Cedefop’s (the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training) mission is to promote vocational education and training (VET) for excellence, making young people more employable and empowered with the knowledge, skills and competences needed to build a bright future. This may only happen, if we strive for safe and inclusive educational systems, that care and respect the needs and the well-being of every single learner, enabling them to thrive emotionally, socially, and academically.
Preventing bullying and violence among youth is a top EU policy priority. EU’s efforts are endorsed with several initiatives and policy frameworks, such as the Council Recommendation on Pathways to School Success, and the European Commission's guidelines for supporting well-being and mental health in schools. The EU is also prioritising the development of strategies to prevent and address hate speech and cyberbullying, through various working groups, projects, and funded programmes.
Despite the political commitment and progress made, there is still a long way to eradicate bullying and cyberbullying in Europe. Today, one in three students worldwide experiences bullying, one in ten students is victim of cyberbullying, according to the latest data of UNESCO. Yet in Europe: only half of EU Member States have national policies in place to address bullying, and even fewer have specific policies to combat cyberbullying.
Within Cedefop’s work, tackling violence and bullying at school, also means preventing dropout and facilitating school success. All forms of violence in education hinder learning. Research indicates that victims of bullying are more likely to drop out of school. Today, one in ten students in Europe drops out and never qualifies in upper secondary education. This is alarming. An early school leaver, faces fewer employment opportunities, may be trapped in precarious jobs, and rarely participates in further education and training, perpetuating cycles of poverty and inequality. Moreover, being an early school leaver increases the likelihood to become socially inactive and fall into what we call a NEET: a young person not in employment, education, or training.
At Cedefop, we fight against early leaving from VET through several means: from supporting evidence-based policy making, to providing practical tools, like the VET toolkit for tackling early leaving and the VET toolkit for empowering NEETs. These resources help policymakers and VET practitioners to prevent early leaving and bring dropouts back into education and training. We've also established a European network of ambassadors to promote peer learning and disseminate good practices in promoting inclusive educational ecosystems.
Source: Cedefop team VET for youth
To combat any form of school violence, school leaders and teachers need to receive effective training on addressing violence and bullying throughout their careers, along with support for their own well-being. Teachers’ well-being and teaching performance are deeply affected by violence in schools too: approximately 80% of teachers worldwide report experiencing some form of violence. This leads to high levels of stress, burnout, and reduced job satisfaction, which in turn impacts the quality of education they can provide. When teachers are demotivated or feel unsafe, the entire learning environment suffers.
To this end, policymakers have to create a framework which enables school staff to get the necessary training and support. At Cedefop, we place great emphasis on teachers' continuing professional development and well-being and have conducted intensive research over the past decades. Next year, we will launch the European VET Teachers Survey (EVTS). This groundbreaking survey will provide valuable insights into how teachers engage in training to promote inclusion, address violence and bullying, and support students’ well-being. The first results of the survey will be available in 2026.
Objectives of the EVTS
Source: Cedefop European VET Teachers Survey (EVTS) project page
It is well known that school violence and bullying are symptoms of a broader social problem. Thus, tackling violence and bulling at school is a collective responsibility and requires a whole community approach. To effectively address this issue, it is essential to adopt a comprehensive, inclusive and interdisciplinary approach and engage multiple stakeholders, not only those directly involved, such as teachers, parents and students, but also national and regional policymakers, social workers, and psychologists.
Join our efforts to build violence-free schools and end violence in and through education. Apply here to become an ambassador at Cedefop’s European network for tackling early leaving.
This blog article draws from Irene Psifidou’ opening speech at the International Conference: Preventing and tackling bullying and youth violence which took place on 3 December 2024 in Athens, Greece on the occasion of the 10-year anniversary of the European Antibullying Network (EAN).
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