The aim of the National working group in Norway is to give advises about national research, policy and researched based practice within the area of bullying, violence and other forms of offensive behaviour in school.
A large number of programs and projects for violence prevention and advancement of social competences are developed and conducted in Austrian’s schools. Also a multitude of publications, like manuals, guidelines and the like exist, which describe concrete measures for violence prevention. Nevertheless most of these programs lack theoretical background and scientific evaluation. Therefore the need of evidence-based practice becomes more and more important. Aim of this report is to present ten programs, which fit these criteria of evidence-based practice.
Define the significance of schools activities (vision and mission), its values and operational objectives in order to make the school act in line with the expectations of inside and outside partners.
The Viennese Social Competence Training (ViSC) provides students with systematic theoretically based guidance in becoming responsible and competent actors in conflict situations. ViSC has been especially designed for disadvantaged adolescents aged 15 to 19 who are considered at risk for eventual problems. This population has rarely been the target group of prevention programs. Until now in Austria, prevention programs have mostly been conducted in privileged schools like Gymnasiums (college prep) and not in schools with predominantly disadvantaged students. Furthermore, these programs mostly target students below 15 years of age. Thus a program like ViSC might well be the last opportunity for youths to work on their social behavior, e.g. to learn how to adequately deal with conflicts, before they have to manage their lives as adults in work or family.
Three secondary and seven primary schools in the Ljubljana area have participated in Project Labyrinth, a violence prevention programme among young people.
The main goal of this project is to reduce students’ maladaptive behaviour and to help students continue their positive behaviour beyond the school setting. The underlying concept is that upon completion of the three-year project, the involved communities will adopt the project principles and assimilate them into their activities on an ongoing basis.
By screening large numbers of students, ACE identifies students at high risk of developing depression and focuses professionals’ efforts on the young people who need it most. An important goal is to prevent depression in young people and improve their mental health, as well as provide them with skills to cope at school and with life in general.
