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Bullying Awareness
And Reduction
by
Wayne pedersen
by
Wayne pedersen
In addition, this study should provide hope for the victims of bullying. Thus, they could go to school without fear and could actually have a better enjoyment of their education. They will be able to learn without wondering who will say what to them or who might hit them or having fear of other abuses that happen at school. To get a proper handle on what bullying really is, we first need to look to see if it is a problem. If it is not a problem, then there is no reason to explore further. If it is a problem, then we need to be sure everyone looks at it from a unified position and has the same foundational understanding of what it is. Otherwise, it is much more difficult to find a solution.
Bullying Awareness
Overview
Some children in schools cannot reach their potential within the education setting due to them being bullied - physically, emotionally, socially and/or mentally. There are several purposes of this study. One is to develop an awareness of bullying and its potential dangers. If student, staff and parent awareness can be raised on this issue, the first step is well on its way to fulfilling other purposes. Another purpose of this project is to determine causes for some people to bully others. By determining what causes some of the bullying, preventative measures can be put in place to counteract those causes. Thus, bullying that those people do can be reduced.
Thirdly, there is the hope of improving the situation within the school setting by either reducing or eliminating the bullying that takes place, whether in the classroom, the halls or in the playground. By reducing the bullying, the entire school becomes a safer location for education to takeplace.
Thirdly, there is the hope of improving the situation within the school setting by either reducing or eliminating the bullying that takes place, whether in the classroom, the halls or in the playground. By reducing the bullying, the entire school becomes a safer location for education to takeplace.
A couple of years back, a parent thought their child had been bullied and sent a snappy note to the principal. However, when analyzing the situation, three viewpoints of bullying arose . the parents. view (second hand from the situation), the child.s view (first hand) and the teacher's view (also second hand). There were elements of similarity, but enough disparity for parents to write a letter to the school after hearing a story second or third hand through the eyes of the student (without ever consulting the teacher which now makes for an injured third party who had no knowledge of what happened).
The fourth viewpoint then arose when the principal received the letter from the parents. In the final outcome, the teacher thought the situation had been handled and had talked to the parents. Imagine her shock when she is hauled in to the principal's office and is reprimanded (for something she thought was finished and put to rest) and needs further consideration. Obviously, bullying is a problem and needs further consideration.
The fourth viewpoint then arose when the principal received the letter from the parents. In the final outcome, the teacher thought the situation had been handled and had talked to the parents. Imagine her shock when she is hauled in to the principal's office and is reprimanded (for something she thought was finished and put to rest) and needs further consideration. Obviously, bullying is a problem and needs further consideration.
As teachers met each morning for staff devotions, every now and then various students. names would come up. With the name was often a behavior that a teacher had
noticed or something that a student had done to another student. As various problems came up over time, the larger picture emerged . that bullying occurred at the school and was prevalent more within a certain age range, namely, Grades 5-9. Some of the more common areas of bullying that happened was name calling, hitting someone as they were being passed in the hall, smirking, petty arguments complete with put downs and taking something out of someone else.s locker without asking permission (the
students had and continue to have no locks on any of the lockers).
While bullying was not the highest priority in the school, there was enough going on to warrant a closer look. Other problems that administrators and teachers mentioned as occurring from time to time included: a student sticking out a foot as another student passed their desk, unnecessary pushing, taking an item from another student without asking, a student giving another student a dirty look or sneering at them, a student rolling their eyes at another student and groups of students preventing other students from joining their friendship group. While all of these did not occur daily, they did occur frequently enough to cause some grief to those picked on and to teachers who heard or saw it happening. The problem had not been reduced or solved prior to the implementation of this project. This may be due to incidents happening less frequently than most people heard or saw in their community or at public schools nearby.
In addition, an infraction such as a sneer happens quickly and is often not noticed by others or reported by the one who was bullied. Most of the bullying that occurred was viewed as a lesser .sin. than outright rebellion or things said and done that disrupted a class. To some, the offense seemed petty and to others it was viewed as a normal process of growing up and searching for independence or even hormonal changes in pre-teen and early teen years. The net result was that bullying was often overlooked.
A person having (or viewed as having) authority over the situation did not see many cases. The end result was nonetheless devastating for the one(s) being bullied. If several people were asked what they thought constituted being a bully or what the various facets were that were included in bullying, a fairly wide range of definitions and thoughts would emerge. Research also provides some variety, but most of the ways of viewing a bully or bullying is similar.
Bully OnLine (n.d.) says that a bully is one who:
While bullying was not the highest priority in the school, there was enough going on to warrant a closer look. Other problems that administrators and teachers mentioned as occurring from time to time included: a student sticking out a foot as another student passed their desk, unnecessary pushing, taking an item from another student without asking, a student giving another student a dirty look or sneering at them, a student rolling their eyes at another student and groups of students preventing other students from joining their friendship group. While all of these did not occur daily, they did occur frequently enough to cause some grief to those picked on and to teachers who heard or saw it happening. The problem had not been reduced or solved prior to the implementation of this project. This may be due to incidents happening less frequently than most people heard or saw in their community or at public schools nearby.
In addition, an infraction such as a sneer happens quickly and is often not noticed by others or reported by the one who was bullied. Most of the bullying that occurred was viewed as a lesser .sin. than outright rebellion or things said and done that disrupted a class. To some, the offense seemed petty and to others it was viewed as a normal process of growing up and searching for independence or even hormonal changes in pre-teen and early teen years. The net result was that bullying was often overlooked.
A person having (or viewed as having) authority over the situation did not see many cases. The end result was nonetheless devastating for the one(s) being bullied. If several people were asked what they thought constituted being a bully or what the various facets were that were included in bullying, a fairly wide range of definitions and thoughts would emerge. Research also provides some variety, but most of the ways of viewing a bully or bullying is similar.
Bully OnLine (n.d.) says that a bully is one who:
• has never learnt to accept responsibility for their behavior;
• wants to enjoy the benefits of living in the adult world, but who is unable and
unwilling to accept the responsibilities that are a prerequisite for being part of
the adult world;
• Abdicates and denies responsibility for their behavior and its consequences
the adult world;
• Abdicates and denies responsibility for their behavior and its consequences
(abdication and denial are common features of bullying);
•is unable and unwilling to recognize the effect of their behavior on others;
•does not want to know of any other way of behaving;
•is unwilling to recognize that there could be better ways of behaving (para. 6).
•is unwilling to recognize that there could be better ways of behaving (para. 6).
The Centre for Families and Children in the Justice System (2002) says that bullying takes on many forms and may be shown as:
•physical violence and attacks;
•verbal taunts, name-calling and put-downs;
•threats and intimidation;
•extortion or stealing of money and possessions;
•exclusion from the peer group (para. 1).Child Study Centre, New York University
School of Medicine (2004) states that .Bullying is more than just one single act of aggressive teasing or fighting. (para. 4) and that a .bully is not necessarily bigger or stronger but rather is someone who is intimidating. (para. 4). Thus, in trying to isolate a bully, a pattern or repeated offense is often required to make a case against a bully.
The exception is when the offense is considered quite serious the first time (such as personal injury). Walls (2004) makes this distinction when he asks .what distinguishes bullying from developmentally appropriate behavior? Normal quarreling or teasing happens between classmates of equal stature or popularity, and it’s not prolonged.
The exception is when the offense is considered quite serious the first time (such as personal injury). Walls (2004) makes this distinction when he asks .what distinguishes bullying from developmentally appropriate behavior? Normal quarreling or teasing happens between classmates of equal stature or popularity, and it’s not prolonged.
(para. 5). Here again, we see the repeated nature of bullying as opposed to single acts of playful teasing or an argument. The University of Colorado, Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (2004) separates bullying into the categories of direct and
indirect bullying. Direct is observable whereas indirect appears manipulative and is quite subtle. They list the following in these categories:
•Physical Attacks: hitting, kicking, pushing, choking;
•Verbal Attacks or Harassment: name calling, threatening, taunting, malicious teasing, rumor spreading, slandering;
•Social isolation, intentional exclusion, making faces, obscene gestures, manipulating friendship relationships (para. 2). Bullying has a wide set of connotations to different people depending on their age and whether they are the recipient of bullying or the one doing the bullying or simply a person who is neither affected nor effected by it.. The Merriam-Webster dictionary (2004) defines a bully as a .blustering browbeating person; especially: one habitually cruel to others who are weaker.. A definition closer in
line with the defined problem comes from Valerie Besag (1989) who defines bullying as:
A repeated attack - physical,psychological,social or verbal by those in positions of power on those who are powerless to resist, with the intent of causing distress for their own gain or gratification..(Antibullying. Net, n.d.). Craig and Pepler (1997)provide a broader definition of bullying as the assertion of power through aggression. Its forms
A repeated attack - physical,psychological,social or verbal by those in positions of power on those who are powerless to resist, with the intent of causing distress for their own gain or gratification..(Antibullying. Net, n.d.). Craig and Pepler (1997)provide a broader definition of bullying as the assertion of power through aggression. Its forms
Bullying is a repeated attack - physical, psychological, social or verbal change with age: school playground bullying, sexual harassment, gang attacks, date violence, assault, marital violence, child abuse, workplace harassment and elder abuse.. Childline (2003) provides ways children and young people have described bullying:
•being called names;
•being teased;
•being pushed or pulled about;
•being hit or attacked;
•having your bag and other possessions taken and thrown around;
•having rumours spread about you;
•being ignored and left out;
•being forced to hand over money or possessions;
•being attacked because of your religion or colour.
A simplistic definition of bullying comes from NoBully.org (n.d.) .bullying is when someone keeps doing or saying things to have power over another person.. One
final definition of bullying which is quite broad in scope comes from Bully B’ware Productions (2003), which says .bullying in its truest form is comprised of a series of
repeated intentionally cruel incidents, involving the same children, in the same bully and victim roles. Bullying behavior may also be defined as a criminal act if the bully
is twelve years of age or older. Often there is confusion as to whether an action is
bullying such as kids fooling around, friends rough housing with each other or friendly teasing such as one might find between two relatives with a good relationship.
One thing that comes out common to each of the repeatedly done. It is not looked at as a one time action.
For example, let's say some students are standing in a hallway and two others come out of a classroom and are busy talking to each other. Neither group may notice each other. With each group absorbed in their own conversation and playful antic, it would be quite easy for one student to use a sweeping hand gesture to emphasize what is being said to their particular group and hit someone from the other group. It was an accident (even if one person got a bruise out of it) and was not intended. Also, the person who struck the other would most likely not try to intentionally do it again.
Generally, someone says sorry and life goes on. One of the ways in which bullying occurs is verbal abuse. This crosses the boundaries of both mental and
For example, let's say some students are standing in a hallway and two others come out of a classroom and are busy talking to each other. Neither group may notice each other. With each group absorbed in their own conversation and playful antic, it would be quite easy for one student to use a sweeping hand gesture to emphasize what is being said to their particular group and hit someone from the other group. It was an accident (even if one person got a bruise out of it) and was not intended. Also, the person who struck the other would most likely not try to intentionally do it again.
Generally, someone says sorry and life goes on. One of the ways in which bullying occurs is verbal abuse. This crosses the boundaries of both mental and
emotional abuse. In some cases, someone makes a statement and another student thinks the statement is .stupid. or goes against his/her way of thinking. The net result is that the second student speaks derogatorily against the first student (.You jerk.) and things escalate from that point. By the time the conversation becomes argumentative, each student is bullying the other student verbally. There is no winner in this type of situation. Feelings are hurt and the relationship is in the process of being destroyed. At the very least, the relationship is broken (unless there was no relationship in the first place, in which case the relationship is worse than it already was).
Another form of bullying is physical abuse. There are times when some students pick on other students. The behavior varies with the person being picked on as well as the person who does the bullying. It could be as simple as putting out an elbow as another student walks down the hall. In this case, the action happens so fast that it is unlikely that any teacher would notice. Other forms of physical abuse include hitting, tripping, kicking, biting, scratching and pinching. Basically, it is anything where one person does something that another person can feel in a physical way. Social abuse is one of the most difficult areas to comprehend or notice. The most common abuse in this area is exclusion. Now, just because you see a child on a playground sitting alone looking morose does not mean that the child is under social abuse. Other students may have asked him/her to join in but the person may have said they just need some time alone. There are many reasons why a child could be sitting or playing alone in a classroom or on the playground.
The other thing to remember is that abuse is not a one time thing. If the same child is playing alone near the group of kids and some of the kids from the group scorn the person or give dirty looks from time to time and this happens several days in a row, then the bullying line has been crossed.
The other area of exclusion involves friendship groups. A student may be a bit .weird. in some ways and consequently, other students will not associate with the person. Or, someone may be new to a school and has no friends in the school. Unless students are taught how to accept new students and make them feel welcome, it is quite possible for the new student to feel bullied by exclusion. This takes an extraordinary effort and character quality to make new students feel like they belong. While statistics from Koinonia Christian School Red Deer emerged early in the project to confirm that a problem of bullying existed, enough parents, students and teachers had mentioned it as a problem that the sheer number of comments could not be overlooked.
The main problem was that some of the bullying may have been opinion and there was no definitive basis for what constituted bullying with the teachers, students and parents. Thus, while a person may have said there was much bullying going on, another person may or may not have accepted that the action or thing done fell within the realm of bullying. All that is known is that there was name calling, pushing and shoving and other things happening and they were being reported quite often. That is enough for most people to realize that bullying happened at the school.
When a person looks at research and statistics from other areas of the world (which we will look at in another chapter), it points out the fact that the problem of bullying is quite universal. In addition, the statistics are similar, no matter from where they are taken. Comparisons from country to country are not always valid. However, when looking at Europe, Australia, the United States and Canada, the similarities of the statistics should bring a person to asking the question; why should school .X. be any different than the rest of the statistics? The Centre for Families and Children in the Justice System (2002) make the following statement on this issue.
In comparing countries to the research done by Olweus in Norway, rates of bullying are the same or higher in England, the United States, Japan, Ireland, Australia, and the Netherlands. (para. 12). It is reasonable that, if the statistics are broad enough and close enough to each other from a variety of sources, they will most likely also apply to a school such as Koinonia Christian School Red Deer as they have had no teaching on bullying in the past and had no program in place to overcome it. Since bullying was viewed as a problem, steps were taken to reduce it and a significant difference was made over the course of a year a difference that can and should be repeated in all schools.
Another form of bullying is physical abuse. There are times when some students pick on other students. The behavior varies with the person being picked on as well as the person who does the bullying. It could be as simple as putting out an elbow as another student walks down the hall. In this case, the action happens so fast that it is unlikely that any teacher would notice. Other forms of physical abuse include hitting, tripping, kicking, biting, scratching and pinching. Basically, it is anything where one person does something that another person can feel in a physical way. Social abuse is one of the most difficult areas to comprehend or notice. The most common abuse in this area is exclusion. Now, just because you see a child on a playground sitting alone looking morose does not mean that the child is under social abuse. Other students may have asked him/her to join in but the person may have said they just need some time alone. There are many reasons why a child could be sitting or playing alone in a classroom or on the playground.
The other thing to remember is that abuse is not a one time thing. If the same child is playing alone near the group of kids and some of the kids from the group scorn the person or give dirty looks from time to time and this happens several days in a row, then the bullying line has been crossed.
The other area of exclusion involves friendship groups. A student may be a bit .weird. in some ways and consequently, other students will not associate with the person. Or, someone may be new to a school and has no friends in the school. Unless students are taught how to accept new students and make them feel welcome, it is quite possible for the new student to feel bullied by exclusion. This takes an extraordinary effort and character quality to make new students feel like they belong. While statistics from Koinonia Christian School Red Deer emerged early in the project to confirm that a problem of bullying existed, enough parents, students and teachers had mentioned it as a problem that the sheer number of comments could not be overlooked.
The main problem was that some of the bullying may have been opinion and there was no definitive basis for what constituted bullying with the teachers, students and parents. Thus, while a person may have said there was much bullying going on, another person may or may not have accepted that the action or thing done fell within the realm of bullying. All that is known is that there was name calling, pushing and shoving and other things happening and they were being reported quite often. That is enough for most people to realize that bullying happened at the school.
When a person looks at research and statistics from other areas of the world (which we will look at in another chapter), it points out the fact that the problem of bullying is quite universal. In addition, the statistics are similar, no matter from where they are taken. Comparisons from country to country are not always valid. However, when looking at Europe, Australia, the United States and Canada, the similarities of the statistics should bring a person to asking the question; why should school .X. be any different than the rest of the statistics? The Centre for Families and Children in the Justice System (2002) make the following statement on this issue.
In comparing countries to the research done by Olweus in Norway, rates of bullying are the same or higher in England, the United States, Japan, Ireland, Australia, and the Netherlands. (para. 12). It is reasonable that, if the statistics are broad enough and close enough to each other from a variety of sources, they will most likely also apply to a school such as Koinonia Christian School Red Deer as they have had no teaching on bullying in the past and had no program in place to overcome it. Since bullying was viewed as a problem, steps were taken to reduce it and a significant difference was made over the course of a year a difference that can and should be repeated in all schools.