Federation Wallonia-Brussels imports KiVa

Federation Wallonia-Brussels is concerned about school bullying, as 1 out of 3 students is involved in bullying.

Caroline Désir, Minister of Education, came to Turku at the end of November to experience KiVa from the roots and acquire the program for Belgium schools. Starting from September 2024, schools in the French-speaking region can start implementing the program for children between 6 and 12 years old, on voluntary basis. The newly starting collaboration will last for 5.5 years.

During the time in Turku, the Minister visited two KiVa schools: Turku International School and the Rieskalähteen school, where she attended a KiVa class and discussed about the effectiveness of the program with both KiVa school members and Professor Christina Salmivalli, who is at the origin of the program.

“KiVa is already available in Wallonia, Belgium, since 2019 and currently in place within 20 schools. We are very honoured to be collaborating with the Ministry of Education, making KiVa available for many more schools, and to continue working with the Université de Paix. Thanks to this new collaboration, KiVa becomes part of the Federation Wallonia-Brussels’ strategy and goes hand in hand with the Pact for Teaching Excellence, promising wider outcomes”, says International Program Manager Johanna Kivinen.