SYLFF Leadership Initiative (SLI) Final Report
One-day conference on Bullying: Identifying effective prevention andintervention strategies
Project Highlights:
Bullying is a major health issue for youth in New Zealand, with international statistics
indicating that out of 50 countries, New Zealand ranks 46 th in terms of bullying prevalence.
Researchers, practitioners, and policy makers understand this is an imperative issue foryouth well-being. However, there is little dialogue amongst experts that seeks to bring
together our knowledge and form actionable strategies to combat the occurrence andnegative outcomes of bullying. Therefore, this project undertook to bring together subject
matter specialists from across New Zealand in order to discuss the future directions forprevention and intervention of school bullying.
The event began with a key-note speech on the relationship between bullying andhealth by Associate Professor Simon Denny. This was followed by a presentation on anintervention programme, KiVA, being run in New Zealand schools and the first set of threeworkshops which examined, in turn, cyber-bullying, the relationships between bullying andfamily violence, and a group mentoring framework for intervention being carried out in aschool in Auckland, New Zealand. Excerpts from a New Zealand documentary on bullying
were then shown, and then the last three workshops followed. These included discussion ofa youth-led programme to stop bullying, examination of research into youth understandingsof bullying, and an outline of the anti-bullying work being undertaken by the Ministry ofEducation. The day ended with a panel discussion involving a youth worker, a public servant,a member of the police, a young person, and a guidance counsellor, who all discussed future
directions for action against bullying in New Zealand.
The event was attended by 75 individuals from government agencies, research
institutions, and community organisations who work with youth and their families. Due tothe generous funding by SLI the event raised approximately $1200 for the Mental HealthFoundation of New Zealand, a charity which works to raise awareness of bullying and its
negative effects on both victims and bullies. The outcome of this event was the productionof video resources, and the development of a virtual network of associates who areinterested in producing actionable strategies to improve the health and well-being of youth
in New Zealand. Furthermore, the main findings from the conference are currently in theprocess of being collated and presented to the Bullying Action Research Group in order toinform social policy on school bullying.
Short Article
Background
Bullying is a serious social problem that impacts not only those directly involved, but on alarger scale, affects schools, families and communities. Research has consistently found thatyouth who engage in, witness, or are targets of bullying are at risk of adjustment difficultiesduring adolescence and that there are long-term and potentially fatal repercussions for both
perpetrators and victims. Bullied students are likely to suffer poor health and experience arange of psychological and behavioural symptoms and bullies have a greater risk of serious
injury, and are likely to abuse substances, and criminally offend. In addition, there isevidence that peers merely witnessing bullying can be negatively affected, indicating thateveryone is worse off when bullying is prevalent.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child asserts that it is afundamental human right that children should be ensured healthy development, have goodquality of life, and be protected against all forms of discrimination and abuse. Unfortunately,
this goal is being compromised by the increased prevalence of childhood exposure tobullying and victimisation. Indeed, research has estimated that approximately 75% ofschool-aged children experience bullying, 50% feel bullying is a problem in their lives, andaround 10% experience persistent, serious harassment worldwide.
The recent Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) reported
that New Zealand has one of the highest rates of school bullying internationally. In fact,
nearly 70% of children aged 8-12, and 50% of students 13-17 say that they experiencebullying at school and this does not seem to be changing over time. In line with this finding,results from recent research examining prevalence rates of bullying in New Zealand schools
revealed that 94% of principals and teachers believe that bullying occurred in their school,
and 75% reported that bullying was a serious problem for New Zealand youth. Based onthese indicators, it is imperative that effective prevention and intervention strategies aimed
at reducing bullying be developed for the New Zealand environment in order to maintainChildren’s Rights and lower the incidence of youth harm.
The Conference
The objective of the conference was to encourage dialogue amongst policy makers,
researchers, and practitioners regarding effective intervention and prevention of bullying
victimisation. The major outcome of this day was be to produce an evidence base for thepublic sector to leverage from in order to provide guidelines for effective intervention andprevention to families, schools, and communities.
Outline of Events
The following section outlines the speakers and workshops that were held throughout
the day.
1. Associate Professor Denny was the conference key note speaker. Dr Denny
specialises in research which illuminates the effects of social issues and health andwell-being for New Zealand youth. He has published extensively on the relationshipbetween school characteristics, bullying and health outcomes. In this keynote Dr
Denny will be discusses his research on the relationship between supportive schools,bullying, and health for adolescents in a population representative sample from theYouth2012 study.
2. Representatives for Accent Learning, an educational consultancy based in the Schoolof Education at Victoria University of Wellington presented on an intervention, KiVa
that they implement in New Zealand schools. The KiVa programme is aninternationally renowned intervention for school bullying developed in Finland byProfessor Christina Salmivalli. To date 90% of Finnish schools are KiVa schools andbullying incidents have been significantly reduced. In this session the KiVa

programme was discussed and the preliminary results of its success in New Zealandwere be outlined.
3. Workshop 1. Cyberbullying. In this workshop four presented discussed the impact ofcyberbullying, or intentional act of online/digital intimidation, embarrassment, orharassment, on youth in New Zealand. Cyber-bullying is reported to affect between 9– 40% of all adolescents and incidents are becoming increasing prevalent withgrowing access to online technologies. What sets cyberbullying apart is that online
perpetrators can remain completely anonymous and technology allows them to
infiltrate a range of environments beyond school. These features make addressing
cyberbullying particularly difficult. This session drew together research, policy andNGO efforts to reduce the incidence and negative impact of cyberbullying for youth
in New Zealand with the aim of identifying future directions for intervening incyberbullying.
4. Workshop 2 The Girls’ Project. In this workshop Dr Donna Swift outlined NewZealand research that examines the ways girls are socialized into violence, their useof this behaviour as a tactic for survival, and how this can then impact on social
interactions at school or in the community. She highlighted the way in which girls
can become both victims and perpetrators of violence, with violence so entrenchedin their lives that intervention needs to address the significant layers of itscomplexity. This workshop concluded by recommending approaches to help girls
overcome their challenges, and acknowledges that without effective strategies thepotential exists for their violent behaviour to continue into their adulthood andfuture families.
5. Workshop 3 Safe and Peaceful Schools. In this workshop the establishment andimplementation of undercover anti-bullying teams at Edgewater school by Mike
Wilson, the school guidance counsellor was discussed. These teams provide
encouraging counter stories that change negative relationships into positiverelationships. The victim of bullying and the counsellor work together to select antibullying team members, which consist of 6-7 students. Since implementation of thisprogramme, there have been reductions in bullying and past bullies have now
become senior school leaders. This strategy enables bullies to develop peer
mediation skills, and reform their reputations. By addressing conflict, such asmocking, teasing and put-downs, teams can model positive behaviours to bullies,eliminate violence, and transform students into positive citizens.
6. Workshop 4 Te Punanga Haumaru. This workshop outlined a Ministry of Social
Development initiative which aims to foster community commitment and ownershipfor addressing bullying by encouraging projects that are collaborative and buildingon what already exists. Key to the approach is involving children and young people
in the planning and implementation of projects to increase effectiveness by ensuring
approaches are relevant and appealing. Project teams found that young people

bring a range of perspectives, energy and passion to the work. They have great local
knowledge and their views are key to getting traction in community. Despite thebenefits, not all project teams have managed to engage youth well in their projects.
The challenges and successes identified by project teams were discussed.
7. Workshop 5 Misconceptions about Bullying. This session was focused onunderstanding discourses of bullying in New Zealand, from young people’s everyday
talk about bullying to representations in the media. This session outlined threeresearch projects that attempted to investigate the social influences on bullying foryoung people in New Zealand in order to see if we really do live in a ‘culture ofviolence’. The first project examined responses to stories about bullying victimisationin the New Zealand media, focusing on how we talk about power and weakness. The
second project investigated young people’s definitions of bullying behaviour andhow these diverge from policy and academic definitions. The third project examined
how young people talk about everyday instances of bullying as witnesses,perpetrators, and victims.
8. Workshop 6 Anti-bullying Guide for Schools. The Ministry of Education introduced
their practical guide for schools on how to prevent bullying and respond effectively
when it occurs. This guide is based on research and evidence about effective practiceand includes specific information as requested by schools. It provides information
and resources, and highlights the importance of working closely with students,parents, whanau and the wider community to address all forms of bullying behaviour.
This session covered 4 major topics; safe and positive school environments,
understanding bullying, bullying policies and processes, and responding to bullying
behaviour.
9. Panel Discussion. A panel of stakeholders was invited to discuss one or more of thequestions listed below. The panel consisted of a youth representative, a policy
representative (from the Ministry of Education), a police representative, a youth
worker, and a guidance counsellor. The panel members were each be given a chance
to discuss their point of view, which will be followed by questions and general
discussion.
Outcomes of Conference
The conference was a great success that participants have referred to as “one of thebest workshops I have been to in my professional career”. Many connections were madeamong participants, and a substantial amount of money was raised for the Mental HealthFoundation of New Zealand. Video resources were produced of the event and are in theprocess of being edited into a user friendly resources. Furthermore, as a number ofmembers of the Bullying Prevention Action Group were in attendance, a set ofrecommendations from the workshop will be presented at their meetings.