As a teacher, you want to create a safe and familiar learning environment. A harmonious environment with less room for bullying behaviour. So that every student feels accepted and can flourish. After all, a safe environment is crucial for students to learn, but also for the mental wellbeing of the entire group and for you as a teacher. But how do you create such a positive and safe environment? It is not always easy to achieve this. The context of secondary schools also makes this particularly challenging: as a teacher, you only see your students for a few hours a week, you have to deal with changing class compositions and you work with many different colleagues. Nevertheless, you as a teacher really can make a difference for your class.

You can read how to do this in the publication: ‘Working towards a positive classroom atmosphere – five tips to prevent bullying’. In collaboration with scientists, the School & Safety Foundation has gathered five scientifically substantiated, practical tips that you can put into practice immediately. These provide you with concrete tools to make an important contribution to preventing bullying.

The five tips to prevent bullying

  • Work closely with your colleagues; you cannot prevent bullying alone.
  • Invest in a good relationship with your students; a good relationship has a positive effect on the individual student and the entire class.
  • Establish positive group norms, model them and uphold them together; positive group norms contribute to a safe and open group climate.
  • Invest time and energy in fostering positive social relationships between students; positive relationships strengthen the group’s social cohesion and provide more mutual social support.
  • Work on good communication with parents/carers; good cooperation between the school and parents contributes to preventing bullying.

Each tip explains what the research says about it and includes contributions from teachers. In addition, each tip includes points that can be put into practice.

Work closely with your colleagues

Points:

  • One team, one task
  • What gets measured gets managed
  • Discuss concerns that something may be wrong with your colleagues
  • Be open and learn from one another

Invest in a good relationship with your students

Points:

  • Get to know your students
  • Praise students
  • Pay attention to autonomy
  • Approachability and support
  • Maintain the good relationship
  • Reflect on your own actions

Establish positive group norms, model them and uphold them together

Points:

  • Involve your students
  • Online interactions
  • Popularity and role models
  • Set a good example
  • Reinforce positive behaviour
  • Set boundaries while maintaining connection

Invest time and energy in fostering positive social relationships between students

Points:

  • Get to know one another
  • Cooperative learning
  • The teacher as a role model
  • Guided group discussions

Work on good communication with parents/carers

Points:

  • Make time to get acquainted
  • Discuss mutual expectations
  • Equal partners
  • Informal and regular contact
  • Involve the student in the contact
  • Provide information

The publication can be downloaded here.