Consultation Services
Olweus Bullying Prevention Program
The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program is a multi-level, multi-component program that aims to reduce bullying in elementary, middle, and junior high schools. The program addresses the effects that bullying has on the victim, the bully, and bystanders. Core components of the program are implemented at the school, classroom, and individual levels.
Establishing a school environment that is safe and positive increases students’ level of satisfaction with school, creates an environment that is conducive to learning, and fosters school connectedness.
The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program aims to promote a school climate that discourages bullying and other forms of youth violence. These goals are accomplished by raising the awareness of each school’s problems with bullying and developing clear rules and expectations against bullying behavior. In addition, garnering the support and involvement of teachers, parents, and students is equally important. The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program has been implemented in more than one dozen countries and has been internationally recognized as a “best practice.” The Olweus program meets the requirements of the Ohio School Climate Guidelines.
Schools that participate select a coordinating committee that attends two days of formal training by certified Olweus trainers. During this training, the committee is presented with information on bullying and the framework for the Olweus program. Each school committee then works to tailor the specifics of the program, such as school rules against bullying and consequences for bullying behavior, to the needs in their particular building. The committee plans all aspects of implementation, including staff training, parent involvement, and the Bullying Prevention kick-off event.
Miami University and the Center for School-Based Mental Health Programs are partnering with local elementary, junior high, and middle schools to provide technical assistance to each school’s coordinating committee. Technical assistance is being provided to nine local elementary schools and two middle/junior high schools in the Talawanda, Edgewood, Elmwood/St. Bernard, and Fairfield City School Districts in Southwest Ohio.