Since 2023 experts from EWC, the Greek non-profit organization SolidarityNow, as well as other government and non-governments institutions, have met up to learn from each other, and develop a guidebook to prevent discrimination and bullying in Greek schools. Building on the accumulated knowledge of all partners, the guidebook is now available in both English and Greek.
Unfortunately, many children face violence and bullying at school. Every day the national support line for children in Greece receives one call per day about violence at school.
An unsafe school environment is particularly challenging for vulnerable groups like refugees, migrants, Roma and members of the LGBTQI+ community.
In every school environment, students’ well-being and safety should be paramount. Schools are not just places of academic learning but also spaces of social and emotional development for the students. These developmental processes can be disrupted by school violence and bullying turning schools into hostile environments.
“Guidebook with Good Practices against Bullying” 2024
To address this issue, EWC teamed up with SolidarityNow, one of Greece’s main non-formal to education actors, to learn from each other, and contribute to the prevention of discrimination, bullying and violence in Greek schools. The project “Classrooms Against Bullying” would result in a Guidebook with Good Practices against Bullying, which would then be submitted to the Institution of Educational Policy of Greece (IEP).
Between September 2023 and August 2024, members of both organisations met up at study visits in workshops in Greece and Oslo, capitalizing especially on the resources developed by EWC over a 15-year period on the whole school approach and development of democratic competences.
The overall aim was to combat bullying and create a safe and inclusive learning environment for all.
An Expert Team was established, consisting of Ms. Pantazi and Vogiatzoglou from the Department for the Coordination and Monitoring of Refugee Education at the Ministry of Education, Ms. Bafe from the Greek Ombudsman, Ms. Charalampidou from the Institution of Educational Policy and Ms. Aroni from the Ministry of Migration and Asylum, working on adapting already existing strategies and learnings modules to the needs and cultural practices of Greece.
The collective wisdom accumulated through the project period can now be read in the “Guidebook with Good Practices against Bullying”, written by EWC Project Coordinator Marianthi Antoniou, EWC Head Trainer Angelos Vallianatos and SolidarityNow Senior Education Officer Mariza Varthalami.
Download the English version here:
Download the Greek version here:
“The involvement of three individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences within the Greek context greatly enriched the final outcome, says Marianthi Antoniou, reflecting on the writing process. “Addressing bullying is a complex issue that requires collaboration, where everyone works closely together in an environment that fosters mutual respect and understanding.”
Marianthi believes it is important to not only look at the bully, but take the entire school environment and local community into consideration when combating school bullying and violence:
“I believe that shifting the focus from solely blaming the bully to examining the community around them, along with the reasons and influences behind their actions, is crucial for shaping future anti-bullying initiatives, policies and practices specifically in the school community. While our society is organized in various ways, combating bullying requires a shared understanding and collective responsibility at the individual level.”
“Coming from different fields of education, different experiences, studies, ages and organisations, we connected similarities and hosted differences in order to fulfill our common goal: to present a rare idea of vaccinating the implementation of the Greek school legislation on bullying with the Norwegian relevant good practice,” says Angelos Vallianatos about the project.
“As one can follow in this publication, it is based on fostering the feeling of belonging at school. This is what we achieved in personal and professional level while writing the manual,” he continues.
Angelos believes the guidebook with help school to successfully implement anti-bullying initiatives.
“Violence among young people is a hot issue today, mostly for schools,” he says. “I think that this publication can contribute to anti-bullying initiatives because it is short, practical and up to point. It presents possible helpful actions seen under the educators’ prospect; ideas ready to use.”
The Guidebook equips teachers with ideas and practical tools to address bullying incidents before, during, and after they occur at school. It also provides a concise overview of the new Greek anti-bullying law (5029/2023), while seeking to enrich the existing perspective in dealing with such incidents – exploring how involving at the school’s stakeholders, (a Whole School Approach), as well as fostering a sense of belonging can help reduce violence and bullying among students.
𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺𝘀 𝗔𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁 𝗕𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 (𝗖𝗔𝗕) is implemented by SolidarityNow and the European Wergeland Centre and was financed by EEA and Norway Grants, with ΣΟΛ Crowe and HumanRights360 as fund operators.