Document Type
Journal Article
Publisher
Sage
Faculty
Faculty of Computing, Health and Science
School
School of Exercise and Health Sciences / Child Health Promotion Research Centre
RAS ID
12470
Abstract
In 2003 Australia was one of the first countries to develop an integrated national policy, called the National Safe Schools Framework (NSSF), for the prevention and management of violence, bullying, and other aggressive behaviors. The effectiveness of this framework has not yet been formally evaluated. Cross-sectional data collected in 2007 from 7,418 students aged 9 to 14 years old and 453 teachers from 106 representative Australian schools were analyzed to determine teachers’ perceptions about the extent of implementation of the NSSF, teachers’ capacity to address student bullying, and students’ reports of bullying in their school, 4 years following the framework’s dissemination. While methodological issues limit the findings, schools appear not to have widely implemented the recommended safe school practices, teachers appear to need more training to address bullying, especially covert bullying, and bullying prevalence among students seems relatively unchanged compared to Australian data collected 4 years prior to the launch of the NSSF.
DOI
10.1177/0165025411407456
Access Rights
free_to_read
Comments
This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of: Cross, D. S., Epstein, M. , Hearn, L. A., Slee, P., Shaw, T. M., & Monks, H. E. (2011). National Safe Schools Framework: Policy and practice to reduce bullying in Australian schools. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 35(5), 398-404. Copyright © 2011 International Journal of Behavioral Development. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications. Available online here.