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Bullying occurs when pupils persist in being physically or psychologically abusive to less powerful peers. While it used to be seen as `just part of growing up' and `character-building', it is now recognised as a serious societal problem that demands attention, and schools must take active steps to combat it. Professor Boulton's research contributed to this shift and has ensured bullying continues to be taken seriously. His work has produced novel findings on the damaging psychological impact of bullying, why pupils become involved, and has guided policy and advice offered by governments in the U.K., U.S. and elsewhere, and by other national bodies (NSPCC).
Combatting bullying in schools, and more especially the bullying of minority groups, is a priority both nationally and internationally. Prof Rivers' research on homophobic bullying and bystander wellbeing has directly influenced the development of school-based intervention programmes, teacher education, and government policy in the US, Australia, Canada, and UK. It has been cited widely by policy makers internationally and has been used as evidence of the need to develop and promote anti-bullying initiatives.
The research underpinning this case study focuses on understanding the nature of school-based bullying and the effectiveness of systems to address it. Through practitioner-orientated books, training schemes and websites, this research has been widely used in a range of government and NGO publications and resources. In addition, through the research focus on bullying as a systemic problem and understanding how peer support schemes can combat it, Cowie has contributed to bringing about change in the way schools in the UK deal with bullying. This is evidenced by the widespread use of peer mentoring, peer mediation and advocacy schemes, which can be seen on school websites and in government reports.
The impacts are: (1) Introduction of anti-bullying policies by thirteen schools in Tira City in the Arab sector of Israel; (2) Policy changes by the Islamic (Sharia) Religious Courts in the Arab sector to ensure that bullying issues are routinely taken into consideration (for the first time) when making child custody decisions; (3) Changes in programme delivery by two charities that aim to reduce violence between children in the Arab sector. This work builds directly upon research conducted at Kingston University and during several visits to Israel supported by the university since 2010.
Professor Peter Smith's extensive programme of research into bullying and the prevention of bullying has translated into research reports and summaries for the Department for Education, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), and the National Children's Bureau. These have been disseminated as expert resources to scores of relevant organisations and public bodies. The EHRC report was used in Parliament to argue for an amendment to the Education Bill.
Smith chaired a Europe-wide funded project on cyberbullying, the findings and recommendations of which have been presented to policymakers and educational practitioners internationally. He was on the Advisory Board of the Anti-Bullying Alliance, working to help reduce bullying in UK schools.
Research into the prevalence of workplace bullying and stress conducted between March 2008 and December 2009 in New Zealand has had three main impacts. The research findings highlight the importance of psychosocial issues in workplaces and directly contributed to the New Zealand Government's decision to include psychosocial workplace hazards as a priority in the Occupational Health Action Plan to 2013. Data from the research is one of the main factual bases for a new guideline developed by staff in the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment on workplace bullying. The guidelines made the research findings available to Health and Safety Inspectors and Professionals, Unions and Employer Groups as well as presenting practices for Occupational Safety and Health Fact Sheets for preventing and dealing with bullying at work.
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.