Bullying Prevention and Intervention - Essay Example

BULLYING by Introduction Bullying is an issue that happens both to children and to adults. It can happen anywhere including at home, at school or in the workplace (Ringrose & Renold, 2010:573). Bullying takes many forms and can affect the victims in different ways. When this incidence happens, its effects are far-reaching and require a well-structured solution to help those affected to go back to their normal lives. A brief account of an incident at school labelled or held up as bullying Tami experienced mistreatment at her school similarly to some of her year group girls. Thos who mistreat her physically abused her slapping her, pushing her, kicked and spat at her. She was also called demeaning names. This can be labelled as bullying because it happened repeatedly. The people who bullied Tami were girls she used to stay with, in school. Tami though they were her friends but they took advantage of her by telling her to pass their messages to boys and when she refused to do so, they threatened her not to be friends with her and also ensured that she would be friends with no one. They mistreated her and blamed a lot on her and it affected her because her performance in school dropped even though she was bright. This can be classified as bullying (Lazarus, Pfohl, Psyd & Green, 2010:3). When teachers noticed, Tami tried to defend the girls because she was afraid of what they would do to her. However, she later revealed what had transpired to the school’s anti bullying committee, which took action against them by suspending them for two weeks, reporting to the police and also to their parents. How and why this incident might be viewed as bullying According to development theory, bullying begins in early childhood when individuals start asserting themselves to establish their social dominance (Rigby, 2003:2). This theory captures the incidence that Tami experienced in school. In the school, the Anti-Bullying committee was initiated five years ago by volunteers who felt that bullying had become rampant and required urgent attention. The committee started with five members by increased to 23 members. According to the anti-bullying code identified in the school’s policy, all students must be of equal value, show respect to each individual, promote a safe environment and cooperative atmosphere for everyone. These requirements dictate that actions that make it difficult for a student to enjoy such privileges can be characterized as bullying. The committee received training from Child Line and Beat Bullying (a charity patronised by the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge) that taught them about the different types of bullying, what it can lead to, as well as how to sort out bullying situations and how to tell when the situation is too serious for us and when we need to pass it on to an adult. The members are all trained Sports Mentors and know how to use the skills to help children who are bullied. When the committee received the complaint and Tami told them what she was going through, the committee identified this as an aspect of bullying judging from the fact that they had all been trained on issues of bullying. They characterized the issue as one that would require urgent attention and took action in ensuring that those responsible for breaking the anti-bullying policy code were suspended from the school. Reasons why someone else might consider the incident to be an example of something other than bullying There are several reasons why someone else might consider the incident to be an example of something other than bullying. First, it may be considered to be something else unless it can be proved that Tami was unjustifiably singled out. Other girls in Tami’s year group also experienced the same problems that she went through. Some people consider mistreatment to be bullying only when it targets one individual (Thornberg, Halldin, Bolmsjö & Petersson, 2013:310). However, when it is intended for anybody or more people then, it might only be seen as bad behaviour from those doing it. Secondly, there are people including students or pupils who are always critical of everything, always take credit for successes and blame others for mistakes. They frequently make hurtful jokes or comments about others and also physically assault them. When this is not targeted at one person, it might represent poor social skills rather than bullying. Although the anti-bullying committee found that Tami had been bullied, the committee does not have a list of things, actions or comments that are characterized as bullying. There are issues, comments or actions that are considered harassment rather than bullying and are still illegal. Therefore, the suspension of those responsible for the ill actions and comments against Tami was the right thing to do but those actions might also be considered as harassment rather than bullying. Therefore, the issues might not be seen as bullying by someone with a different perspective on them. The ramification of classifying the incident as bullying There are several positive and negative ramifications of classifying the incident as bullying. In a positive way, classifying the incident as bullying ensures that no student will engage in a similar incident because now all students understand the consequences of such an incident. Students understand that they can be suspended or reported to the police for such an incident because it has brought about a learning experience for all students at the school (Swearer, Wang, Berry & Myers, 2014:271). Secondly, classifying the incident as bullying has provided the anti-bullying committee with a valuable experience because they can use the incident to provide an additional service to the school. This service will entail teaching students to look out for actions that their friends might do to them in the name of friendship but be bullying them in actual sense. They can also teach the students of the steps that they should take once they see examples of these actions (Rivers, Poteat, Noret & Ashurst, 2009:271). Thirdly, classifying the incident as bullying provides a learning opportunity to the anti-bullying committee because if it is not bullying, the committee should consider other possibilities such as harassment in future. Because the committee has not written down specific actions or comments that are classified as bullying in the code, it might have suspended the students for the right reasons but for a wrong classification of what they did. This must be clarified in the future. In a negative sense, classifying the incidence as bullying might have led to wrongful suspension of the students. This means that the anti-bullying committee handled the case badly. If the case was poor social skills, which is possible means that the students who were suspended suffered for the wrong reasons. This might bring more problems for the committee both nor and in the future because if investigations are done and it is established that it was not a bullying incident, the committee might be suspended or broken entirely (Seeley, Tombari, Bennett, & Dunkle, 2011:30). Another negative ramification of classifying the issue as a bullying incident is that it could make the committee untrustworthy in the school in case the issue was a case of harassment or poor social skills rather than bullying. This means that the committee will be ill prepared to handle such issues in the school in addition to the fact that they might have insufficient training on proper handling of bullying (Rigby, 2010:45). Conclusion From the discussion above, it is clear that despite the source, bullying has serous negative effects that include stress, low self-esteem, anxiety, low performance and trouble establishing relationships. It is not easy for the victims of bullying to report the incident because of the fear that it produces in them. To handle bullying effectively, it must be differentiated from harassment and poor social skills. Proper measures should be taken so that students understand what it is and also refrain from it. Those affected should also be sensitized to report it to prevent it from spreading. Reference List Lazarus, P J Pfohl, W Psyd, N & Green, B 2010, Bullying Prevention and Intervention: Information for Educators. Helping Children at Home and School III. Bethesda, MD: NASP. Rigby, K 2003, Addressing bullying in schools: Theory and practice. Australian Institute of Criminology. Rigby, K 2010, Bullying interventions in schools: Six basic approaches. Aust Council for Ed Research. Ringrose, J & Renold, E 2010, Normative cruelties and gender deviants: The performative effects of bully discourses for girls and boys in school. British Educational Research Journal, 36(4), 573-596. Rivers, I Poteat, V P Noret, N & Ashurst, N 2009, Observing bullying at school: The mental health implications of witness status. School Psychology Quarterly, 24(4), 211. Seeley, K Tombari, M L Bennett, L J & Dunkle, J B 2011, Bullying in Schools: An Overview. Juvenile Justice Bulletin. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Swearer, S M Wang, C Berry, B & Myers, Z R 2014, Reducing Bullying: Application of Social Cognitive Theory. Theory Into Practice, 53(4), 271-277. Thornberg, R Halldin, K Bolmsjö, N & Petersson, A 2013, Victimising of school bullying: a grounded theory. Research Papers in Education, 28(3), 309-329. Read More