The core theme of this book is theory building in relation to the problem of school bullying. The aim is to support problem solving in practice. It explores the way in which individuals build their personal theories of bullying and the way in which the public body of knowledge has been built to date. A flexible model of bullying is offered that may be used to organise and integrate a broad range of theory. Although the focus is often on psychologists and psychological theory, it is fully recognised that the subject of bullying is studied by other disciplines and that the majority of practitioners managing this problem in schools are teachers. Indeed, the search for relevant theory should know no disciplinary boundaries. Furthermore, the knowledge developed by practitioners in their day-to-day work in schools represents an important starting place for the future development of theory. This is clearly demonstrated in Chapter 1. Overall, this book argues for a redefinition of the relationship between practitioners and academics so that personal theories of bullying and the public body of knowledge feed into one another more routinely and more productively.

This approach towards the theory of school bullying is largely the product of four studies. The first was a systemic case study of bullying in a mainstream secondary school. The second was a retrospective study with adults who were Deaf or hearing impaired. The third explored how applied psychologists used theory in practice.