Power in Their Hands: The Outcomes of the Acting Against Bullying Research Project

Abstract

Bullying in schools is an ongoing issue of international concern and, despite more than three decades of concerted attempts in many countries to deal with it, extensive research continues to reveal increasing levels of persistent bullying - with serious consequences for students - in schools worldwide. This article reports on the outcomes of an innovative applied theatre research project that, over a decade, used a combination of process drama and forum theatre interwoven with peer teaching to empower students of all ages to manage the bullying situations they encounter in their schools. Earlier phases of this project were reported on in the Applied Theatre Researcher, vol. 3 (O'Toole and Burton, 2002). The more recent successful outcomes of the project and the constraints and problems encountered in the research are analysed here.