An Ecosystemic Approach to Preventing Bullying in School. Risk Factors Associated with School

Previous research has shown that teachers play an important role in preventing bullying in school. Nowadays, there is a growing interest in understanding the risk factors associated with school such as the teachers’ perception of the severity of bullying and their response to bullies and victims. This paper presents risk factors associated with bullying and teachers’ perceptions within Bronfenbrenner’s (1977) classic ecological theory.According to this paradigm, changes are required in the environments with which children interact as they develop (family, school, community and society). By exposing the factors that trigger and maintain bullying, we aim to highlight the importance of Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems model in designing bullying prevention strategies. We will focus on the risk factors associated with school, chief among which is the, teachers' perceptions of bullying in school. Not only does this view contribute to optimizing the understanding of the importance of ecosystem theory for effectiveness prevention, but it also suggests that both research and prevention should focus on individual risk factors that influence teachers' reactivity to bullying behaviors.