Developing an Effective Plan of Responses to the Problem of Bullying - Literature review Example

name of the university RESPONSES TO THE PROBLEM OF BULLYING A REPORT THAT WILL ASSIST THE SCHOOL BOARD TO DEVELOP AN EFFECTIVE PLAN OF ACTION STUDENT NAME: ADM. NO. COURSE NAME: COURSE NO: SUPERVISOR: DATE OF SUBMISSION 1.0. Concept of Bullying in School Responses to the problem of bullying are nowadays enshrined in Educational policy in each state or country. Education Act endeavour to ensure that all pupils are it in primary and secondary schools have the right to a better physical, cognitive and socio-emotional environment which encourages healthy development and learning (Crothers & Kolbert, 2008). The laws are very clear; no kind of stalking or bullying should be tolerated in schools, the head teachers, students, teachers and school board have a role to play in making sure schools are safe haven for learning and child development. Every school needs to take initiatives against bullying and do follow ups on bullying issues, which calls for a clarity in procedures to uncover bullying and solve matters reported or uncovered fairly (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2012). A good response toward problem of bullying is linked to both psycho-social surroundings that incorporate systematic work to promote cognitive and physical safety among pupils. There is no doubt that bullying in schools is highly undesirable. At its worst, bullying causes physical harm or even death. Long-term bullying and rejection tend to be linked with suicide. In short-term, bullying affects school attendance because bullied children often avoid attending school as often as they can, resulting in missed academic work and fewer positive social interactions with other children. Unfortunately, there is also no doubt that bullying and intimidation of children is widespread (Hirschstein et al, 2007). Children who bully or are bullied may have personality characteristics that are related to their actions or at least a long history of related behaviours. Antibullying programs need to have sufficiently powerful components to deal with action with actions that have been punished many times but are consistently rewarding to the bully. Bullying happens, regardless of policies, programs, or threat of consequence, some students will bully, or attempt to bully others. The students they chose to bully are people they believe will not or cannot stand up for them. Crothers and Kolbert (2008) argue that bullies commonly look for students may be considered weird or different, or who don’t fit in. These students usually lack the knowledge, confidence or skills to assertively stand up to a bully; their style actually makes the bullying worse. Some students get bullied for other reasons, such as being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Regardless of the reason, it will be the reaction of the targeted student that will determine if they continue to get bullied. One reaction, often reinforced by the media and even some students, is to stand up to the bully with “one quick punch”. It is believed that by so doing so the bully will gain respect for or develop some fear of the target and stop the bullying. However, a violent response to bullying will often result in more violence as well as trouble with authority. A more effective strategy to reduce bullying is to empower the targets. 2.0. Child development At school, children should be engaged in activities which enhance physical, cognitive and psycho-social development (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2012). Cases of bullying may limit the development of the aforementioned things and be a barrier to child wellbeing. According to McDevitt and Ormrod (2012) teachers and parents should encourage and praise the children, and correct them without ridiculing them for clumsiness or failure to learn a particular skill. Social development is very crucial in child development as it help in developing of self-concept that helps in formation of individual personality. Thus, children should be monitored closely by both the teacher and parent to promote good relationships among students. At this stage, bullying may make one to be anti-social, but by close supervision and discipline, one is able to develop socially accepted behavior and discourage misbehavior (Crothers & Kolbert, 2008). Given this fact, a child is able to apply the relationship or associations learnt earlier to make conclusion on new relations. Instilling discipline amongst pupils by teachers and parents will contribute to better child growth and development and will help one to become a responsible person. 3.0. Studies on outcomes of anti-bullying programs Since the 1990s, a variety of antibullying programs have been developed. Application and testing of these programs help determine whether bullying behavior can be modified, at least by the approaches that are now available. According to Hirschstein et al. (2007) studies of the outcomes of antibullying programs are especially helpful if they show whether programs have both initial effects and long-term influence in reducing bullying in school. Some antibullying programs assume that bullies turn to inappropriate behavior because of lack skills for positive social interaction (p.8). For example, one program, studied some years ago, focused on school aggression in general, rather than specific bullying behavior, and attempted to guide elementary school boys to think about the causes of other people’s behavior. Crothers and Kolbert (2008) stress that considering that aggressive boys were likely to interpret others’ actions as hostile when they were actually accidental, this program, Brainpower, provided lessons in interpreting others’ intentions and responding to motive rather than the behavior. Four schools were studied, and some children in each school were randomly assigned either to the Brainpower program or to one of two control conditions, either a problem-solving program or a no-attention condition. The researchers reported that the Brainpower program reduced aggression by a small amount, but the effect disappeared within 12 months. More recent antibullying programs tend to be much more complicated than the Brainpower approach. For example, in the Steps to Respect program, teachers present classroom lessons about empathy to elementary school children and provide instruction in how children should act when someone tries to bully them (the suggestion is to make eye contact and use a strong voice). In addition, when teachers observe bullying among children, the teachers provide on-the-spot coaching in more appropriate behavior for both the bully and the victim (Crothers & Kolbert, 2008). To test the effects of the Steps to Respect program, one study randomly assigned schools, not children and teachers were asked to rate children’s social skills and playground behavior. A reduction in bullying was reported for the Steps to Respect schools. Recent related research (Hirschstein et al., 2007, p.11) suggests that it would be unwise for antibullying programs to try to raise bullies’ self-esteem in an effort to improve their social behavior. Longitudinal studies showed that aggressive children with high self-esteem become more, not less, aggressive over time, they increasingly enjoy aggression and its rewards, and they become less concerned about the harm they do to their victims. It seems to be possible for some programs to reduce the amount of bullying in schools, but not all programs are successful, and some programs are successful, and some programs work only in good situations (Hirschstein et al, 2007, p.17). Effective programs may need to focus on changing victims’, as well as bullies’, behavior. School Board could take some action to help reduce bullying, but he would have financial resources and quality teacher training to accomplish this goal. 4.0. The Action Plan The School Board has a key role in offering an effective plan of action to minimize cases of bullying in school. Provision of non-judgmental, responsive information, advice and support is vital in curbing bullying issues amongst students and enhance a good learning environment. The Board should take an independent approach, or mentor and work with the parent to defuse potential antagonism between parent and school (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2012). They can also deliver high quality accredited training for teachers on successful approaches involving parents and communities in anti-bullying initiatives. In this, the role of the School Board is pivotal, over and above any work being done with the school family support services need to be involved and to reach out to vulnerable families to offer support particularly if the bullying is now involving violence within the home(Crothers & Kolbert, 2008). Without such targeted support from the Board, the lives of students being bullied will continue to unravel and the families of those doing the bullying will not be in any position to prevent this behavior of destruction and intolerance. The action plan by School Board against bullying is pivotal presentation of school’s systems and readiness for tackling the bullying issues. It entails four vital principles in regard to work against bullying, namely, uncovering, resolving, preventing as well as continuing. The Action Plan reveals the Board’s attitude and initiatives enshrined within these four principles. As such, following some routines and agreed procedures will be important in an Action Plan. To develop effective Action Plan, the School Board should involve all stakeholders in their work. Through such involvement, a sense of ownership is created and this result into a greater degree of commitment in following up the plan to make sure it achieves the set goals. For an Action Plan to be a living tool in a school, it will need a continual work to improve it, which dependent on plan to revise it yearly. 5.0. Developing an Action Plan The school Action Plan on bullying is builds on 4 principles: a) Uncovering bullying b) Resolving individual cases on bullying c) Prevention d) Continuity of work 5.1. Uncovering Bullying The aim is to uncover any bullying instances that may happen at or on the way to school. The School Board need to constitute a resource group that may undertake regular initiatives meant to uncover any bullying among students/pupils. In this context, clarity on responsibilities of different actors (head teachers, teachers, employees, parents and pupils) should be stated. To achieve this, annual surveys have to be conducted always to assess the level of bullying in the school. Discussions on bullying should be encouraged between a teachers and pupils, pupils and parents, and parents and teachers, which could unearth bullying issues (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2012). 5.2. Resolving Bullying The aim here is to make sure that school take an initiative of stopping any reported cases of bullying. This is meant to curb any future bullying in school. The School Board has to make sure that all actors in this whole issue are aware on school’s share strategy that any bullying case will harshly be dealt with as per the agreed guidelines. The school procedures on resolving any reported case should first entail gathering factual information by talking to the victim, witness and then to the bully or bullies. Later on, do a follow up meeting with both the victim and bully separately. Thereafter, parents of the victim and bully should also be talked to separately to inform them on further details and responsibility expected from them (Crothers & Kolbert, 2008). The group in charge for instilling discipline or action act on the situation based on information provided. After resolving the case, the group needs to undertake a post-bullying work to avoid the repeat in future, by working closely with the victim, witness and the bully by cautioning them and making them aware of class and school rules. 5.3. Prevention The aim is to make all pupils experience a positive learning behavior. This call for a good relationship between a teacher and pupil, as the teacher serve as a prominent figure that a pupil can rely on. As such, the teacher must work towards a good relationship with each pupil. The School Board need to enforce initiatives within the school to help teachers continually build better associations with individual pupil to make sure they experience good development while in school (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2012). The teacher also needs to show a clear leadership, which makes pupils or the class to feel they are in a safe environment. The demands made by the teacher should be based on accepted norms of behavior, through the initiatives of the School Board. The relationship between parents or guardians with pupils should also be strengthened to permit open and active cooperative. 5.4. Continuity It aims at making sure that School Board’s work with preventing, uncovering and stopping bullying in on an ongoing basis. The principle entails that problems are solved at the lowest possible level, thus need for the Board to work with teachers closely as they are the ones that know which cases to be referred further and who can turn to if the bullying problems persist. This will be like a “staircase” where every problem is solved at the lowest level possible, but moves up one step at a time as needed (Crothers & Kolbert, 2008). To make sure there is continuity in the initiatives of curbing and unearthing bullying, certain regular initiatives should be carried out annually like informing the new parents, pupils and employees on school policy regarding bullying. Follow up and revisions of the plan are fundamental in realizing the satisfactory procedures of preventing bullying in schools. REFERENCE Crothers, L.M. & Kolbert, J.B. (2008). Tackling a problem behavior management issue: Teachers’ intervention in childhood bullying problems. Intervention in school and clinic, vol.43, pp.132-139 Hirschstein, M.W., Van Schoiack Edstrom, L., Frey, K.S., Snell, J.L., & MacKenzie, E.P. (2007). Walking the talk in bullying prevention: Teacher implementation variables related to initial impact of the Steps to Respect program. School Psychology Review, vol. 36, pp.3-21 Hudley, C., Britsch, B., Wakefield, W.D., Smith, T., Demorat, M., & Cho, S.J. (1998). An attribution retraining program to reduce aggression in elementary school students. Psychology in the Schools, vol.35, pp.271-282 McDevitt, T.M. & Ormrod, E.J. (2012), Child development & Education, 5th Edn. New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc. Read More