Kiva Programme

What is Kiva?

The Parent Booklet, available here and is very informative.

The Kiva programme is evidence based in its conception, and proven in its implementation. We encourage you to look at the Kiva website which has a great deal of information on the programme. This programme differs from other anti-bullying programmes by focusing on bystanders, as well as the bullies and victims.

From the Website (http://www.kivaprogram.net/nz)

Using KiVa – prevention, intervention, and monitoring

KiVa is evidence-based and has been designed to prevent bullying and to tackle the cases of bullying effectively. Prevention and intervention are both crucial, as no prevention efforts will make bullying disappear on their own.

Schools need effective tools for when a case of bullying comes to light. A key aspect of KiVa is constant monitoring of the situation in one’s school and the changes taking place over time; this is enabled by the online tools included in KiVa. The surveys, for example, produce annual feedback for each school about their implementation of the program as well as shifts in behaviour.

KiVa includes both universal and indicated actions.

The universal actions, such as the KiVa curriculum (student lessons and online games), are directed at all students and focus mainly on preventing bullying. There are direct links to the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) – Essential Learning Areas, Values, Principles and the Key Competencies. KiVa will enhance your school activities and the delivery of your school-based curriculum.

The indicated actions are to be used when a bullying case is identified. They are targeted specifically to the children/adolescents who have been involved in bullying as perpetrators or victims, as well as to several classmates who are challenged to support the victim; the aim is to put an end to bullying.

KiVa has been evaluated in a large randomised controlled trial including 117 intervention schools and 117 control schools. The programme has been shown to reduce both self-and peer-reported bullying and victimisation significantly

1. It influences multiple forms of victimisation, including verbal, physical, and cyberbullying
2. In addition, positive effects on school liking, academic motivation and achievement have been reported
3. KiVa also reduces anxiety and depression and has a positive impact on students’ perception of their peer climate
4. A remarkable 98% of victims involved in discussions with the schools’ KiVa teams felt that their situation improved
5. Finally, Finnish data from more than 1000 schools that started the implementation of KiVa in Autumn 2009 showed that after the first year of implementation, both victimisation and bullying had reduced significantly
6. The KiVa programme won the European Crime Prevention Award in 2009.

Seatoun School Talking about KiVa in the Media

Dominion Post article, August 2021. 

Radio New Zealand interview with our Principal.  1 min 58s into the programme.

Other Interesting Articles

There is a very informative National Radio interview regarding the programme which can be listened to here.

There is also a very informative video that can be viewed here.  It is very useful, but 41 minutes long.

New Zealand Academic Paper

Green, V.A., Woods, L., Wegerhoff, D. et al. An Evaluation of the KiVa Anti-bullying Program in New Zealand. Int Journal of Bullying Prevention 2, 225–237 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42380-019-00034-6