Understanding the impact of bias bullying-victimisation in schools

About the project

About the Project Bullying remains an important public health issue, with potentially negative short and long-term impacts on individuals (Gorman et al., 2021). A substantial body of research investigating experiences of school bullying and this has led to the development of evidence-informed generalised anti-bullying programmes, which have demonstrated some success (e.g. Hensums et al., 2023). However, less research has focussed on bias bullying, defined as, ‘ aggressive behaviour directed towards a less powerful person on the basis of a stereotype of a group to which the target is perceived or alleged to belong, and that causes harm to the target. ’ (Shute, 2005, p. 113). Research indicates that bias bullying is experienced by many pupils. However, most research has been conducted in the USA, where data indicates that one in four pupils who reported being targets of bullying, reported experiencing bias bullying (US Government Accountability Office, 2021). Furthermore, the limited research to-date has suggested that this form of bullying may be associated with even more negative consequences than bullying which is not focussed on an individual’s protected characteristics (Kurpiel, 2024). Research indicates that bias bullying is experienced by a significant proportion of pupils and that it can have serious negative consequences (Sapouna et al., 2023; Shute, 2025). This PhD aims to provide some insights into the levels of bias bullying experienced by pupils and to address some of the key ‘gaps’ in our understanding of these behaviours in the UK. This doctorate is a collaboration between researchers at the University of Greenwich and the National Children’s Bureau (NCB) and Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA). Research Questions Does school bullying/cyberbullying victimisation vary by individuals’ protected characteristics within a large UK-based sample? Does the association between bullying/cyberbullying victimisation and school belonging, internalising and externalising factors, vary by protected characteristics within a large UK-based sample? Does experience and impact of bullying vary developmentally within this UK school sample? Do bias and non-bias bullying/cyberbullying victimisation predict negative outcomes (academic engagement and wellbeing) longitudinally over the course of a year? Do individual, school and contextual factors moderate or mediate these relationships? Proposed methodology Study 1: A secondary data analysis using cross-sectional data collected by the Anti-Bullying Alliance in 2021-2024 of the bullying/cyberbullying experiences of a sample of over 130,000 pupils (aged 5 to 17 years) will be conducted. Analysis of the extent and associations with wellbeing and feelings of school belonging of reported bullying and cyberbullying victimisation will be examined by protected characteristics and across age. (RQs 1-3) Drawing on the findings of study 1 we will identify subgroups, ages, and contexts to explore longitudinally in Study 2 , so this will be refined further during the PhD (RQs 4-5). Please see the webpage for application instructions and funding details.

Research areas