The KiVa method, an idea that is putting an end to bullying

In Finland, bullying in schools has disappeared. How have they achieved this?

In Spain, 70% of 15-year-old schoolchildren have been victims or perpetrators (in many cases, both) of bullying, both in person and through new technologies.

Experts point out that this type of bullying exists in all human societies.They have asked schools to accept the problem in order to study and implement measures aimed at preventing it where it may appear and making it disappear where it exists.

The KiVa method is one of the most promising proposals in this direction.

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• "The 11 types of violence (and kinds of aggression)"
• "The 7 types of gender violence (and characteristics)"

The origins of the KiVa method

Finland is a country that allocates large resources to education, which is considered a matter of great importance for the state. In recent years, the Nordic country has the Nordic country has set itself the task of putting an end to bullying and improving the education system in its various aspects..

As a reflection of this, Finland has in recent years achieved a worthy first place in higher education, primary education and training in the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) thanks to the importance given to education in recent times. All measures aimed at education have contributed to creating a strong workforce with the right skills to adapt to an ever-changing socio-economic context that has led to high levels of technological development.

The Finnish education system: one of the best in the world

Finland is currently one of the most creative and innovative nations in the EU and the world, ranking second in the ranking (first place is held by Switzerland). At the time the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) produced the PISA report, the Nordic country achieved the top rankings in education..

However, the Finnish education system is not perfect: Finland also suffers from the terrible epidemic of bullying. What is the tool they use to solve bullying in Finland? With the KiVa program.

The KiVa program

The term KiVa comes from the union of the words "Kiusaamista Vastaan" (Finnish for "against bullying").

Thanks to this approach, Finland is succeeding in eradicating bullying. This method is applied in 90% of basic education schools.Its success is such that it has become an essential tool when assessing and choosing any school in the Finnish educational system, both for teachers and for students.

The experimentation stage

The KiVa program was created at the suggestion of the Finnish government and the educational community; "The project began to be introduced randomly in Finnish schools," explains Christina Salmivalli, a professor of psychology and one of the inventors of the program.

Years later, a study was carried out (one of the largest in the country, by the way) to see how the program evolved and the impact it had on students. The results were impressive: the KiVa program had reduced all types of bullying in high schools and colleges. The siege against bullying had begun to work. In fact, bullying disappeared in 80% of schools. These spectacular figures have naturally aroused the interest of the international educational community.

Long-term results against bullying

After one year, the researchers found that the number of children and adolescents suffering from bullying had decreased by 41%. But the method not only solved the problem, the program also boosted the students' comfort and motivation to study, thus boosting their grades.

The Finnish Embassy in Madrid states that 98 percent of the 1,000 schools that participated in the program in 2009 believed that school life had improved significantly during the first year of the program. during the first year in which the KiVa method began to be applied, a fact confirmed by numerous studies.

Such is the program's success that the KiVa method has been awarded the European Crime Prevention Award in 2009, among others.

One of the best ways to understand the potential of this KiVa program against bullying is through an example. At Karamzin school they had a serious bullying problem, so the KiVa program was implemented at the school during 2008: during the first year of implementation, bullying was reduced by 60%..

How does the KiVa method work?

The method used in the KiVa program consists of not focusing on the dialectic of confrontation between victim and bully (neither treating the victim to be more extroverted nor trying to change the bully to develop empathy) but is based on acting on the bystanders who laugh at such a situation.

In many cases, these bystanders internalize that what is happening is normal, even funny, even if they have a different underlying opinion. The aim of the method is to influence these bystanders not to participate indirectly in the harassment.. If this is achieved, the bully, who needs recognition to continue with the bullying, stops bullying because it does not bring him any benefit.

In short, the program is based on trying to get viewers not to laugh at the young people who are the aggressors in the bullying. Simple, but effective.

The details of the program

In the KiVa program, students are taught in about 20 classes at ages 7, 10 and 13 (key ages in a child's development) to identify the different forms of bullying. In this way, they are already made aware at a very young age.

There are ten topics and tasks that are carried out throughout the course and where moral values such as empathy and respect for others are taught. A large number of resources are used: talks, video games, teacher manuals, recess surveillance, feature films... even a virtual mailbox to report if they are witnesses or victims of bullying.

The KiVa team

In every school, the principal chooses a KiVa team composed of three adults who detect and investigate cases of bullying****r.

They first determine whether the bullying is one-off or ongoing. Then they talk to the victim to reassure him or her. They then talk to the bullies to sensitize them and to the witnesses, who are the cornerstone of the program, thus reducing bullying.

The potential of the method

This drastic change in a number of Finnish schools can give an idea of the qualitative changes at the social level that this type of program could have not only in schools, but also in the different cultural strata of adults educated through these methods.

If we are educated from the earliest stages not to passively support acts of violence of this type, it is conceivable that the mentality of adults will also change in many ways. Only time will tell whether such sudden cultural changes will come to pass.. The repercussions of the KiVa program may go far beyond the fight against bullying, they may be the seed for a more just, caring and cohesive society.