Professor Carmel Cefai:

I will add just one point about the children’s understandings of bullying. Professor Hymel was in fact saying research shows us children’s understanding of bullying is not always the same as others' understanding of bullying. One way of working around that is the importance of including children in any exercise in identification of the conditions that are contributing to bullying and the sense that they make of those situations. Children should be included in bullying interventions both in terms of the resources and the types of activities. Research is very much showing that children are more likely to be engaged in resources where fellow children have been involved in co-creating. Research shows children can provide us with very useful insights and materials on how to deal with and overcome bullying and we need to give them a say on the way forward in the initiatives we have to do. This is not just an academic exercise by referring to the student council but real authentic participation.