Australia: the Friendly Schools project

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511584466.011

10 - Australia: the Friendly Schools project

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2009

Donna Cross ,

Margaret Hall ,

Greg Hamilton ,

Yolanda Pintabona and

Edited by

Debra Pepler and

Donna Cross: Affiliation:
Western Australian Centre for Health Promotion Research, School of Public Health, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth, Western Australia 6845 d.cross@curtin.edu.au or, dscross@bigpond.com
Margaret Hall: Affiliation:
Centre for Public Health, School of Nursing and Public Health, Edith Cowan University, 100 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, Western Australia 6027, m.hall@ecu.edu.au
Greg Hamilton: Affiliation:
Western Australian Centre for Health Promotion Research, School of Public Health, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth, Western Australia 6845, g.hamilton@curtin.edu.au
Yolanda Pintabona: Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth, Western Australia 6845, y.pintabona@curtin.edu.au
Erin Erceg: Affiliation:
Western Australian Centre for Health Promotion Research, School of Public Health, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth, Western Australia 6845, e.erceg@curtin.edu.au
Peter K. Smith: Affiliation:
Goldsmiths, University of London
Debra Pepler: Affiliation:
York University, Toronto
Ken Rigby: Affiliation:
University of South Australia

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Summary

Impetus for the Friendly Schools intervention study

In Australia, approximately 1 in 6 school students reports being bullied at least once a week, and 1 in 20 reports bullying others in the past 6 months (Rigby, 1997; Zubrick et al., 1997). Slee and Rigby (1993; Slee, 1995) found that while most of these episodes of bullying last for a day or two, 17% last for 6 months or more. Australian primary-school children of both genders report being bullied more often than secondary-school students, with more boys than girls bullying others and being bullied (Rigby and Slee, 1991; Rigby, 1997; Rigby and Slee, 1998).

Despite Australian schools' increasing need systematically to address bullying, prior to 1999 no system-level, evidence-based recommendations or state curriculum materials to help to reduce bullying were available. Many school staff reported that they were unsure of the effectiveness of the strategies they utilised, and often did not know what actions could be taken at a whole-school level to reduce, or prevent, the harm from student bullying.

In response to this situation, in 1999, the Curtin University, Western Australian Centre for Health Promotion Research, applied for and received funding extensively to review and synthesise international published empirical and theoretical evidence of successful school-based strategies to reduce the harm experienced by children from being bullied or bullying others. This systematic review provided a set of ‘successful’ practice principles and exemplar case studies to develop a whole-school approach to reduce bullying.

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: Bullying in Schools
How Successful Can Interventions Be?
, pp. 187 - 210

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511584466.011 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2004

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