program for reducing school violence and improving school coexistence

“…In line with the above, Ponsford et al (2022) , in a recent meta synthesis, indicate that although the implementation barriers of WSA can be summarized as the lack of understanding of the approach, weak commitment of the school staff, lack of continuous and reflexive collaboration between the school staff, restricted times, absence of effective leadership, and absence of a school culture that encourages innovation, all these obstacles are reduced when schools receive support to select, adapt, plan, and perform activities within the WSA. Pearce et al (2022) believe that firm and clear policies, solid organizational structures, and systematic and continuous procedures over time contribute to improving the implementation climate of schools, increasing the organization’s readiness to face the challenges of the changes brought about by the WSA approach.…”