Speakers
Description
Teachers' reactions to bullying incidents significantly influence the occurrence of bullying in schools. Although there are many bullying prevention programs available, they are primarily student-oriented. Teachers are seldom taught the skills to intervene, recognize the negative consequences of bullying on mental health, and deal with it. When teachers are addressed in anti-bullying programs, there is a lack of evidence of the specific effectiveness of this component.
This symposium presents a research project that aims to investigate the additional effect of a teacher training course. The underlying premise of the study is that student-oriented bullying prevention and the promotion of teachers' responses to cases of bullying must go hand in hand.
Therefore, a cooperative, teacher-centered intervention approach against bullying was developed, the effect of which is to be investigated in a randomized, comparative control group design. A sample of 225 German teachers and around 4,000 students will be used to analyze the additional benefit of combining an established student-centered program with the new teacher training (intervention group) compared to a sole student-centered program (control group) and another waiting control group.
The first paper of the symposium will present the details of the study design of the project, whose field work will start in 2025, the second paper the new teacher training, and the third paper the used student-centered approach (Fairplayer.Manual). The fourth paper will present the first psychometric results of a revised version of the Handling Bullying Questionnaire, which is to be used in this project.
Additional field for symposia
Presentation 1:
A Randomized Controlled Comparative Study on the Effectiveness and Mechanisms of an Anti-Bullying Intervention Training for Teachers: Trial Description
Helena Hotopp1, Saskia Fischer2, Ludwig Bilz2, Marc Allroggen3, Herbert Scheithauer1,
Felix Watzinger2, Viola Lechner1, Jule Fuchs1, Cora Bock2, Gesa Gärtner2
1Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
2Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Germany
3University Hospital Ulm, Germany
Bullying in schools has significant consequences for the physical and mental health and the academic performance of students affected. Teachers play a crucial role in the bullying process and, therefore, in the success of anti-bullying interventions. Programs that support teachers in their intervention attitudes and behavior are urgently needed, as they often feel unprepared and fail to recognize bullying. This study evaluates the differential effectiveness of an anti-bullying training for teachers (Kooperativ gegen Mobbing) combined with a student-focused prevention program (Fairplayer.Manual), aiming to clarify mechanisms behind effective anti-bullying interventions and synergy effects. In this randomized controlled study, it is planned to recruit 225 class teachers from 45 secondary schools in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and randomly assign them to one of three experimental groups: 1) Group 1 will receive training in the teacher-oriented as well as in the student-oriented anti-bullying program; 2) Group 2 will receive training only in the student-oriented program; 3) the Waitlist Control Group will receive training in the student-oriented program after the third measurement point. Data collection will occur at three timepoints: a pre-test (T1), a post-test (T2), and a follow-up test (T3) four months after T2, involving all participating teachers and their students (N ≈ 4.000) of grade 7-8. Effectiveness will be analyzed using multilevel modeling, mechanisms of change will be examined through hierarchical mediation analyses in linear structural equation models. The presentation will cover trial description, school recruitment strategy, and implementation under real-world conditions.
Presentation 2:
Acting cooperatively against bullying: A training course for teachers on a systematic school-wide approach against bullying
Saskia M. Fischer & Ludwig Bilz
Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Germany
Teachers are often the first to directly observe bullying at school or notice changes in classes and students. However, many teachers report feeling insecure about intervening in bullying. Based on research findings on teacher interventions and teacher intervention competence, we developed a systematic and cooperative school-wide approach against bullying and developed a teacher training on this approach.
The training is based on three basic assumptions: First, successful bullying intervention must take into account the complex social process of bullying and address those directly involved, the bystanders, the whole class as well as parents and other teachers. Second, the responsibility for a bullying incident must not lie with a single person but must be taken seriously by all adults at the school. Third, successful bullying intervention builds upon central pedagogical skills that are part of teachers’ everyday lives. Therefore, the central aim of the teacher training is to strengthen teachers' confidence in their abilities.
In addition to key knowledge about bullying and its consequences, the training provides teachers with a five-stage cooperative approach to bullying. In it, information is collected and the procedure is planned, work is carried out with the bullied and the bullying student, the entire class is involved and, at the end, the school-wide anti-bullying policy and framework is reviewed.
In the presentation, we will describe the aims and methods of the training and the intervention approach in more detail and present feedback from school social workers and teachers.
Presentation 3:
Fairplayer.Manual - developmentally appropriate, school-based prevention of bullying and promotion of social competences
Viola Lechner1, Helena Hotopp1, Jule Fuchs1, Madita Siddique1, Marc Allroggen2, Herbert Scheithauer1
1Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
2University Hospital Ulm, Germany
Bullying in schools is a complex social phenomenon that involves not merely the bully and the victim but equally bystanders who may contribute to or fail to prevent bullying behaviors in class. Thus, shifting social norms among students through enhanced empathy, perspective-taking, social skills, and a positive classroom climate could help to encourage students to intervene actively and reduce bullying incidents. The Fairplayer.Manual (www.fairplayer.de) is an evidence-based, universal-selective, preventive intervention program based on principles of social-emotional learning (SEL), and developmentally appropriate practice to reduce bullying and (relational) aggression and to promote social skills in school-aged children and adolescents. Following the Theory of Planned Behavior, Fairplayer.Manual aims at changing students’ attitudes towards the target behavior, social norms, and perceived behavioral control. This can be achieved by providing, for example, structured role-plays, moral reasoning discussions, and cooperative activities that encourage students to improve their perspective-taking, problem-solving skills, and to cultivate a culture of fairness and positive peer interactions. The structured and manualized Fairplayer.Manual is implemented by trained teachers during regular 90-minute school lessons over 12-16 weeks with the help of accompanying supervision from program developers and Fairplayer.Trainers. The evidence-based Fairplayer.Manual for grades 7-9 (for students aged 13-16 years) including the program’s scientific background, selected examples of program measures, the implementation approach, as well as results from effectiveness evaluation will be introduced. Additionally, the adapted program version for grades 5-6 (for students aged 9-12 years) as well as the recently developed add-on module to prevent peer-based sexual violence in schools will be presented.
Presentation 4:
Assessing teacher responses to bullying incidents:
A revised and updated version of the Handling Bullying Questionnaire
Ludwig Bilz, Saskia M. Fischer & Felix Watzinger
Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, Germany
The Handling Bullying Questionnaire (HBQ), first published by Bauman and colleagues in 2008, is one of the most frequently used questionnaires to assess teacher responses to bullying incidents. With 22 items, the five factors ‘Working with the victim’, ‘Working with the bully’, ‘Disciplining the bully’, ‘Ignoring the incident’, and ‘Enlisting other adults’ are assessed. In the original publication, Bauman and colleagues called for further testing the HBQ in different populations and especially revising the scale ‘Disciplining the bully’. However, the questionnaire has hardly been developed further in a targeted manner to date.
Burger and colleagues (2015) presented a German version of the HBQ. While the five-factor structure was confirmed (like in other countries), the authors called for adding further items to the questionnaire to improve some scales and capture additional types of responses.
Based on this, we developed an updated and revised version of the Handling Bullying Questionnaire. We re-formulated items with low factor loadings (based on Burger et al., 2015), added items on authority-based responses, on supporting the victim, on observing the situation, on school class-related interventions and on cooperation and collaboration. In addition, a parallel student version was developed to allow analyses of teacher responses from both the teachers’ and the students’ perspectives.
The scale will be first used in the spring 2025 with German teachers and students. In the presentation, we will present the first results on the psychometric properties and discuss the changes in detail.
Discussant: Hilde Colpin, KU Leuven, Belgium
Keywords
bullying, teacher training, intervention, RCT,
| Please also indicate what kind of contribution it is: | Scientific |
|---|---|
| Please indicate what type of scientific contribution it is | Quantitative method study |
