An Introduction to the Special Issue on the Role of Teachers in Preventing and Intervening in Offline and Online Bullying

Research in to bullying extends over fifty years with definitions of bullying highlighting the elements of repetition, power imbalance, and intent to cause harm (Smith, 2016 ); however, a more inclusive definition of school bullying has recently been proposed. School bullying is defined as “ a damaging social process that is characterized by an imbalance of power driven by social (societal) and institutional norms. It is often repeated and manifests as unwanted interpersonal behaviour among students or school personnel that causes physical , social , and emotional harm to the targeted individuals or groups , and the wider school community” (O’Higgins Norman, 2024 , p. 4). Depending on the cut-off criteria used to classify experiences, and whether a definition-based scale or a behaviour-based scale is used to assess experiences of bullying, prevalence rates range from 3.5% to 40% for children and adolescents from Sweden (Sjögren et al., 2025 ).