20+ Years of Evidence. One Proven Framework.
Most school programs stop at “evidence-informed.” Ours started as a randomised controlled trial in 1999 and has been peer-reviewed every year since. Every update to Friendly Schools powered by iyarn is grounded in published data.
iyarn is the exclusive worldwide distributor of Friendly Schools.
From December 2025, iyarn holds exclusive global rights to deliver Friendly Schools and OASIS-derived products under licence from The Kids Research Institute Australia. The original research team continues to oversee evidence updates.
eSafety Commissioner, Dec 2024–Feb 2025 survey
Pepler et al. 2010 · EfP p.34
The Friendly Schools program of research · since 1999
How Friendly Schools started
Friendly Schools began in 1999 as a research project led by Professor Donna Cross, investigating how Australian primary schools could reduce bullying through a coordinated whole-school approach. It was one of the first randomised controlled trials of a whole-school bullying intervention anywhere in the world.
Over the following two decades the research expanded across primary and secondary schools, families, cyber-safety, and populations facing additional challenges producing 23 high-quality school and community-based studies with more than 40,000 Australian children, families and school staff — the longest-running program of its kind in Australia.
“When Friendly Schools began in 1999, we never imagined that our research would have the impact it has had on school policy and practice and children’s social development not only across Australia, but internationally.”
The work began at Curtin in 1999, grew at Edith Cowan from 2002, and is now licensed by The Kids Research Institute Australia. iyarn distributes the resulting programme nationally.
The team behind the evidence
Decades of combined expertise in school wellbeing, bullying prevention, and child development research.
Prof Donna Cross
Senior Research Fellow at The Kids Research Institute Australia. Founding researcher of Friendly Schools, leading the program of research since 1999. Has led 23 high-quality studies with more than 40,000 Australian children, families and school staff.
Dr Natasha Pearce
Led the Australian Covert Bullying Prevalence Study and the Beyond Bullying RCT (20,000+ secondary students). Expert in longitudinal trial design and covert-bullying measurement.
Erin Erceg
Co-author of the Friendly Schools Evidence for Practice series. Led programme development and whole-school implementation across every Friendly Schools trial from 1999 to 2025.
Dr Kevin Runions
Co-author of the 2021 AISNSW Wellbeing Literature Review. Specialist in cyberbullying, aggression, and moral cognition in adolescence.
Twenty-five years of school-based bullying research, distilled into one implementation framework.
Since 1999, the Friendly Schools team at The Kids Research Institute Australia, led by Professor Donna Cross, has run 23 school- and community-based studies with more than 40,000 Australian children, families and educators. Each project below links to its published summary.
Building the Australian evidence base.
Across nine years and seven studies, the team established the first Australian evidence for whole-school approaches to bullying prevention — from primary trials and family extensions to secondary adaptation, early-childhood aggression, Aboriginal community co-design, and the first national prevalence study.
Bullying moves online.
From 2008, the research focus extended to digital environments. Eight projects across primary and secondary schools tested cyber-specific whole-school programs, indicated interventions, image-sharing education, and student-led peer leadership models.
From efficacy to implementation.
With the evidence base established, the focus shifted to implementation science: how to support schools to adopt, sustain and scale what works. Apps for parents, equity-focused trials, system-level pilots and the synthesis framework now known as OASIS.
Title
Description
Four findings educators can take to their board
Drawn from the 2021 AISNSW Wellbeing Literature Review co-authored by Professor Donna Cross, and from peer-reviewed Friendly Schools trials.
Social-Emotional Learning Works
Meta-analysis of 213 school-based SEL programmes involving 270,034 K–12 students.
Whole-School Trial in WA
RCT across 20 independent WA schools (10 intervention, 10 control).
World-First Cyberbullying RCT
3,000+ students across 35 secondary schools. Significant reductions in cyber-victimisation and cyber-perpetration even when teachers implemented only one-third of the programme.
Honest Accountability
Picking an evidence-based programme matters. Most wellbeing initiatives don’t show measurable impact in rigorous trials.
Two structures that anchor every Friendly Schools resource
The research produced two organising frameworks: the five Social and Emotional Learning skills (CASEL model, aligned to the Australian Curriculum) and the eight Whole-School Components for Action (used in the Map-the-Gap diagnostic tool).
Five SEL skill areas
- 1Self-awareness. Recognising and understanding our feelings, while valuing our strengths and abilities.
- 2Self-management. Controlling and directing our emotions in appropriate ways.
- 3Social awareness. Being aware and respectful of the feelings and perspectives of others.
- 4Relationship skills. Dealing positively with relationship problems and social conflicts.
- 5Social decision-making. Considering consequences and making thoughtful, sensible decisions.
Eight Whole-School Components for Action
- 1School connectedness & climate
- 2Consistent understandings and procedures
- 3Physical environment
- 4Social environment and breaktimes
- 5Classroom teaching and practice
- 6Positive behaviour and wellbeing support
- 7Student voice and peer support
- 8School and family community partnerships
The Friendly Schools Logic Model
The full logic/impact pathway: inputs, activities, and outcomes across short, medium, and long-term. This is the evaluation framework schools and researchers use to measure whether a Friendly Schools implementation is actually moving the needle.
- Whole-school leadership team
- K–9 teaching staff time
- Family & community engagement
- Evidence-for-Practice resources
- Term-by-term scheduling
- Practice review & gap mapping
- Eight whole-school components
- Classroom SEL lessons
- Student voice & peer support
- Parent partnership activities
- Improved SEL skills
- Reduced bullying perpetration
- Reduced victimisation & distress
- Stronger school connectedness
- Consistent staff response
- Sustained wellbeing gains
- Academic achievement uplift
- Reduced adolescent anxiety
- Positive adult relationships
- Whole-community culture shift
Friendly Schools Logic Model and Impact Pathway (November 2022). Developed at The Kids Research Institute Australia.
FS and the federal + NSW Anti-Bullying Frameworks
The federal Anti-Bullying Rapid Review was delivered in 2025, setting the national direction. From Term 1, 2027, NSW public schools are required to demonstrate compliance with a new statewide Anti-Bullying Framework. Independent and Catholic schools are being asked to align.
The framework’s four components — Responding, Preventing, Implementing and Partnering — draw on the same body of evidence that has shaped Friendly Schools since 1999. Schools using Friendly Schools therefore meet the framework’s requirements through the program’s existing whole-school architecture, rather than retrofitting after the fact.
Friendly Schools is the most directly-aligned whole-school programme available: the components, implementation stages, and tools were developed through the same research lineage. Schools using Friendly Schools are meeting the framework’s requirements by construction.
Types of bullying our program addresses
Cyber Bullying
Through digital devices, social media, and online platforms. Affects 38% of Australian 10–17 year olds in a given 12 months.
Physical Bullying
Hitting, pushing, damaging belongings, or physical intimidation. The most commonly reported form among primary-aged boys.
Emotional Bullying
Name-calling, insults, threats, and humiliation. The most prevalent form across all year levels and genders in Australian schools.
Social Exclusion
Leaving someone out, spreading rumours, or manipulating social groups. The form most strongly linked to long-term mental health impact.
Three Australian research institutions. One continuous programme.
Friendly Schools was developed across Curtin University of Technology (1999–2002), Edith Cowan University (2002–2012) and The Kids Research Institute Australia (2014–present).
Ready to bring Friendly Schools to your school?
Start with a review of where your school is now, or browse the classroom resources that put this research into practice.
Evidence-based wellbeing for Australian schools. Built on 25+ years of research at The Kids Research Institute Australia.
Friendly Schools acknowledges the Whadjuk Noongar people as the traditional custodians of the land on which our work began, and pays respect to Elders past and present.