Revisiting the whole-school approach to bullying: Really looking at the whole school

TLDR

The whole‑school approach assumes bullying is a systemic problem, yet meta‑analyses show such interventions have limited success. This study aims to identify specific school‑climate factors that are linked to bullying. Hierarchical linear modeling was applied to a dataset of 18,222 French students to assess school‑level effects. Models explained 6 % and 16 % of within‑school variance for physical and verbal/relational bullying, 48 % and 9 % of between‑school variance, with school security and student‑teacher relationship quality emerging as the strongest predictors.

Abstract

The whole-school approach to bullying prevention is predicated on the assumption that bullying is a systemic problem, and, by implication, that intervention must be directed at the entire school context rather than just at individual bullies and victims. Unfortunately, recent meta-analyses that have looked at various bullying programs from many countries have revealed that whole-school interventions designed to combat bullying have had limited success in reducing bullying. The purpose of the present study was to establish more clearly the precise aspects of school climate that are linked specifically to the problem of bullying. We used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to analyse school-level effects in a data set consisting of 18,222 students from across France. For physical and verbal/relational bullying, the final models respectively explain 6% and 16% of the within-school variance, and 48% and 9% of the between-school variance, significant between-school effects, with the climate variables of school security and the quality of student-teacher relationships emerging as the strongest predictors.