Bullying
Bullying is an extremely important public mental health risk. Around 1 in 5 primary school children report being bullied at least weekly. Children who are bullied are more likely to experience depression and anxiety, and are at heightened risk of mental health issues in adolescence and adulthood. In addition, bullying perpetration is linked to later violent behaviour and illicit drug use. 
KiVa antibullying programme
KiVa is an anti-bullying programme that was developed in Finland by Professor Christina Samivalli of the University of Turku. A large study in Finland involving 28 000 primary school pupils found that KiVa significantly reduced bullying and improved mental well being. Now, KiVa is used in over 90% of Finnish public primary schools. Two small pilot trials of KiVa have shown promising results in Welsh schools. Now, we want to see if KiVa can be rolled out across the UK. ​KiVa involves three main components: ​
Core curriculum 
  • ​45 minute class lessons delivered by class teachers each fortnight
  • Content covers bystander behaviour, building empathy, group interactions
  • Online games for pupils
  • Covers half the Personal Social (Health) Education curriculum 
Processes for dealing with bullying 
  • Processes, forms and scripts for dealing with confirmed bullying incidents
School wide elements
  • Whole school assemblies
  • KiVa posters
  • KiVa vests
Some school staff will play a particular role in the delivery of KiVa. These are:   

KiVa Coordinator:
  • Attend two-day training course
  • Train other school staff in delivery of the core curriculum  
  • Coordinate delivery of all KiVa elements within the school 
  • Provide general oversight and support of the programme
  • Liaise with, and provide information to researcher

KiVa Team Lead
  • Attend two-day training course
  • Assess referrals to the KiVa Team
  • Coordinate the KiVa Team who deal with confirmed bullying incidents using scripted processes and forms
  • Liaise with, and provide information to researcher