5 to 10% of students report having been harassed by peers (Piguet, Moody, & Bumann, 2013). Increasingly seen as a group phenomenon involving primarily students (Saarento & Salmivalli, 2015; Stahel, in press), bullying can have severe consequences on various aspects of children's lives and wellbeing. This phenomenon, which can affect up to 87% of students, both victims, perpetrators and witnesses, impacts the mental and physical health of young people and the quality of their learning at school. Self-confidence and self-esteem tend to decrease among students who are victims and authors/authors, while the risk of dropping out of school increases (Debarbieux, 2008). Student witnesses, who may be exposed to harassment through their direct observations or peer narratives telling them the facts, are also more likely to suffer these consequences (Janosz, Pascal, & Galand, 2012).

From an interdisciplinary and systemic perspective, bullying in secondary is a solution found by students to regulate their interactions (Stahel, in press). Through constant exclusion and other forms of repeated violence, students show their peers who are deemed "different" the behaviors they need to adopt in order to accept them. In this way, harassment has more of an educational function, rather than an intention to harm students (Delalande, 2003). For this reason, it is sometimes difficult for students to realize the limit between humor and violence in harassment situations (Durif-Varembont, 2014). The issue of peer relationships becomes all the more important during adolescence because of their major role in the development of individuals’ identities, thus increasing influence among students (Rageliené, 2016). Students are often more interested in engaging in many relationships with their peers to feel accepted, rather than developing quality ties with them. However, quality relationships allow them to explore their identity in more secure settings where they are less likely to be negatively judged (Rageliené, 2016; Kindelberger, 2018). They thus foster self-differentiation in students (Bowen, 1978; Skowron & Friedlander, 1998). It is therefore central, and even necessary, to ask oneself about the importance of promoting living together at school in order to provide a framework that is more conducive to students' development and well-being. 

On the basis of empirical results, this contribution is structured around two axes: the first axis will present harassment between students in Secondary I from a systemic and interdisciplinary perspective. The second axis will present the results of a large-scale study on the relationships between students and their links to student well-being. More broadly, the presentation will illustrate the complex nature of bullying, which requires the implementation of educational alliances, policies and preventive actions to promote pacific co-existence in schools and, above all, a framework conducive to the well-being of students and their academic learning. The role of educational actors and professionals in the matter will be highlighted.

A major research project is being developed in 2019 in the Valais region of Switzerland, which meets several objectives, including the study of the links between peer harassment and the quality of relationships between students. In particular, it is expected that quality peer-to-peer relationships, marked mainly by prosocial behavior, will encourage students to support and help each other during situations of harassment. In this research, a mixed methodology is applied. It aims to gain a better understanding of the complexity of harassment by, among other things, combining the results of qualitative and quantitative methods (Pinard et al., 2004). This type of methodology is also more oriented towards change and the search for meaning, thus making it possible to respond to social expectations regarding the fight against bullying among peers in the school environment. In total, 5,161 young people aged 5 to 17, 40 professionals (33 teachers, 4 psychologists and 3 school mediators) agreed to participate in individual interviews, focus groups, participating and non-participating observations or to complete online questionnaires. The participants were selected by random draws from schools in the Valais and by calls for witnesses made in Valais schools or at the Centers for the Development and Therapy of Children and Adolescents (CDTEA). The various phases of this research are based on the ethical principles of research that respects children and their rights (Morrow, 2008; Moody, 2016; Moody & Darbellay, 2019).

The results of this research show that some students, even though they are a minority, recognize the importance of building close relationships with their peers. More specifically, they recognize the importance of these relationships in their identity development and the procuring factor they can offer in situations of harassment. For example, Louis (boy, 9-10 CO) explains during a one-on-one interview: "The advantage is that he comes with his bus before, so afterwards I'm sure I won't be alone in the yard [...]." Some students even explain that they behave pro-socially towards a stigmatized student or students if they have established good quality relationships with them beforehand. Although students' behaviour in bullying situations seems to be the result of a complex choice, leading them to continually assess the impact of their actions on their peers, friendships seem to foster mutual support. Actions that allow them to distance themselves from the influence of their peers and the pressure they exert on them to reinforce or imitate their violent behavior.

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