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.