The Peer Support Systems for the promotion of convivencia, the improvement of the classroom climate and the prevention of situations of bullying: The experience of Brazil and Spain

Abstract

The influence of the Peer Support in the improvement of school climate and bullying is analyzed here. Two different student samples are compared, one with the presence of peer support structures, the Help Teams (Avilés, 2012), and another without it. Both in secondary schools in Spain and in Brazil. The prevalence of bullying is obtained after the application of Insebull (Avilés & Elices, 2007). In addition, the moral connections and disconnections of the students are measured against two cases of bullying, one with a passive victim and another with a provocative victim. Significant improvement is found in the schools that have these structures in comparison with the improvement of the school climate and the awareness of the students involved in situations of bullying. The degree of communication of the students bullied is also significantly better. There are also fewer moral disconnections in students who have such peer support structures in their schools, when it comes to both passive and provocative victims. Therefore, it is necessary to implement and generalize these structures within the context of Antibullying Policies (Avilés, 2015) of schools.