Cyberbullying and E-Safety in Children and Young People: the impact of research by the Unit for Child and Youth Studies, York St John University
Submitting Institution
York St John UniversityUnit of Assessment
Psychology, Psychiatry and NeuroscienceSummary Impact Type
SocietalResearch Subject Area(s)
Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Education: Specialist Studies In Education
Psychology and Cognitive Sciences: Psychology
Summary of the impact
Bullying has for many years been acknowledged as a serious problem in
schools (Smith & Brian,
2002). Research has shown that being a victim of bullying can have serious
and long-term
negative effects on psychological well-being (Hawker & Boulton, 2000).
This case study outlines
the impact of survey-based work, undertaken in schools by the Unit for
Child and Youth Studies,
exploring school engagement, bullying and wellbeing, which has identified
and increased
awareness of cyberbullying. This knowledge has been integrated into the
development of
government policy, as well as school and local authority interventions, on
cyberbullying and e-safety
more broadly.
Underpinning research
The underpinning research for this case study was generated from a number
of school surveys
exploring bullying in schools. In line with government policy on bullying
and best practice
highlighted by numerous research studies, the research unit has, over the
past ten years,
conducted a number of school based surveys, exploring the nature,
prevalence and impact of
bullying experiences in children and young people. The survey research
first commenced at York
St John University (YSJU) in 2002 led by Prof. Ian Rivers, now at Brunel
University. From 2005,
the survey work has been led by Nathalie Noret. The surveys explored the
nature, prevalence and
effects of bullying in secondary schools across the City of York. Over a
five-year period from 2002-2006,
14,283 pupils from Years 7, 8 and 9 (ages 11 to 14 years) completed the
survey. It was
these extensive data that contributed to the four publications (2008-2010)
that form the basis of
this case study.
In 2009 the survey work was developed further and an e-safety survey was
developed and
conducted in one school. This work was again led by Noret, with additional
data analysis by Paul
McGivern (now a PhD student at the University of Derby). The aim of this
survey was to explore
wellbeing and behaviour in school along with pupils' use of technology and
e-safety, and led to the
2011 article.
From 2011, the earlier surveys were updated and re-launched by Noret in
collaboration with the
Anti-Bullying Strategy Group at the City of York Council, as the Stand
Up For Us survey. The
surveys now include both secondary and primary schools across the city,
with the aim of the
project being to explore pupils' behaviour and relationships in school and
in relation to aspects of
their well-being. To date, the newer survey has been completed by 5,174
pupils from Years 7, 8
and 9.
These surveys underpin our research on the occurrences of bullying and
cyberbullying in schools.
Until 2005 cyberbullying had been defined for research purposes as having
received nasty or
threatening text messages or emails. At that time, only one other study
(Campbell, 2005) had
been conducted, and that was in Canada; no similar study had been
conducted in the UK. Results
of the City of York survey (from 2002-2006) identified that in that 5 year
period an average of
14.9% of the total sample reported being a victim of cyberbullying, and
that the prevalence rates
for cyberbullying rose from 13.3% in 2002 to 15.64% in 2006. The rise in
cyberbullying was
particularly noticeable in females. It was further identified that
cyberbullying was the second most
prevalent form of bullying reported by pupils. The most common
cyberbullying reported consisted
of text messages, which included some element of name calling. Gender
differences could be
identified in the types of messages received, with more females reporting
receiving messages
calling them names and more males reportedly receiving more `death threat'
text messages.
References to the research
Publications
• Rivers, I. & Noret, N. (2009). `I h 8 u': Findings from a five-year
study of text and e-mail
bullying. British Educational Research Journal. iFirst Article, 1-29.
• Rivers, I., Poteat, V.P., Noret, N., & Ashurst, N. (2009).
Observing bullying at school: The
mental health implications of witness status. School Psychology
Quarterly, 24(4), 211-223.
• Rivers, I. and Noret, N. (2008). Well-being among same-sex- and
opposite-sex-attracted youth
at school. School Psychology Review, 32(2), 174-187.
• Rivers, I. & Noret, N. (2010). Participant roles in bullying
behaviour and their association with
suicide risk. Crisis: Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide
Prevention, 31,(3),143-148.
• Rivers, I., & Noret, N. (2013). Potential Suicide Ideation and Its
Association with Observing
Bullying at School. Journal of Adolescent Health 53, S32- S36.
Supporting Grants
• £14,550.00 Stand Up for Us 2013 & Year 10 Wellbeing Survey,
City of York Council (2013)
• £8,800.00 Stand Up for Us 2012, City of York Council
(2012)
• £2,500.00 Stand Up for Us 2011, City of York Council
(2011)
• £8,721.92 Stand Up for Us 2011 Project, York St John
University, Research Project Funding
(2011)
• £1,600.00 E-safety in Adolescence, The British Psychological
Society, with Dr Anna Macklin &
Paul McGivern (2010)
• £3,711.95 Evaluation of the Securus Monitoring Software,
Securus Software Ltd (2007)
Details of the impact
Survey data on bullying were first reported at the 2005 British
Psychological Society (BPS)
conference, receiving wide media coverage. Subsequently, at the 2006 BPS
Annual Conference,
the presentation highlighted the prevalence of cyberbullying in the form
of offensive or threatening
text messages in a representative sample of secondary school pupils. Up to
this point
cyberbullying had received little academic or media attention in the UK
and was, relative to other
forms of bullying, not well understood. The presentation was one of the
first in the UK to highlight
the risks experienced by children and young people when using technology.
Findings from this
study were then cited in the UK Commons Parliamentary Select Committee
report on bullying.
The 2006 presentation of this YSJU work attracted a wealth of media
attention resulting in articles
on the research in for example the Guardian, Sky News, the Daily
Mail and the Telegraph, and
radio interviews with regional stations including Real Radio and Radio
York. It was also important
that those data be reported back to children and young people in an
accessible and interesting
manner. Interviews were accordingly conducted for the CBBC children's
`Newsround' website and
Cosmogirl Magazine. Such media coverage raised public awareness of
the issue of cyberbullying.
This contributed to a number of discussions with teachers and youth
workers, leading to the
development of interventions to attempt to address the issue in schools.
The evidence from the
research and the dissemination of the findings continue to feed into
national, regional and schools'
anti-bullying work to this date.
Noret was then invited to present these findings at a DfES seminar on
Cyberbullying, which
brought together academics, practitioners and children and young people to
discuss the issue.
Following this Noret contributed to the development work of the Department
for Children, Families
and Schools (DCFS) Cyberbullying Taskforce in London. This taskforce wrote
and disseminated
guidance on how to tackle cyberbullying in schools and other child and
youth based organisations,
involving youth organisations from the voluntary sector and internet
providers. This guidance is
still available on the `Childnet' website, clarifying what cyberbullying
actually is for professionals
working with children and young people, and providing key points on how to
tackle this form of
bullying, such as through the integration of cyberbullying into a schools'
anti-bullying policy.
Since 2006, Noret has regularly been invited to present at e-safety and
anti-bullying events
organised by the national organisations `The Anti-Bullying Alliance', the
`Bullying Intervention
Group', and `Grids for Learning'. These events involve providing
information and running
workshops on cyberbullying for teachers and other professionals working
with children and young
people, to enable interventions to be designed; including practical advice
and guidance on
identifying cyberbullying, what to do to support children and young people
if they are being
cyberbullied, and how schools can integrate cyberbullying into their
anti-bullying policies. In total,
Noret has presented at over 100 national and regional events on
cyberbullying and e-safety in
London, Yorkshire, the North East and Norfolk. Many of these events were
training days, to
enable practitioners to take on board the key messages and integrate these
into their work. These
events were attended by representatives from Local Authorities, the
teaching profession, social
workers and other practitioners working with young people. In addition,
some of the workshops
were with children, young people, and parents, to raise awareness of the
issue of cyberbullying
and offer key messages about online safety to help address the issue.
In 2010, Noret became a member of the City of York Council's
Anti-Bullying Steering Group,
advising on key findings from the survey and contributing to the
development of intervention
strategies to tackle all forms of bullying in schools. Following the
2002-2006 surveys, the Council
has asked Noret to run annual surveys in York primary and secondary
schools to explore the
nature and prevalence of different forms of bullying. Every participating
school receives a report,
plotting its data against the citywide data, to assist schools in
identifying key areas requiring
attention. Key statistics from the surveys now form part of the City of
York Council's five-year
Children's Plan and these survey data provide a means to continually
evaluate the achievement of
different aims by the Council to improve the well-being and behaviour of
children and young people
across the City. Whereas in the 2002- 2006 surveys cyberbullying was the
second most prevalent
form of bullying reported by pupils in the Citywide survey, in the most
recent secondary school
survey (2013) cyberbullying is now the least prevalent form of bullying
reported.
Sources to corroborate the impact
The following sources can corroborate the impact of the cyberbullying
research. Individual users/
beneficiaries who can be contacted by the REF team include:
To comment on the impact of the survey work and feedback to schools:
1. The City of York Council — Behaviour Attendance Safety, Education
department
2. The City of York Youth Council — http://www.yorkyouthcouncil.co.uk/
To comment on the impact of the training provided:
3. The Bullying Intervention Group — http://www.bullyinginterventiongroup.co.uk/
4. The Northumberland Grid for Learning — Example of the training
provided —
http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/esafe/antibullying_conference.html
5. Media Coverage
6. Citations in Commons Parliamentary Select Committee report on Bullying
& Policy Guidance
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmeduski/85/85.pdf