Friends works to prevent bullying in Sweden and on Wednesday released a report together with Örebro University which shows that bullying is increasing significantly, both online and in the school environment.
The report is based on a Novus survey with responses from more than 1,600 school students aged 9 to 18 and student statistics from the National Agency for Education.
Based on the data, Friends estimates that 140,000 students, corresponding to three children in each class, have been bullied in recent months, which can be compared with their latest estimate from 2015 when the figure was 60,000 students.
- These are hair-raising figures and it surprises me that the figures are so extensive and that bullying continues to increase.
So many people who are bullied at school and online today have never been before in Sweden, says Magnus Loftsson, research leader at Friends.
No easy answer
The fact that bullying is increasing online can to some extent be explained by the fact that children and young people use social media to a greater extent today, says Magnus Loftsson.
But the increase is also visible in the school environment and many who are bullied online are also exposed in school and vice versa.
According to Magnus Loftsson, there is no simple answer to why bullying is increasing, but he believes that many factors come into play.
- We know that there are many teachers and principals who quit or change jobs and schools do not work preventively but put out fires instead of working long-term so that the bullying disappears, he says.
Working in the long term is a key to creating a better climate at school and that there are many adults present during breaks, for example.
- It is the adults' responsibility to ensure that there is no bullying, but it is important to involve the students.
Building relationships is very important because if the students do not feel confident in the adults, they will never know what is happening, says Magnus Loftsson.