Forty English secondary schools will test whether a school-led programme of restorative practices, staff training, and student action groups can cut bullying and aggression among 11- to 15-year-olds over three years. Bullying and aggressive behaviour in schools harm mental health, drive truancy, and increase NHS and police costs. Existing anti-bullying programmes often lack rigorous evidence. This cluster-randomised trial—the INCLUSIVE intervention—directly compares schools using the programme against those continuing normal practice, measuring outcomes for the same students from Year 8 to Year 10. If effective, the intervention could reduce the high social and economic costs of anti-social behaviour without requiring NHS staff. Schools would have a tested, scalable model that combines environmental changes with social and emotional skills training. The trial also tracks quality of life, well-being, health risk behaviours, and staff stress, offering a comprehensive picture of impact. An economic evaluation will tell funders whether the programme is cost-effective for wider rollout.
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We will undertake a cluster-randomised trial to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the INCLUSIVE intervention in reducing aggression and bullying in 40 English secondary schools. Main research question: Is the INCLUSIVE intervention effective and cost-effective in reducing aggression and bullying in 11-15 year olds in English schools Intervention Schools in the intervention arm will implement the INCLUSIVE intervention over 3 years, 2 of which involve external facilitation. INCLUSIVE is a school-led intervention which combines changes to the school environment with the promotion of social and emotional skills and restorative practices through: the formation of a school action group involving students and staff supported by an external facilitator to review local data on needs, determine priorities, and develop and implement an action plan for revising relevant school policies/rules and other actions to improve relationships at school and reduce aggression; staff training in restorative practices; and a new social and emotional skills curriculum. The intervention combines strong fidelity of inputs, processes and core components with the capacity for tailoring non-core components to local needs. Delivery: The intervention will be delivered by schools, through the school action groups, supported by educational facilitators. Funding: We are seeking intervention funding from charities that funded these costs in our pilot trial (Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Big Lottery Fund). NHS components: There are no NHS staff involved in the delivery of this intervention. 1. Participants: 40 state-supported secondary schools in England. INCLUSIVE is designed to affect all students in participating schools, however outcomes will be assessed among students in year 8 in the 1st intervention year, moving through to year 10 in the 3rd year. 2. Comparator: Normal practice. 3. Outcomes Primary: Two primary outcomes at individual student level will be assessed at baseline and at the 36 month follow-up: 1. Aggressive behaviours in school: measured by the Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime school misbehaviour subscale (ESYTC) 2. Bullying and victimisation: measured by the Gatehouse Bullying Scale (GBS) Secondary: Student level and teaching staff level secondary outcomes will be assessed at the 24 months and 36 month surveys. School level outcomes will be assessed at 24 and 36 months. a. Student level: Quality of life: Paediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) Psychological function: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) Well-being: Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (SWEMWBS), Health risk behaviours: Smoking, alcohol & illicit drug use, sexual risk behaviours NHS use: Use of categories of NHS services in past year Contact with police: in past year b. Teaching staff level: stress, quality of life, work absences. c. School level: Truancy and exclusion rates. Economic evaluation: Child Health Utility Questionnaire (CHU-9D), staff quality of life, costs. Process: An integral process evaluation will examine intervention delivery and receipt, fidelity, coverage, acceptability and contextual influences; and explore intervention logic model and causal pathways. Impact: A universal intervention that reduces anti-social behaviour and risk behaviours and improves well-being in secondary schools has broad potential to reduce the high costs of anti-social behaviour and reduce inequalities.
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