Research question/objective: Student wellbeing and dropout is a major concern not only for schools, but even more so for the students themselves, as absenteeism, for example, has been linked to a number of negative short and long-term outcomes. While much has been done to make schools safer and/or to reduce harassment and bullying, anti-bullying approaches rarely include the voices of students themselves. With this in mind, this study explores students’ own suggestions for what students and staff can do to create a more positive atmosphere at school.

Theoretical framework: This ongoing study draws on the new sociology of childhood and earlier work on student voice to improve schools, which (1) emphasises the importance of children’s voices in matters that affect them, and (2) views students as potential agents of change in their own right, including taking seriously the importance of exploring what children and young people themselves want and expect from their schooling in order to contribute to school improvement.

Methodology/research design: The study uses thematic analysis based on responses from students in grades 6-9 (12-15 years old) in Swedish compulsory schools. The material consists of approximately 2500 open-ended responses collected through the Friends school surveys between 1 January 2010 and 1 October 2024. The question asked was: "What do you think students and staff can do to create a more positive atmosphere at school?

Expected results/outcomes: Four main aspects are presented and discussed in detail: (1) ‘Supervision’, which includes students’ suggestions for more teachers to supervise the school day, including the importance of more adults in the playground, corridors and hallways (2) ‘Active intervention by adults’, which includes students’ emphasis on the importance of more active intervention by adults, and more active questioning and taking seriously instances of verbal abuse between students; (3) ‘The importance of showing respect’, including students’ statements about the importance of students being more respectful and caring towards each other, for example, by avoiding and making comments about or to each other; (4) ‘Adults showing concern’, including students’ statements about the importance of adults showing concern for students, for example, how they feel and sense in school, for example, by stating the importance of school staff showing more interest in students’ school life.

Relevance to Nordic educational research: Taken together, the results will provide important insights relevant to schools and students in all Nordic countries, by showing which aspects of schooling students themselves identify as important to improve in order to create a more positive atmosphere at school, including fewer instances of harassment and bullying. The results of this study could therefore provide information on what is needed to make schools the safe places for learning that they should be.

Over the past three or four years, loneliness has been highlighted as a significant problem in Swedish schools. While staff-pupil relationships have been identified as important in dealing with such experiences, relatively little attention has been paid to the capacity of staff to do so. In this study I analyse the experiences of staff in dealing with student loneliness in schools. The discussions are based on 11 interviews with 16 school staff and their experiences were analysed using Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) theory of ecological systems. The findings highlight two main concerns of staff working with loneliness: (1) the potential of relationships, including the importance of caring relationships at the micro- and mesosystem levels of the school, and (2) the ways in which working with caring relationships can be overridden by exo-, macro- and chronosystem issues, such as staff shortages, staff workload and demands on pupils’ academic performance. Key implications are discussed.

Schools are required by law to be safe places for pupils to learn and develop as human beings, but it is well known that schools can be torn apart by bullying and harassment, and that far from every child feels safe at school.  This presentation is based on an ongoing large-scale study of what pupils say about what adults in school can do to help them feel safer at school. The data come from around 7,715 open-ended responses to the annual Friends school survey, which was collected between 1 January 2020 and 1 October 2024 from students in grades 3-6 (i.e. 9-12 years old) in Swedish schools. The question was: 'Do you have any suggestions on what adults can do to make you feel safer at school? The responses were analysed using thematic analysis.  

Although smaller proportions of respondents indicated that they already felt safe at school, that there was nothing adults could do, and/or that they did not know what could be done, the four most frequently recurring themes in the survey responses were: (1) wanting more adult presence during the school day, (2) wanting adults to be stricter and more active in dealing with ongoing bullying, (3) wanting adults to ask more about students' health and well-being and be more supportive, and (4) wanting adults to be more involved, for example by organising more break activities.

The results can provide important insights into what a large number of students think is important to make schools safer for students.

The aim of this study was to explore student loneliness and a lack of sense of belonging in Swedish schools, and to gain insight from school staff on how to identify and address these issues. Fourteen school personnel—including counsellors, special educators, and teachers—were interviewed using a semi-structured approach. The data were analysed thematically, both inductively and deductively. According to the staff, loneliness and lack of belonging are widespread phenomena, observable throughout the school day—for example, during breaks and other social interactions. These are complex phenomena influenced by both individual and environmental factors. Contributing elements to students’ school experiences were identified within the educational, physical, and social aspects of schooling. In particular staff highlighted how these aspects intertwine and may negatively affect students’ feelings of isolation and alienation. Key implications include the need for school leaders and policy makers to consider the interconnectedness of these dimensions—the educational, physical, and social aspects of schooling—in order to effectively address loneliness and foster more inclusive and supportive school environments for all students.

Research topic/aim: Although previous studies on school bullying have recognized several aspects as significant for anti-bullying interventions in schools, there is still a need for more knowledge about how aspects beyond the individuals directly involved in bullying situations can contribute to underpinning bullying interactions. In this study, I address this need for additional knowledge by discussing school staff's reflections on how school loneliness and bullying relate to exo- and macrosystem aspects, such as perceptions of the distribution of responsibility between pupils, teachers, and principals in Swedish elementary schools.

Theoretical framework: In this study, I draw on a system theoretical perspective to school staff's reflections on school loneliness and bullying. The findings are analyzed using Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological model, with a particular focus on how school loneliness and bullying can be understood as phenomena affected by several intertwined layers or systems. As has been pointed out elsewhere, education policy in Sweden (as in other countries) has shifted focus and changed over the last decade or so. This applies, for example, to teaching patterns, working methods, and perceptions of "what education is, what education is for and how education should be shaped" (Dahlstedt & Fejes, 2019b, p. 2). In this study I discuss these changes at the exo- and macrosystem level as significant for understanding school loneliness and bullying.

Methodological design: The present study is part of an ongoing research project with a focus on school staff's reflections on school loneliness and bullying in Swedish schools. The data has been analyzed inductively and thematically (Braun & Clarke, 2006), with particular focus on what is suggested to be the school staff's “main concerns” related to their experiences of working with school loneliness and bullying (Charmaz, 2014).

Expected conclusions/findings: The findings suggest a complex intertwined picture within which school staff on the one hand highlight micro- and meso-system aspects of anti-bullying work, such as the importance of classroom leadership, relationships and collaboration with colleagues and parents. On the other hand, they emphasize the perceived importance of exo- and macro-system aspects, such as perceptions of the division of responsibilities between pupils, teachers, and principals. Taken together, the findings point to a tension between school staff struggling with prevention in day-to-day work and the seemingly overlooked aspects of a school system which seemingly presupposes a certain type of pupil; one who can establish and maintain their social relationships, and who can manage the context in which they find themselves.

Relevance to Nordic educational research: The findings discussed highlight the importance of more thoroughly considering the exo- and macrosystem level to school loneliness and bullying. The findings are significant for school staff and school policy makers who work preventively with school loneliness and bullying, both in Sweden andin Nordic educational contexts. Not least, the findings can also have great significance for the pupils who experience loneliness and bullying atschool more or less daily.

Background Despite extensive work to prevent and reduce bullying interactions, bullying is still a prevalent problem in many schools. Children and youth also report that they feel involuntarily left out in school. While research has demonstrated the ways in which school bullying is connected to risk factors across different ecological layers or contexts, relatively little consideration has been given to aspects beyond the individuals directly involved in bullying situations, such as the exo, and macrosystem layers. 

Objective The aim of this study was to examine three pupils’ experiences of school loneli- ness and bullying. The following questions guided the study: (1) What are the pupils’ expe- riences of school loneliness and bullying? (2) How can the pupils’ experiences of school loneliness and bullying be understood beyond the individuals directly involved in the bul- lying situations? 

Method The research is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted at one Swedish ele- mentary school including 34 pupils and 7 teachers in two sixth-grade classes (i.e., ages 11–12). The findings presented in this article are based on a group interview with three pupils about their experiences of school loneliness and bullying. The interview responses are put into perspective using findings from the ethnographic fieldwork. The findings were analysed using methods from constructivist grounded theory and through the lens of Bron- fenbrenner’s ecological theory of human development as well as critical bullying studies.

Results The findings of this study demonstrate the ways bullying interactions are tied to the different layers, or “settings”, of the bullying ecology as the pupils draw from a range of differential points of reference so as to socially evaluate themselves, their classmates, and their peers. 

Conclusions An important conclusion of the study is for principals, teachers, and other school personnel to consider more thoroughly the interdependent interplay of the bullying ecology. 

Elever förstår att mobbning är fel och gör skada. Hur berättar elever om mobbning? Vilken är relationen mellan mobbning och ofrivillig skolensamhet? Och vad berättar elevers reflektioner om det förebyggande arbetet i skolan? 

In this paper, I draw on interview data from an ongoing study with school staff about theirexperiences of working with involuntary social isolation in Swedish elementary schools. I discuss the experiences of teachers, special pedagogues, social pedagogues, and school counselors working in socio-economically heterogeneous areas. Since the beginning of the 1990s, ways of teaching and learning in Swedish schools have changed significantly (Skolverket, 2009). The changes in the Swedish school system (and other counties school systems as well) can be understood as a the, "changing view about what education is, what education is for, and how education should be shaped" (Dahlstedt & Fejes, 2019, p . 2). "Learning has thus "become an individual project" (p. 39). Overall, schooling, as well as perceptions of schooling – both in terms of knowledge goals and democracy goals – has changed in the direction of individualization and that there has been a shift in responsibility from teachers to students in Swedish primary schools (Skolverket, 2009). In relation to this background, I pose three questions: What are school staff’s experiences school loneliness, and social isolation, and bullying as phenomena in school?How can school loneliness, social isolation and bullying be understood beyond the individuals directly involved?What do school staff’s experiences mean for the preventive work against school loneliness, social isolation and bullying? The findings suggest that school loneliness and bullying is perhaps not so much about individual students withproblems, rather in difficulties underpinned by contextual aspects of schooling and societal norms, such as about perceptions of responsibility of school, teachers, pupils and parents.

BACKGROUND

Despite considerable anti–bullying efforts and greater awareness of the social processes underpinning bullying, bullying is still a serious problem across schools in many countries. In exploring the social processes that contribute to school bullying, research indicates complex relationships between bullying and the maintenance and building of friendships. While such findings provide important information about the social context of school bullying, more needs to be understood about the institutional context within which school bullying – and friendship – occur.

PURPOSE

The aim of this study is to better understand how school bullying relates to friendship processes, and how these are, in turn, influenced by the institutional constraints of the school context.

METHOD

The findings discussed draw on 3 months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted at one Swedish elementary school. The fieldwork involved participant observations, as well as semi–structured group interviews with 34 sixth-grade pupils (approx. 12 years of age), which were conducted towards the end of the fieldwork. Data were analysed thematically.

FINDINGS

The analysis highlighted the importance of friendships to pupils but also identified the ways in which understandings of friendship relations were closely tied to the importance of social perceptions and the organisational constraints of the school context.

CONCLUSIONS

Taken together, the findings suggest that school bullying cannot be de–contextualised from the social and institutional contexts of school but may rather be connected to the perceived need for control in that particular arena. The study draws attention to how the complex relations between bullying, friendship and school context need to be better understood, in order to support efforts to prevent school bullying.