Violence and Bullying in Schools - Literature review Example

Violence in schools- a UK perspective. One significant contributor of schools being led astray form its normal mode of functioning is the widespread yet, unnoticed or mostly ignored trend of bullying. It is an activity that, as Delwyn Tattum rightly puts in, demonstrates “the most malicious and malevolent form of deviant behavior” (Tattum & Lane, 1994). Worst still is the fact that it fails to achieve significant attention form the school authorities. It is known that the perpetrators are found in all schools including the nursery, junior and high schools and such conducts only prepares an unhealthy climate and atmosphere for the students to live. The psychological, physical and emotional effects of adversity in the victims are numerous. What teachers and parents generally fail to do is to notice them. Bullying in its act include behaviors such as teasing, hitting, taunting, threatening and stealing that is propagated by one or more students against a victim in a school. Apart form these direct physical attacks bullying in its strict sense can also include methods such as “causing a student to be socially isolated through intentional exclusion” (Banks, 1997). This can also be done by subtle indirect methods such as spreading rumors and enforcing social isolation actions of which are carried out mostly by girls than boys. The motive of bullying is to create physical and psychological intimidation so that through repeated action of it the perpetrator succeeds in harassing and abusing the victim (Banks, 1997). Bullying can either be carried out be a single individual or by a group and not differently the target of bullying can also be single individual, the victim or a group, although in the context of school bullying; the target has usually been a single student. (Olweus, 1993) The issue of peer harassment has been overlooked to such an extent in schools that it has noticed strange happenings such as the fact that “those who fight back are headed for especially poor outcomes, and many bullies are seen as popular and admirable by both peers and teachers (Elias & Zins, 2004). Approximately 15% of the students are either the victims or the initiators of bullying behavior. (Olweus, 1993). The instances of such behaviors are seen more in the middle or junior schools and they decrease during the high school. Physical assault does not seem to be as perpetually witnessed as verbal abuse. Although the victims of bully are found to be physically weak or those who show no sign of repellence or resistance against the bully, it has also been noticed that “school size, racial composition and school setting do not seem to be distinguishing factors in predicting the occurrence of bullying” (Banks, 1997). If we consider with a closer look of this ominous undertaking in the schools of the United Kingdom alone, a British Council survey confirms that in comparison to the rest of the Europe, bullying in secondary schools is worst here (Lipsett, 2008). The report claims that nearly half of the pupils (46%) in UK secondary school think that bullying is a problem in their school while with 48% of pupils considering the trend problematic; England seems to be further effected. Pupils who said that bullying is a problem in school varied in Scotland and Wales with the difference of 43% and 32% respectively. The same study in the rest of the Europe such as Italy, Germany and Spain bore the result as 33%, 29% and 22% respectively which was evaluated as substantially lower than the UK. Language difficulties, skin colour, racial difference and religious affiliations were found to be some of the reasons that attract the perpetrators of bullying especially in the UK while a total of 41% and 44% of the students are also said to have attributed to clothing style and differences in appearance respectively to be the causes (Lipsett, 2008). The present decade has witnessed a large numbers of bullycides (suicides as a result of being bullied) in the UK. It is quite unnerving to learn even about a few of them: 23 June 2001: Nicola Rapheal, 15, died after taking an overdose of painkillers at her home in Kirkintilloch, Dunbartonshire, Scotland. She had been the target of bullying for some time. 13 April 2002: 13-year-old Laura Kilibarda was found hanged in her home at Lisvane, near Cardiff, after complaining about being bullied at school. 17 April 2003: 15-year-old Sarah Harrison from Mapperley in Nottinghamshire, England, hanged herself at a Nottingham childrens home after enduring months of bullying. 31 May 2004: 12-year-old Aaron Armstrong, who was a first-year pupil at Cambridge House Grammar in Ballymena, was found hanged in a hayshed at the family farm at Broughshane April 2005: 12-year-old Nathan Jones hangs himself after being tormented by bullies at King’s Wood School, in Harold Hill, Romford, Essex. (Child bullying school bullying bullycide) The list is practically unending and the trend seems to be virtually interminable. What increases with the increase in the number of these deaths in UK every year is the inconsolable cry of every parent, desperate call of every innocent victim and the unanswered queries of every student as thus: will there be an end to it? The occurrence of bully is absolutely unpredictable and to take for granted that one’s child can not be bullied or can not be a bully is an erroneous stance. It is not quite easy for any parent, teacher or a student to behold the fact, taking this matter in parlance of the UK alone, that every eight out of ten students here are victims of bullying (Schools - Parents). In another study, it has been found out that “12.2% of pupils experience being bullied two or three times a month or more” and that younger pupils were more likely to be bullied although gender bias were not significantly witnessed in the UK (Smith, 2002).The facts about bullying, known or unknown, necessitates, especially for the parents to play an important role in understanding whether or not one’s child is a victim or a perpetrator. Although it is generally taken for granted that if one’s child is being bullied in the school, it will come immediately to notice of the parents, it has also been noticed that children who are the victims of bully do not always tell their parents or teachers about its happening. Parents must therefore try to understand their child’s problem by understanding the various symptoms that s/he inadvertently displays. If the child complains about being too unwell to go to schools even if his health seems to be quite alright, or gets upset even at the thought of going to school, or if the child shows unusual behaviors such as becoming quite or resentful or if unexpected cuts and bruises are seen in the child (Schools - Parents), it has to be understood that the child is victimized for bully in the school. If the child is found to be a bully instead of the victim, the situation is still worse. But it is essential in the part of the parents not to show exaggerative shock over the discovery and rather calmly try to find out what led to such happening. A child bullies for a number of reason and it can be possible that he was bullied himself. The effects of his actions and its unacceptability must be clearly made understood. Talking to the child’s teacher for appropriate actions and making sure that the child is not forced or influenced by other pupils can help (Schools - Parents). While analyzing the ‘why’ factor for a student turning out to be someone as malevolent as a bully, various reasons have been pointed out. A mostly ignored reason of ‘frustration’ is also responsible in making a bully. A child can turn out to be resentful as a result of some problems he faces such as deafness, dyslexia, allergy or any learning difficulty which is likely to make the child frustrated (Bullying in schools). The child is most likely to show aggressive behaviors as a reaction against being abused or bullied at home or being neglected. If the child has no role model at home from whom to learn about behavior skills, he can turn out to be a bully. It can also be possible that the child has fallen into the influence of wrong company in the school. Since the children are still in their formative stage in terms of aggression and since they haven’t learnt much about such behaviors, it is considerably easier to bring them back to normal track unlike the serious psychopaths who are suffering from serious conduct disorder (Bullying in schools). Jaana Juvonen and Sundra Graham claim that “personal, peer-relational, and family-relational factors all affect the probability of children’s habitual abuse by peers” ( 2001). Physical attributes such as obesity, wearing glasses, speech problems or other physical disability are seen to have given bullies advantages. Behavioral attributes such as inability of the victim to defend themselves against the attacks also intensify the happening. If the victim responds to attacks with anger and aggression, this is also found to be a factor for the bully to be further provoked. A student from the very start of his schooling must be informed about the demerits of bully. It is often seen that lack of proper ethos being installed in pupils appropriately in schools results in practice of bully. This prevention act includes processes such as mentoring, support and supervision while making the child understand that the act is unacceptable. In the face of the extent to which the problem is prevalent in today’s time, it is unwise on our part to blame any individual to be responsible for the escalation of bullying and its consequences. It is a collective problem and non but the collective must strive for a solution for the problem. Bullying, as we know is due to a number of factors, and our responsibility is to explore and eradicate them all. To provide a happy and safe environment for the students, the government of UK, to the relief of many students, has made clear that all forms of bully must not be tolerated and will invite a disciplinary action against any such undertakings and have stated that “no one should suffer the pain and indignity that bullying can cause (Teachernet, 2007). Yet as far as the implementation is concerned, much is to be done. The law of UK propels a good deal of legalities about what schools and local authorities should and can do about bulling but unless there is initiatives form the general public, effective measures can not be found. One way of meeting our end is by creating and implementing a whole-school anti-bullying policy (Teachernet, 2007). This comes in handy especially in the UK, in accordance with the principles set out in the Bullying – A Charter for Action document. This charter demands the school to make sure that the students who are bullied are heard, taught how to deal with bullying and made feel safe and helped to rebuild confidence in them. And for those who engage in bully, programs are demanded to be held in school to make them face the harm they have created, to make them learn behavior that would not replicate the same trend in the future and also to make them repair the harm they have caused. In an over-all outlook, government wants the school to promote climate where bullying and violence are not tolerated and can not flourish. All that these laws are in need of in the present scenario is serious consideration and deep realization of its necessity. The act of bullying which can conclusively and simply be understood as an instance of a student being “exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other students” (Elias & Zins, 2004) is in a state that entails serious attention in today’s world. Here and now, with out further delay, we, the citizen of this seemingly peaceful United Kingdom and the whole of the world must join hands in order not to let this sinister behavior be the cause for the tears of one more mother for loss of her child, the cause for the cry of one more blood-drenched pupil and the cause for the helplessness of the entire human race to provide a safe environment for their children to learn. All it takes is a bit of realization of the seriousness and urgency of the matter. Say NO to bully! Works Cited Banks, R. (1997, April). Bullying in Schools. ERIC Digest. . Retrieved July 19, 2009, from ERIC Digest. : http://www.ericdigests.org/1997-4/bullying.htm Bullying in schools. (n.d.). Retrieved July 21, 2009, from bullyonline.org: http://www.bullyonline.org/schoolbully/school.htm Child bullying school bullying bullycide. (n.d.). Retrieved July 20, 2009, from bullyonline.org: http://www.bullyonline.org/schoolbully/cases.htm#UK Elias, M. J., & Zins, J. E. (Eds.). (2004). Bullying, peer harassment, and victimization in the schools. Haworth Press. Juvonen, J., & Graham, S. (2001). Peer Harassment in School. The Guilford Press. Lipsett, A. (2008, February 29). UK schools worst in Europe for bullying. Retrieved July 20, 2009, from Guardian.co.uk: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/feb/29/schools.uk4 Olweus, D. (1993). BULLYING AT SCHOOL: WHAT WE KNOW AND WHAT WE CAN DO. Cambridge: MA: Blackwell. Schools - Parents. (n.d.). Retrieved July 21, 2009, from bbc.co.uk: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents/life/health_happiness/problems/bullying.shtml Smith, P. K. (2002). Violence in Schools: The Responce in Europe. UK: Taylor & Francis Ltd . Tattum, D. P., & Lane, D. A. (1994). Bullying in schools. Trentham Books. Teachernet. (2007, September 21). Retrieved July 22, 2009, from teachernet.gov.uk: http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/wholeschool/behaviour/tacklingbullying/safetolearn/introduction/ Read More