Building Out Bullying; A presentation by Dr Jacinta Francis

Dr Jacinta Francis is a Healthway Research Fellow at the Telethon Kids Institute in Western Australia. 

Jacinta was invited by Learning Environments WA to give a presentation on her soon-to-be-published research into the topic: “Does the school built environment influence bullying? Reviewing the evidence”

A full house of 35 attendees were eager to hear about Jacinta’s research into links between built environments and risks of bullying.

Jacinta has undertaken an analysis of previously published peer-reviewed papers and noted that this is an area of research that has not been extensively investigated previously.

Jacinta’s research is based on interviews with architects, teachers, children and parents conducted over the last 18 months.

The research has the capacity to provide evidence to inform anecdotal views held by many of us working in the design of schools. 

This could influence overall master planning as well as detailed layouts of bullying hotspots such as locker areas, changerooms and playgrounds.

We look forward to hearing more about this exciting local research over the coming years.

Article written by Eamon Broderick, Past Chair of LEA WA Chapter

Photographer: Eamon Broderick