SONETBULL Project: Practices and Competences in dealing
with bullying in school
“Bullying in Greece:
Old phenomenon – New understanding”
Ifigeneia Sotiropoulou
Hellenic Open University
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Translating the term
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Smith and his colleagues (Smith et al., 2002) proposed descriptive phrases based
on students’ testimonials: “doing the dude”, “disparage somebody” etc. which
performed better the meaning of bullying in Greek language
“ekfovismos”: the most common term in Greek studies (Ψάλτη και συν., 2012). It
is recognizable as a term both among teachers and students
Term’s elements remain clear among student’s description:
Intention of bullies
Imbalance of power
Most of times there is a continuity / repetitive actions
Refers to all types of bullying
The term can be used both for Boys and Girls
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Greek studies
1. Doanidou & Xenaki (1997) :
Results for primary school: 22% victims – 10% bullies
Results for secondary school: 19% victims - 13% bullies
2. Chantzi et al., (2000):
Verbal Bullying (assaults, nicknaming, scurrility) has been highlighted as the most common kind of bullying
(N=1312 primary school students)
3. Boulton et al., (2001):
Results revealed an over mean percentage of students have been involved (either as bullies/victims) in
bullying incidents (59% of boys - 47% of girls) (N=664 primary school students)
4. Craig et al (2009):
Research in 40 countries - Greece occupies the 4th place in the number of students being involved in
incidents of victimization either as bullies, victims or as bullies/victims (41,3%, N=1713) (Total N=202,056
adolescent students).
5. Giovazolias et al. (2010):
22,8% victims (N=369 primary school students)
1 out of 3 children in Greece has been involved in a bullying incident.
6. Psalti et al. (2012): (N=2026 primary school students, and N=1843 secondary school students)
10-15% of students (total) has experienced victimization at least once a week
Verbal bullying (15%) in primary school
Social exclusion / spreading rumours (13%) in secondary school
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European Anti-bullying Network
(2012)
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N= 4987 Greek Students of Secondary
School
Age=13-17 years old
32% victims at least once
30% bullies at least once
Gender: Students who bully others are
mostly boys, while those who are
intimidated are both boys and girls
High risk domains:
Schoolyard
School corridors
Classroom
Internet
Neighborhood
To & From School
 Types of bullying:
1.
Nicknaming, slags
2.
Pushes, hits
3.
Humiliating gestures
4.
Cyberbullying
 Person who victims trust most:
1.
Peer
2.
Parents
3.
Helplines – social services
4.
Teachers – authorities
5.
Family - other adult
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15% of respondents didn’t talk to anyone
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SONETBULL - Cases
TYPES
BULLYING
CASE 1
CASE 2
CASE 3
The “Wuss”
“The isolation”
The “Retarded”
OF Mockeries, verbal
aggressions and
homophobic
connotation)
CASE 4
CASE 5
“The overweight” “Provocative victim defensive bully”
Mockeries, physical
aggressions, social
exclusion
Verbal aggressions ,
physical aggression,
discrimination,
Mockeries,
cyberbullying
humiliating SMS,
physical aggression
Verbal aggressions,
physical aggressions
SCHOOL LEVEL
6th primary
4th primary
5th primary
Secondary
3rd primary
AGE
Bully 14
Victim & Bully 8
Bullies 10
Victim & Bullies 16
Victim & Bully 8
BULLY PROFILE
Victim 12
1 boy
1 girl
Victim 11
1 boy
Girls and boys of the
class
1 boy
(repeating student,
aggressive behaviour,
dysfunctional family
background)
VICTIM PROFILE 1 boy
LENGTH
(victim’s best friend,
broken family)
(disruptive)
(Follower, good student)
2 boys followers
1 girl
1 girl
1 boy
1 boy
(top of the class,
provocative, without
close friends)
(best friend, normal
family)
(learning difficulties)
(overweight,
feminine features,
bad results)
(good student)
+/- 3 months
5-6 months
+/- 6 months
+/- 2 school years
+/- 6 months
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SONETBULL- cases results
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Peers reaction is the key for the continuity or the stop of bullying
Victim’s Parents usually informed by their children
Bully’s Parents usually informed by other parents or teachers
Teachers loose their perceptiveness of identifying bullying outside the
classroom
5. Types of bullying reflect a lack of inclusivity and lack of respect to
difference
6. Most cases handled by the directors and school counsellors
7. Lack of psychological support to victims/ victim’s family
8. Lack of cooperativeness between all involved parties (parentsteachers-directors)
9. Schools had no strict well adjust united policy against bullying
10. No follow up meeting between parties
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Best Practices
School Initiatives
Educational
authorities
Pedagogical tools/
research products
Government
Public
Safety Net (peer
support)
School counsellor’s
mediation and
intervention (2002)
“Neurons of strength” National Observatory Social Media
(Peer Mediation
for the Prevention of
Awareness
program) (2012 -2014) School Violence (2012) campaign
Voluntaries activities
Regional Coordinator in
each Educational
Directorate (Primary &
Secondary education)
Bullying Awareness
campaign
“Internet’s Farm” (book Health experts on
about cyberbullying)
educational structures
(KEDDY)
(creative cooperation)
Curriculum activities
Intensified supervisions Parenting counselling
program (since 2004)
Teacher’s training
program / seminars
Teacher’s training
program / seminars
“Tabby trip in EU”
assessment tool
cyberbullying threat
(2011-2012)
“Interactive educational
tool for managing
bullying” (Daphne E-abc
prograam, 2013)
NGOs protecting
Child’s Rights
Psychologists at school Helplines
(2012 -2015)
(since 2000)
Anti-bullying Day (6th
March 2014)
Greek Safer Internet
Network
Articles and books
published
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National School Violence Observatory
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The Observatory of school violence launched and supervised by the Ministry of
Education on 12.17.2012
According to the 4077/28-04-2014 Ministry of Education circular it is designed the
first prevention and treatment Network of School Violence and bullying
phenomena. The most significant actions are describing below:
Design and implement actions for the prevention and treatment of school violence and
bullying
Awareness activities for the school / the family / the wider local community
Training in the field of bullying
Identification of violence and bullying behaviours
Field study of the phenomenon
For this project have been defined 13 Prevention Coordinator of the Regional
Directorate one for Primary school level and one for Secondary school level
Every school is encouraged to make a form of rules and regulations against bullying
in school
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Reality pushes for changes
Two tragedies made Greek community more alert on the issue of Bullying:
• 2004 8 year old disappeared – accidentally killed after bullying incident
• 2015 20 year-old student found dead – committed suicide after being bullied by his
peers
Common points:
• Everyone knew what was happening but they did not speak
• Warnings from parents/ teachers had been made BUT no action/ measure had been
taken
Community’s Reactions:
 Wide public movement of solidarity to any one suffers from bullying
 Legal and Police Authorities have helped to the investigation of the actors involved
 Electronic Crime Division of the Greek police has intervened to identify the bullies
 Punishments have awarded at the first case
 Greek Government released a bill for “Anyone who commits bullying will be punished
with imprisonment of at least six months”
 Ministry of Education announced measures and campaign against bullying incidents
4hour awareness Bullying Campaign in all Greek Public Schools (Mar – Jun 2015)
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More things to be done
 To leave the denial stance behind us
 To be more alert as citizens, co-students, colleagues, teachers, family etc. about
possible bullying incidents near us
 To be able to report an incident to appropriate authorities
 To improve the family communication
 To establish a family – school cooperation system
 Revision of the legal framework for the case of suicide caused by psychological
violence of bullying
 Review of juvenile law to engage minors under 12 years old in bullying acts and
appropriate penalties for juvenile offenders
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Thank you!!!
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