Parents and teachers: partners in the fight against bullying Gabriëlla Dekker-Calado & Annelies Kassenberg1. 1Professorship Youth, Education & Society, Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen CONSORTIUM Hanze University of Applied Sciences University of Groningen Netherlands Youth Institute Cedin Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences Windesheim University of Applied Sciences CBS Hildegaertschool, Rotterdam CBS De Buitenburcht, Almere OBS De Swoaistee, Groningen GOAL OF THE PROJECT Developing an effective strategy to facilitate cooperation between parents and teachers that can be employed in the event of bullying as a supplement to existing anti-bullying programmes. This consortium's ambition is to boost the social safety of children in primary education by applying expertise in the field of bullying and parental involvement, and by combining past experiences. RESEARCH QUESTIONS What is an effective strategy for cooperation between parents and teachers regarding incidences of bullying? To what extent do the perceptions of parents, teachers and children differ from one another with regard to the child's situation in the classroom? And what factors influence these differences (and similarities)? What decisive factors affect the cooperation between parents and teachers concerning incidences of bullying? SECTOR AND THEME Primary Education The socialising function of education BACKGROUND In the Netherlands, 330,000 children are regularly bullied or bully at school. Children who are bullied repeatedly and in many different ways suffer from social and emotional problems (Fekkes, 2005). If parents identify bullying, they can inform the teacher. Parents know their child best in their home environment. Teachers know more about the group dynamics within the classroom and possess the didactic skills to intervene. In this way, parents and teachers can work together to tackle bullying (Munniksma, Huitsing, Oldenburg, Van der Ploeg & Veenstra, 2014). Bullying at school is an emotionally charged topic that significantly tests the relationship between parents and teachers (Petri, Kassenberg & Luinge, submitted). All anti-bullying methods lack concrete tools to help teachers work together with parents whose children are personally involved in an incidence of bullying. RESEARCH GROUP AT THE MOMENT AND BEYOND PhD candidate started research (systematic review literature) Preparing data collection proposal for ethic review comittee Preparing living labs in schools AFTER SUMMER Training parents and teachers in storytelling Collecting network data DESIGN     Knowledge on differences in perceptions of bullying Social network analysis (wp 1) Knowledge on decisive factors of cooperation Case study stories (wp 2) Stage 1 (21 months) Development of cooperation strategy Making implicit experiental knowledge explicit, systemizing, developing, applying (Practice Based Evidence) (wp 3) Stage 2 (15 months) Contact: g.j.dekker-calado@pl.hanze.nl a.kassenberg@pl.hanze.nl