FairPlay is a project aimed at preventing bullying among apprentices by establishing a nationwide network that links business and academia. The initiative targets both apprentices and trainers in companies and vocational schools within the Austrian dual training system. This system combines practical work experience with theoretical instruction, typically over a period of three years. Despite the importance of the topic, empirical data on bullying among apprentices is scarce. The 2024 Apprentice Report by the Austrian Chamber of Labor is the first to systematically address this issue, revealing that 32% of apprentices in company-based training and 27% in inter-company training settings reported experiencing bullying at least once during their training.

FairPlay develops prevention tools using a participatory approach, incorporating the perspectives and expertise of apprentices, trainers, and organizational training coordinators (hereafter referred to as experts). In spring 2025, ten apprentices who had experienced bullying and three training experts were interviewed. The data were analyzed using Philipp Mayring’s qualitative content analysis. The results are diverse and are summarized below.

The interviews with apprentices identified five thematic areas:
1. Forms of bullying: social exclusion, physical violence, threatening, rumor-spreading, cyberbullying.
2. Causes of bullying: country of origin, performance (too high/too low), sexual orientation, physical appearance, clothing.
3. Coping strategies: distraction, adaptation, avoidance, class or school changes, perspective shifts, seeking support.
4. Consequences: psychological and physical stress, depression, and, in severe cases, suicidal ideation.
5. Prevention measures: early awareness, shared activities, structural interventions, fostering a respectful organizational culture.

Insights from expert interviews revealed three core domains:
1. Recognition and awareness: identifying bullying and fostering awareness within the organization.
2. Intervention processes: encouraging reporting of bullying, designing solution-oriented processes, offering guidance and trusted contact points.
3. Prevention strategies: education beginning at early ages, empowerment, and institutional safeguards.

These findings form the empirical foundation for developing FairPlay’s practical outputs. These include prevention workshops, serious games, card-based reflection tools, graphic novels, and airplane-style “safety cards” that convey key prevention messages in a concise and accessible format. The project thus contributes urgently needed data and targeted interventions for bullying prevention in the Austrian apprenticeship system.

Acknowledgement:
The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from the COIN SME Innovation Networks 2023 program of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Economy, Energy, and Tourism.

Keywords: Bullying, apprentices, prevention, intervention, network.