The significant increase in incidents of bullying in schools since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has caused serious concern among educators and society in general. In response to this, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine supported the holding of a nationwide representative research under the title “Bullying and tolerance in educational institutions after February 24, 2022”. This study was conducted in the period from November 2023 to January 2024 and included 5,576 students of grades 5–9 (aged 10–14) from all regions of Ukraine, excluding the temporarily occupied territories. The main goal of the study was to find out the level of prevalence of bullying among schoolchildren, its forms, causes and changes that occurred after the start of the war.
Key results of the study
- Prevalence of bullying
Almost half (51.3%) of the interviewed students admitted that they had ever become victims of bullying. Among them, 55.9% were girls and 46.2% were boys. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, 24.7% of students reported being bullied. The most cases of bullying were recorded in Kyiv (33.7% of students). In general, bullying occurred more often in large cities, in particular in regional centers (34.4%), while in rural areas this figure was 25.3%. The fewest cases of bullying were recorded in the eastern (18%) and southern (22%) regions. - Types of bullying
The most common forms of bullying were: calls to hang out with certain friends (25.9%), spreading false rumors (24.0%), receiving offensive online messages (21.4%), superficial and derogatory comments about appearance (21.8 %), as well as jokes or telling anecdotes so that it is clear that it is about the target of bullying (18.3%). - The main reasons for bullying
Among the main reasons for bullying, schoolchildren most often cited appearance (28.7%), and girls reported bullying on this basis more often than boys (35.2% vs. 26.9%). Other reasons include peculiarities of behavior (22.6%), a different worldview (21.5%), preferences or hobbies (18.7%), as well as a language feature (8.3% for Russian and 6.9% for Ukrainian ). - Recourse
More than half of the victims of bullying (59.4%) turned for help, most often to parents and teachers. Girls asked for help more often than boys (62.4% vs. 55.8%). It is interesting that the frequency of requests for help decreases with age: 68.1% asked for help among 5th graders, while among 9th graders this indicator decreased to 47.9%. - The school’s response to bullying
In 12.4% of cases, the parents of both the offender and the victim were called to school. In 14.7% of cases, either the perpetrator’s parents or the victim’s parents were called. The most effective method was the involvement of a psychologist, which in 68.4% of cases led to the cessation or weakening of bullying. At the same time, a combination of different methods simultaneously gave the best results in the fight against bullying. - Involvement of adults in bullying
Almost a fifth of the respondents (19.6%) said that teachers or other adults from the school who witnessed the bullying did nothing. In addition, 14.7% of respondents noted that they had encountered situations when the parents of classmates were involved in bullying, for example, one of the parents publicly spoke offensively about the child or called on him to boycott.
This study revealed a number of problems in schools, including the insufficient response of teachers to incidents of bullying and the need of students for psychological support. The results of this large-scale study will be used to improve anti-bullying policies in Ukrainian schools, develop effective mechanisms for responding to such cases, and create a safe educational environment for all students.
