Reducing Bullying in Schools - Essay Example

Reducing Bullying in Schools Module Reducing Bullying in Schools In many schools, pupils are at times ed to a form of teasing, victimization or harassment that involves physical or verbal abuse. This is usually referred to as bullying and it results to emotional and physical suffering, which affects the pupils negatively. Bullying is not restricted to primary school kids but extends to college and beyond as students are subjected to extreme or mild forms of harassment. In many European countries, the United Kingdom was considered the worst concerning bullying in school, which experts say might be caused by the highly diverse nature of the population (James, 2010). This essay aims at examining how and to what extent bullying can be reduced in schools. Rigby defines bullying as an abuse of power where the perpetrator takes advantage of the power imbalance to engage severally in aggressive or belligerent conduct with the purpose of threatening and hurting a certain person. The behaviour can be observable that is, the perpetrator can conduct this behaviour in the open or outside the eyes of an audience. The behaviour can include spreading of rumours, verbal abuse, face-to-face attacks, calculated and sustained exclusions, and the utilisation of technology to cause harm to someone (Rigby, 2011). Bullying has many definitions according to different literatures but all the authors agree on several key that feature in bullying, which are as discussed. Firstly, bullying is usually deliberate and is done with the intention to cause harm. Take the example of two friends teasing one another for fun. This is not bullying but if one intends to make the other upset, then the act is considered as bullying. Secondly, bullying causes a harmful result either physically or emotionally. Thirdly, bullying can involve direct acts such as physically kicking someone, or indirect acts like spreading rumours. Fourthly, bullying is repetitive and persistent. It concerns repeated acts for example; recurring aggressive behaviours towards a student are considered as bullying but do not include isolated acts like a single fight. Lastly, there is imbalance of power in bullying where the perpetrator usually possesses an advantage against the victim either due to age or due to physical strength (Department for Education, 2012). In order to strategize and come up with effective methods of reducing bullying, relevant information on the types of bullying can assist in figuring out the best methods to address various types of bullying. Bullying can be either violent or non-violent. There are several types of behaviours that are considered as bullying. The most obvious type of bullying is physical. It involves direct means or tangible ways of hurting other individuals. This can be seen when a student repeatedly beats another student and causes physical harm. Verbal bullying involves the use of indirect means such as name calling to cause deliberate humiliation to another student, which results to emotionally suffering for the victim. Other ways of carrying out verbal bullying are spreading rumours and abusing the victim (James, 2010). Social bullying, which is also referred to as relational bullying is the act of disrupting victims’ relationships with their friends. This is meant to keep the victim in isolation and loneliness, which results to depression. It causes emotional suffering to the victims as they are excluded from certain groups and forced to spend time alone. It can lead to graver consequences such as suicide if it involves students with very low self-esteem (James, 2010). Cyber bullying is a recent term that has received attention from the authorities due to its impact on people. It is a phenomenon brought about by technological change that is, the internet and mobile phones, and the increasing social interaction through these technological gadgets. Cyber bullying involves the spread of offensive messages or pictures about a person using these latest technological devices and tools. It is usually faster and reaches a wider array of people, therefore, causing greater damage to the victims. The government has found it hard to control cyber bullying but with new rules and regulations being put in place, it will be curbed (Department for Education, 2012). Schools utilise various ways and approaches to reduce bullying as discussed in this paper. Traditional Disciplinary Method This approach is used in almost all schools across the globe to help reduce bullying. Teachers and other school staffs prevent and reduce bullying using this method by punishing the perpetrators. They can also impose sanctions on the perpetrators of the deviant behaviour, therefore, preventing them from bullying other students in school or outside the school environment. This approach also warns other students to refrain from bullying others, as teachers will use the same measures on them. Olweus was a well-known advocate of this approach and suggested that the method should be used conjointly with a few proactive procedures such as, classroom discussions on bullying rules (Rigby, 2011). The approach has proved to deter a significant number of students from bullying. However, this approach seems to change the perpetrators’ style as they continue to bully other students but using covert ways instead of the overt approach. These less detectable methods equally hurt the victims, thus proving that the traditional approach is ineffective to a certain degree. To ensure the effectiveness of this approach, high extent of surveillance on the bullies is needed, which might seem difficult and sometimes impossible. This approach is used on perpetrators of violent types of bullying and attempts on counselling have failed. Some anti-bullying programmes utilise this approach where sanctions and rewards are given to the perpetrators of bullying. However, it proved to be inefficient although in some cases there was observed to be reduced bullying among perpetrators (Ross and Horner, 2009). Strengthening the Victim This directs at helping the victims handle the bullying situation with effectiveness. The students being bullied are trained and advised to act more assertively hence reduce vulnerability to the bullying perpetrators. The victims are taught to use techniques like fogging, where they act undisturbed and less intimated by the bullies’ negative words. This approach may take time before the children adopt it and acquire the ability to respond effectively. It involves a lot of training for the victim to learn how to use the skills and have the ability to practice it effectively. It is appropriate in verbal bullying as it has limitations when it comes to violent physical bullying. However, it helps reduce bullying in school (Rigby, 2011). Mediation This method brings the victim and the perpetrator together and tries to foster a healthy relationship among them. The students in conflict are asked to solve their problems with the guidance of a trained teacher or a mediator. They are supposed to find a way to solve their problems with the assistance of the neutral person. This method requires the two parties involved in the deviant behaviour to accept a meeting that will seek to find a solution to their problems with the help of an impersonal party. The method emphasises that the disputing parties should solely come up with a solution via guided dialogue and never should it be imposed on them (Cowie and Smith, 2010). This method is not effective where the perpetrator and the victim loathe each other and cannot come into a simple agreement. It can only be used in the mild cases of bullying, where slight damage has been done and the two parties are open for dialogue. It is also used where there is little power imbalance among the conflicting students. In many cases, the perpetrators are not easily motivated to accept dialogue and it can be difficult when the victim finds the perpetrator completely unjustified. When this method is used to promote a culture that the students should adopt, it proves to be very useful as it also raises the self-esteem of the victims (Houlston and Smith, 2010). Restorative Practice This involves making the perpetrators ponder about their unacceptable behaviour to get them to feel remorse for their actions, thus choosing to change. It also helps in repair the broken relationship between the perpetrator and both the victim and the school community. A meeting attended by the victims, their parents and other significant people takes place in a designated area where the perpetrator faces the community and promises to change. This method has been used to reduce bullying and even stop those students who may think of bullying others. The victims must be ready to forgive the perpetrators and the perpetrators need to show remorse for their deviant behaviours (Rigby, 2011). This method is effective in reducing bullying and even stops it to some extent. It has successfully been used in many countries including England. However, some hard-headed students do not show changes, therefore, limiting its applicability depending on the perpetrators’ character. The Support Group Method This method was originally known as the ‘no-blame approach’ and involves bringing the perpetrators to a group meeting where they are faced with interviews from their victims showing how their past unacceptable behaviour caused harm to them. The victims are usually absent from the group meeting but some students representing them give a brief account of the victims challenges. The perpetrators are expected to improve their victims’ situation by acting responsibly and doing something for the victims. The progress is monitored and the outcome presented (Perkins, Craig, and Perkins, 2011). This method is suitable for non-violent types of bullying. This method has been used in some schools in England and shows satisfactory results. This method only looks at the victims’ distress and does not consider the events that led into bullying. Some experts found the m ethod very satisfying in that out of twelve cases, eleven emerged successful (Rigby, 2011). Conclusion Bullying is a problem that affects all schools in the world but more severe in some than in others. Bullying is usually more in schools with students from highly diverse backgrounds as they interpret the differences among them in different ways. Bullying can be reduced through the methods and approaches discussed in the paper, though there are others that are utilised in other parts of the globe. Bullying is stopped successfully when the perpetrators feel remorse for their behaviour towards their victims. Bullying has many negative impacts on the students’ academic performance as well as their lives (Sairanen and Pfeffer, 2011). References Cowie, H., & Smith, P. K. (2010). Peer support as a means of improving school safety and reducing bullying and violence, Handbook of youth prevention science. New York; Routledge. 177–193. Departent for Education. (2012). Reducing bullying amongst the worst affected. London. Houlston, C., & Smith, P. K. (2010). The impact of a peer counselling scheme to address bullying in an all-girl London secondary school: a short-term longitudinal study. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 79, 69–86. James, A. (2010). School bullying. London: Goldsmiths College (University of London). Perkins, H.W., Craig, D., & Perkins, J.M. (2011). Using Social Norms to Reduce Bullying: A research intervention in five middle schools. Group Process and Intergroup Relations, published online doi: 10.1177/1368430210398004 Rigby, K. (2011). The method of shared concern a positive approach to bullying in schools. Camberwell, Vic.: ACER Press. Rigby, K. (2011). What can schools do about cases of bullying? Pastoral Care in Education, 29(4), 273–285. Ross, S. W., & Horner, R. H. (2009). Bully prevention in positive behaviour support, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 42(4), 747–759. Sairanen, L., & Pfeffer, K. (2011). Self-reported handling of bullying among junior high school teachers in Finland, School Psychology International, 32(3), 330–344. Read More