UC academic invited by UNESCO

The academic from the School of Psychology traveled to Paris with the aim of working on a review and update of the concept of bullying, a phenomenon that would affect, according to UNESCO figures, more than 30% of students worldwide.

Bullying (repetitive hostile threats made by one or more people against another) has long established itself as one of the most serious problems within school communities. UNESCO statistics reveal that more than 30% of students in the world have been victims of bullying. Figures that have worsened after the pandemic, experiencing an increase, above all, in cases of virtual bullying or also called cyber-bullying .

“We have been trying to reformulate a definition that is shared by academics, researchers and public policy decision makers” – Christian Berger, academic UC School of Psychology

This is a worrying scenario, considering that students who are frequently bullied not only have problems in their performance, but are also more likely to drop out of formal education as a result of these abuses. Statistics also show that they are twice as likely to feel lonely, to not be able to sleep at night, and to have thought about suicide. In addition, various studies show that the consequences are observed not only in the students who are victims, but also in those who exercise it and observe it, affecting the entire school community.

In this challenge to stop violence and problems of coexistence in educational establishments, UNESCO has proposed to develop a review and update of the concept of bullying that allows addressing the complexities of this phenomenon today. A job that the organization has been developing since 2019, when it invited a group of experts, including Professor Christian Berger, from the UC School of Psychology , to work on this task. An initiative in which they have joined forces with the World Anti-Bullying Forum, developing joint work that on this occasion led them to meet at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris.

“Four years ago, work was being done on a redefinition of the concept of bullying, because the definition was very old and was not adapted to the phenomenon we see today. So, we have been trying to reformulate a definition that is shared by academics, researchers and decision makers in public policy”, says the deputy director of Research and Graduate Studies at the UC School of Psychology. A work that will be shared at the next meeting of the World Anti-Bullying Forum that will take place in the United States, in October.

According to the researcher, an expert in school coexistence, some of the main advances in this redefinition is that cyber-bullying is now also considered . “That was not in the initial definition. The second important thing is that a definition centered on the individual is overcome and a more systemic perspective is adopted. That is to say, seeing bullying as a phenomenon that occurs within an educational system and that does not occur by itself. It is something that has to do with social, racial prejudices, with discrimination, etc.”

Finally, the academic, who was part of these 12 experts invited by UNESCO, being the only Latin American present at the event, highlights that there is also a change in focus, overcoming a perspective that focuses exclusively on the behaviors perpetrated by students who exercise bullying. “I think this is the most important thing. That more than putting the emphasis on the aggressors, it is placed on the victims and on the conditions of the system that are associated with vulnerability. So it is a definition that is more focused on protection and on the perspective of people’s rights ”, he maintains.