Dealing with Bullying and Harassment

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Dealing with Bullying and Harassment

• Safety and security

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Key messages

• profound long term impacts
• whole school approach is vital
• needs definition, clarification
• never OK
• everyone must challenge

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Community prevalence, impact and beliefs

• experienced by 1 in 3 people
• most common in workplace and schools
• far reaching effects
• women more susceptible to health effects
• 40 do not seek support
• observers too frightened or lack skills to
  intervene
• belief it can be reduced or eliminated
• need for greater tolerance of diversity
• low awareness of policy and legislation
• Victorian Attitudes Towards Bullying, Research
  report September 2001prepared for VicHealth

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In high schools

• Bullying, which affects around 1 in 6 students
• affects learning outcomes
• is related to physical and emotional wellbeing
• increases the risk of depression
• Rigby, K. (2001)
• Bond, L. et al (2001)

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Reported bullying
Unreported bullying
Hidden effects of bullying
stress anxiety depression low
self-esteem
Keith Sullivan (2000) The Anti-Bullying Handbook
University Press, NZ
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Bullybodies p 24Activity

• Draw body outline
• Brainstorm types of bullying - be specific
• Circle 2 most common
• Underline 2 worst

hitting
exclusion
Put downs
teasing
staring
rumours
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What is bullying? Activity
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Definition

• repetitive
• causes distress (at the time and by threat of
  future attacks)
• power imbalance
• may be verbal, physical, social, psychological
• effect on victim and broader group is important

Schools should take time to understand what
they mean by bullying before rushing in with
possibly inadequate preventative policies and
programs Ken Rigby
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Beliefs Activity

• A normal part of growing up
• Easy to pick who is a bully
• Children bully due to low self esteem
• Victims take bullying wherever they go
• Intervention makes matters worse
• Schools have to get tough on bullies
• Kids dont dob wont disclose
• Solved through awareness raising and curriculum
• Griffiths, C. 2000 Countering bullying in
  schools Training Package 2000 Swan Edcuation
  District W.A.

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Refining beliefs

• ..refining beliefs is not ..so easy as it
  sounds. Each one of us becomes very comfortable
  with the particular set of beliefs that has got
  us where we are it is only a preparedness to ask
  really difficult questions that allows us to
  confront the possibility that . the certain
  truths of yesterday become the unquestioned
  myths of today.
• Richard Bawden

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Groups in bullying incidents
BYSTANDERS
POTENTIAL VICTIMS
COLLABORATORS
SECONDARY VICTIMS
THE INCIDENT
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Five stages of bullying

• Watching and waiting
• Testing the waters
• Something more substantial occurs
• The bullying escalates
• The bullying becomes fully established
• These stages exist for
• bully
• victim
• bystander
• Keith Sullivan (2000) The Anti-Bullying
  Handbook University Press, NZ

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Diversity issues

• Bullying and harassment can be
• overt or covert
• particularly difficult for students in or from
  small communities
• not reported if a cause of embarrassment, shame
• exacerbated by limited English
• and the result of
• racism
• homophobia
• xenophobia (fear of the foreign)
• Secondary bullying is always an issue

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Scenarios Activity

• What does/could happen?
• clubs are being used to exclude kids
• kids in class refuse to lend equipment to one
  student in particular
• student/staff member has had their car vandalised
  several times outside their house
• a student/staff member has received several
  photos in mail with eyes scratched out
• everyone coughs whenever a particular student
  enters the room
• students mime conversation in front of hearing
  impaired student
• student receives abusive text messages on mobile

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Drop down menu generating options Activity
TASK OR GOAL to deal effectively with scenario
number ___
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Degrees of severity
least severe informal
serious shared concern
severe involve community
eg one off, thoughtless teasing
eg continual group harassment, physical injury
eg put downs, jostling, rumours, exclusion
Rigby, K (2001) Stop the Bullying a Handbook for
Schools ACER
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What helps?

• When schools promote belonging and ensure high
  levels of involvement between staff and students,
  bullying is reduced.
• Andrew Fuller Building Resilience, Presentation
  at Australian Institute of Management, March 2000

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Human guinea pigs Activity p 92

• Groups of five or six
• One resilient volunteer guinea pig (leaves
  room)
• Rest of group chat about weekend
• Re-enter guinea pig (four times)

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Policy what goes into it?

• statement of schools stand against bullying
• definition (with examples)
• declaration of rights of all individuals and
  groups to be
• free of bullying
• provided with help and support if bullied
• responsibilities of school community to
• abstain personally
• actively discourage bullying
• description of how the school will deal with
  incidents
• evaluation written into the policy
• date and life of policy plus review date
• Stop the Bullying a Handbook for Schools Ken
  Rigby 2001

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Personal reflections Activity

• Me
• use curriculum activities
• be vigilant

• My workplace
• survey kids
• define together
• review policy
• agreement of acceptable behaviour between staff