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KiVa - antibullying programm

 

Hello everyone! Today I want to introduce you to KiVa, which is an antibullying program founded in Finland. Currently it is implemented in schools across different countries in Europe, South America and also in New Zealand. According to more than 200 Finish schools, KiVa has led to a remarkable decrease in all forms of bullying. Furthermore, it shows positive effects on students’ perception of their peer climate. The program puts its focus on preventing bullying before it occurs, for instance by working on group norms or social behaviours. Nevertheless, KiVa also offers guidelines for interventions when bullying is already happening. The program provides teachers with different materials to use for their students, for example videos, graphics, info letters for parents or online games. The digital games include situations which could potentially occur in real life. Through these materials students gain information and consciousness about bullying. In my opinion this is a good approach as it connects education with gaming, which is an interest many young people share. In addition to that, KiVa adapts its material to different age groups from six to 16, which ensures that the intervention fits to the target. The program has been initiated by professors from the University of Turku, who have studied bullying for years. The rights of KiVa belong to the Finish Ministry of Education and Culture, which is why the implementation requires a licensing agreement. Thus, only schools in countries with partner organizations of KiVa can use it. Therefore, it is questionable whether the KiVa program is accessible to the schools which would need it most. However, the example of KiVa still shows that antibullying programs can have a positive impact and highly contribute to the decrease of bullying.

Source of this blogpost: KiVa Antibullying Programm. https://www.kivaprogram.net/

Lara Düngfelder

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