Abstract
Violence at school can severely impact on the mental health of those who suffer from - or witness it- on school’s environment and on the society at large: it creates a sense of insecurity and fear that undermines the educational and academic aims of the school and, in a broader sense, it is the opposite of the education for citizenship, as it goes against the rights of pupils and young people to live free from fear and intimidation (Smith et al. 2008; The Council of Europe, 2017).
In this chapter, we illustrate the way in which Italian educational leaders in accordance with European recommendations and guidelines, have understood and addressed through policy and practice guidelines bullying and cyberbullying, the two main phenomena that make children feeling unsafe in schools. Some clarification are needed in order to differentiate “direct” forms of bullying (where the bully openly acts against the victim with verbal and physical attacks and taking or breaking someone’s things) from “indirect” forms (where the bully induces other peers in the social network of the victim to isolate or humiliate him/her). Bullying can occur also online, and in this case it is referred as Cyberbullying. This form is carried on through the use of ICTs tools (mobiles, smartphones, computers) and contents (Instant messaging, Social networks, Web channels, emails, etc..) (Slonje et al., 2013).
In Italy the research on bullying at schools appeared around the 90’ of the last century, reporting a worrisome diffusion of the phenomenon among children and adolescents (Fonzi, 1997). Some studies have been also undertaken in the framework of the Eu Programmes, which showed that Italy scored higher for indirect bullying than the other Eu Countries involved into the study (Genta et al. 2012; Brighi, Guarini, Tomassoni and Genta, 2013).
After a short contextualizing highlight on the Italian school system, the chapter analyzes the documents enacted by the Ministry of Education in order to face violence at school, not only in terms of physical force or power, but also in its psychological form. The Italian strategy against bullying dated back to 2007 and since then it has been developing a strong preventive approach.
In the following, the chapter presents some data concerning the prevalence of bullying and cyberbullying in Italy, by taking into consideration National and International surveys. In the last concluding section, some prevention programs implemented in Italian schools, stemming from international and national academic research, will be outlined and discussed.