KiVA Anti-Bullying
Ages 8-12 Years
A school-based program to reduce bullying behaviours
Implementation Guide
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The KiVA Anti-Bullying Program is a program for schools to prevent bullying and monitor school climate. The program is focused on changing group norms and peer behaviour, by teaching children to not support bullying – removing the “audience” bullies often seek.
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KiVa helps reduce bullying in schools as early as 6 months into implementation, reduces emotional distress, depression, anxiety among students (Garandeau et al. (2014)), especially for primary and middle school students (Class 1-6) (Karna et al (2011) and Saarento et al (2015)). The program improves prosocial behaviour among students, and improves school climate and classroom behaviour. Combining whole-class lessons with special interventions, this anti-bullying program has been successful at significantly reducing bullying across several countries and contexts.
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The KiVA program reduces bullying by transforming the social environment that sustains it. The central idea of the program is focused on empowering the bystander to act – and not to stay silent, laugh, or unintentionally encourage the bullying behaviour. This shifts the social dynamic, where the bully receives less attention and is discouraged since the bystanders visibly show support for the student being bullied. This creates a collective change in a classroom environment and strengthens positive peer relationships.
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Poor program implementation (i.e. irregular lessons, untrained teachers, and inconsistent follow-up) led to no impact and a possible increase in negative peer interactions, according to the study by Haataja et al. (2014). Although, classrooms with high fidelity, there was no statistically significant evidence of psychological harm from the study Karna et al (2011). There was no increase in anxiety, depression or distress. However, Garandeu et al. found that reducing bullying did not eliminate social exclusion in classrooms where social cohesion was low.
Best Practices
All-Staff Training: Before introducing students to the program, whole-school staff training is essential. Teachers must have a good understanding of the social architecture of bullying, how to respond to bullying and their role in classroom climate regulation.
Student Training: After the teachers are equipped with these tools, they must first teach students about empathy, group dynamics, bystander roles, and problem-solving. These should be practised through role-playing, group discussions, and reflections.
Capacity Building: The school must also train 2-3 adults (i.e. teachers, coordinators, administrators, etc.) in the school to handle bullying cases. This team is responsible for responding quickly to cases, conducting discussions with the bully and the supporters, and lastly, ensuring follow-up with the bullied.
Reporting and Monitoring: Anonymous reporting and monitoring are essential (either digital or drop-box) for students to feel comfortable reporting an incident.
Peer Empowerment: The program’s key focus should be on peer bystanders and not just the bullies and bullied. The goal of the program is NOT to just discipline the bullies.
Implementing Organisations
The University of Turku is the host of the KiVA Anti-Bullying Program. To learn more about the program or partner to implement, reach out to: kiva@kivaprogram.net
The KiVA program has been implemented in 2,470 schools around the world, in countries like, but not limited to, Kazakhstan, China, Chile, France, Mexico, Paraguay, UAE, Colombia, Argentina, and so on. You can find the list of all countries and their implementing partners here.
Evidence Base
Adverse childhood experiences include bullying and have a direct impact on the child’s mental health immediately and later in life (Lereya et al., 2015). KiVa is a research-based anti-bullying program that aims to decrease the adverse effects of bullying on students and, as a result, decrease stress for children. It was developed in 2006 at the University of Turku in Finland. The randomised evaluation of its impact found that it reduces bullying and victimisation by 17–30% compared to control schools (Salmivalli & Poskiparta, 2012). At a seven-month follow-up, students in KiVa schools have lower rates of self-reported bullying than students in control schools. KiVa students report fewer cyber victimisations than students in control schools. Multilevel models, especially in grade 4, show that KiVa reduces bullying and victimisation while increasing empathy and pro-victim attitudes (Kärnä et al., 2011).