A project funded by the Beatbullying charity
Bullying is consistently identified as one of the key concerns of both young people and their parents. Mounting evidence suggests that bullying is negatively associated with mental health and well-being, not just for victims but also for the bullies themselves as well as for those who witness the incidents. In addition, there are increasing concerns about the rising prevalence of bullying through mobile phones and the internet (‘cyberbullying’). The central focus of the Beatbullying charity is a peer mentoring programme, involving intense training in listening, mentoring, and online mentoring (‘CyberMentoring’).
In this project, led by Robin Banerjee and Carol Robinson (Univ. of Brighton) with the assistance of Dave Smalley, surveys of pupils, peer mentors, and staff leads in a cluster of middle/secondary schools were combined with in-depth case studies at eight secondary schools that had been involved with Beatbullying for differing lengths of time. The initial comprehensive survey showed that a significant proportion of pupils experienced bullying and cyberbullying. There was clear evidence that these experiences were connected with lower well-being and poorer perceptions of school climate.
Although this was not a randomised controlled experimental design, we were able to explore changes in survey responses in schools that started working with Beatbullying. We found that across the five schools recruited for follow-up assessments of bullying, there was an overall significant drop during a one-year period in the proportion of pupils who experienced intentional and persistent bullying (equating to a reduction of approximately a quarter in the numbers being bullied, from 1 in every 3.6 pupils to 1 in every 4.8 pupils). Furthermore, staff leads, Beatbullying peer mentors, and other pupils had a shared subjective perception that the introduction of Beatbullying mentors had led to a reduction of bullying problems at school.
The case studies and follow-up/retrospective surveys revealed a very strong consensus regarding the experience of being a Beatbullying peer mentor. The peer mentors significantly raised awareness, understanding, and reporting of bullying and cyberbullying within the school community. Crucially, case studies revealed that schools varied dramatically in the extent to which they were able to incorporate Beatbullying work into the fabric of the whole-school community. The in-depth interviews conducted at the eight case study schools provided important insights into the key factors that promoted successful implementation of Beatbullying programmes. These included the presence of lead members of staff with status and influence within the school, who had dedicated time and resources to coordinate and manage the Beatbullying work. In addition, it was clear that schools which already had effective channels of communication (among both pupils and staff) were particularly successful in coordinating and developing the work of the Beatbullying peer mentors.
Our evaluation work has been received extremely positively, and Beatbullying has already put in place strategies to engage with school staff in response to our recommendations regarding implementation. We are continuing to work with Beatbullying on further evaluation research.