For some two decades now, bullying in schools has been widely recognised as a societal problem, which can seriously and negatively affect the lives and career paths of many schoolchildren. Following the work of Olweus in Norway in the 1980s, educationists and researchers have been inspired to try out programmes of intervention against bullying in schools. An appreciable number of such interventions have now taken place, in Europe, North America, and Australasia. This is an opportune moment to take stock of what has been achieved, and critically to evaluate these interventions so as to pass on advice to the next generation of educational practitioners and researchers.

There have been some successes, but also some less successful studies. Working on the principle that we can learn from both successes and failures, this book for the first time compiles a detailed account of the major intervention projects against school bullying. It examines the processes as well as the outcomes, and critically assesses the likely reasons for success or failure.

Criteria for inclusion were that a project should have intervened against bullying in more than one school; that there should be a description of the process of intervention; and that there should be some evaluation of the outcome, including some quantitative data on pupil experiences and/or on actual reported incidences of bullying.

The opening chapter summarises the history of research on bullying and makes the case for why interventions are important.