Bullying in education

Bullying, whether in-person or online, is a barrier to inclusive, high-quality education and to cohesive societies. This OECD working paper documents bullying prevalence and trends across OECD and accession countries between 2015 and 2022, using PISA data. Regression analyses point to marked disparities in bullying exposure across student groups, with socio-economically advantaged boys with an immigrant background facing particularly elevated risks. The paper also synthesises evidence on how bullying can harm individual students, and how these individual effects can spill over to schools and, over time, generate wider social and economic costs. It then reviews strategies to prevent and respond to bullying, encompassing both national-level policies and school-based initiatives. The paper concludes with policy implications concerning a coherent anti-bullying system-level strategy, strengthened school staff capacity, school interventions combining universal prevention with targeted support, routine prevalence monitoring and robust impact evaluations.