Bullying is an issue which crosses national borders, not just in Europe but on a global basis, so solutions should reflect the diverse cultures, languages, faiths, ethnicities, abilities and preferences involved. Cyber bullying and using the internet is not restricted by national borders and so any solution must be developed to be applicable across borders. This is why EUBULLY team is made up from a diversity of “key players” in education, drama & theatre, multimedia & mobile technologies, social work, bullying & anti-violence experts. In our work we cover UK, Ireland, Greece and Romania, but we plan to impact the European public agenda on the bullying phenomenon both in real and virtual settings. In the Partnership description you will find details about the project partners.

The High-Level Expert Meeting “Tackling Violence in Schools”  held in Oslo in June 2011 identified that children, and often their families, feel frightened to speak up and conceal incidents of violence, particularly when perpetrated by a teacher or staff in school. It is often difficult to get staff to commit to addressing bullying as so much of it happens under the radar. EUBULLY supports teachers and school staff to be more proactive in bringing bullying out into the open for victim, offender and bystander using the new app to be developed for mobile technologies and new skills linked to drama in education. This will be supported a pack of training and support carried out with young people, teachers, parents, support staff in and out of school. Drama is sometimes used in bullying management, but rarely as part of a coherent, whole-school scheme.

Added value within EUBULLY is the development of an app to be downloaded onto mobile (handheld) technologies for use within the curriculum in schools as part of ICT key learning strategies but also impact in the wider community in that it can be accessed outside of the physical classroom and become a tool in the wider virtual world of all our young people. The new app for mobile technologies will provide real time support and empower the victim to both log the event, with the content identified and report it. Other project results will include: the database on which the logs from victims can be hosted, providing real time research data on cyber bullying and held on project’s web site; the app can become part of ICT teaching content in schools so sustaining it as part of a mainstream teaching resource; A new play to be translated and adapted by partners which can be filmed for inclusion on web sites for wider dissemination and use as an educational resource; a dissemination event in Brussels in the European parliament / European Commission in 2016. One focused national event in each partner country (UK, Romania, Ireland, Greece) with at least 3 presentations at 3 additional national events in each country.

EUBULLY offers a blended approach – creating innovation in the virtual world alongside transfer and roll out of best practice in the use of drama in the physical world, both providing safe and secure environments for bullying to be addressed openly. Many anti-bullying initiatives are built upon the core philosophy of the Whole School Approach: on the assumption that bullying is a systemic problem, and, by implication, an intervention must be directed at the entire school not just at individual bullies and victims. EUBULLY reflects this, but wider by working with young people who are most vulnerable (Roma, travellers, ethnic /faith minorities, young people in care, disabled, risk of offending, those living in poverty) and recognising their lives include additional support staff (in residential homes, health care systems, specialist associations supporting these groups in the schools and community).