In Spain, 70% of 15-year-old schoolchildren have been victims or perpetrators (in many cases, both) of bullying, both in person and through new technologies.
Experts point out that This type of harassment exists in all human societies and they have asked schools to accept the problem in order to study and implement measures aimed at preventing it where it can appear and making it disappear where it exists.
The KiVa method is one of the most promising proposals in this regard
Finland is a country that allocates large resources to education, the latter being considered a highly relevant State matter. In recent years The Nordic country has proposed to end bullying and improve the educational system in its different aspects
Reflection of this is that in recent years Finland has achieved the worthy first place in higher education, primary education and training in the Global Competitiveness Index (ICG) thanks to the importance given to education in recent times. All measures aimed at education have contributed to creating a powerful workforce with the appropriate skills to adapt to a constantly changing socioeconomic context that has caused high levels of technological development.
The Finnish education system: one of the best in the world
Finland is currently one of the most creative and innovative nations in the EU and the world, ranking second in the ranking (first place is held by Switzerland). At the time when the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) prepared the PISA report, The Nordic country achieved first positions in education
However, the Finnish education system is not perfect: Finland also suffers from the disastrous epidemic of bullying. What tool do they use to solve bullying in Finland? Well, with the KiVa program
The KiVa program
The term KiVa arises from the union of the words “Kiusaamista Vastaan” (in Finnish, against bullying).
Thanks to this proposal, Finland is managing to eradicate bullying. This method is applied in 90% of basic education schools and its success is such that it has become an essential tool when evaluating and choosing any center in the Finnish educational system, both to work, in the case of teachers, and to study, in the case of students.
The experimentation stage
The KiVa program was created at the proposal of the Finnish government and the educational community; “The project began to be introduced randomly in Finnish schools,” explains Christina Salmivalli, a psychology teacher and one of the program’s inventors.
Years later, a study was carried out (one of the largest in the country, by the way) to see how the program evolved and the impact it had on the students. The results were tremendous: the KiVa program had reduced all types of bullying in institutes and schools. The bullying fence had begun to work. In fact, bullying disappeared in 80% of schools Spectacular figures that, logically, have aroused the interest of the international educational community.
Long-term results against bullying
After a year, the researchers realized that the number of children and adolescents who suffered from bullying had decreased by 41%. But the method not only solved the problem but the program also enhanced the comfort of the students and their motivation when studying, thus boosting good grades.
The Finnish embassy in Madrid states that 98 percent of the 1,000 schools that participated in the program in 2009 believed that school life had improved significantly during the first year in which the KiVa method began to be applied, something confirmed by numerous studies.
The success of the program is such that the KiVa method has received the European Crime Prevention Award in 2009, among others.
One of the best ways to understand the potential of this KiVa anti-bullying program is through an example. At the Karamzin school they had a serious bullying problem, so the KiVa program was launched at the school during 2008: During the first year of implementation, bullying was reduced by 60%
How does the KiVa method work?
The method used in the KiVa program is not to focus on the dialectic of the confrontation between victim and bully (neither treating the victim to be more extraverted nor trying to change the bully so that he develops empathy) but is based on acting on the student witnesses who laugh at such a situation.
In many cases, these viewers internalize that what happens is normal, even funny, even if they have a different underlying opinion. What the method is intended to do is influence these bystanders so that they do not indirectly participate in the harassment If this is achieved, the bully, who needs recognition to continue bullying, stops bullying because it does not bring him any benefit.
In short, the program is based on trying to make viewers not laugh at the young people who are the aggressor in the harassment. Simple, but effective.
Program details
In the KiVa program, students are taught in about 20 classes at ages 7, 10 and 13 (key ages in the development of minors) to identify the different forms of bullying. In this way they are already aware from a very young age.
There are ten syllabi and assignments that are carried out throughout the course and where moral values such as empathy and respect for others are taught. A large number of resources are used: talks, video games, manuals for teachers, surveillance during recess, feature films… even a virtual mailbox to report if they are witnesses or victims of bullying.
The KiVa team
In every school, the principal elects a KiVa team made up of three adults who detect and investigate cases of bullying
First they determine if the harassment is punctual or continuous. They then talk to the victim to calm them down. Subsequently, they speak with the bullies to raise awareness and with the witnesses, who are the cornerstone of the program, in this way bullying is reduced.
The potential of the method
This drastic change in a series of Finnish schools can give an idea of the qualitative changes at a social level that this type of programs could have not only in the schools, but in the different cultural strata of adults educated through these methods.
If we are educated from the earliest stages not to passively support acts of violence of this type, it is conceivable that the mentality of adults will also change in many ways. Only time will tell if these types of sudden cultural changes come to pass The repercussions of the KiVa program can go far beyond the fight against bullying, they can be the seed for a more just, supportive and cohesive society.
