Bullying: A Growing Problem in Ontario Schools

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Bullying A Growing Problem in Ontario Schools

• By Ashley Imgrund, Jen Kroetsch, Kim Herbert, and
  Haily Buettner.

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Ontario Unveils Plan to Fight Bullying in
Schools

• In an article in the Globe and Mail on November
  17th, 2005, the provincial government made an
  announcement regarding mandatory anti-bullying
  programs in every Ontario School.
• The Ontario government has outlined a three-year,
  23-million initiative. Each school will receive
  as much as 2,000 for staff training and
  resources to create an approved
  bullying-prevention program. All Ontario schools
  will also be required to create safe-school teams
  and anonymous reporting mechanisms, such as drop
  boxes and peer group interventions.
• This is a serious problem that should not be
  left unchecked, says Gerard Kennedy, Ontarios
  Education Minister.

Gerard Kennedy (Education Minister)
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Relation to the Safe Schools Act

• (Bill 8, 2000)
• All members of a school community have the right
  to expect that schools are safe and free of
  violence.
• Zero-tolerance policy for bullying and violence

• (Ontario Schools Code of Conduct)
• Sets out clear standards of a behaviour in
  schools
• Specifies mandatory consequences for student
  actions that do not comply with these standards
• All members of a community are treated with
  respect
• Members of the school are expected to use
  non-violent means to resolve conflict

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Presentation Outline

• In order for us, as future teachers, to
  understand and prevent bullying, it is crucial
  that we examine the following aspects
• Statistics of Bullying
• What is Bullying? Why do children bully?
• Types of Bullying
• Confrontation Types in Children
• Group Activity
• What schools can do? Considerations.
• Examples of Programs Kelso, SNAP, Peacemakers,
  2nd Step Prevention Curriculum.
• Wrap Up/Conclusion Questions

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Statistics

• Survey results from St. Annes Catholic School in
  Richmond Hill, Ontario (281 students- Grades
  2-7)
• 68 of children feel safe in school
• 88 believed bullying was a major problem in
  their school
• 62 said they have been bullied at some point or
  another
• 40 said they have been bullies at some point in
  their school life.
• 78 said they have seen someone being bullied
• 51 have reported bullying when they have
  witnessed it in the school yard
• 12 are afraid to report because of the fear of
  being made fun of by the bully.
• In looking at these statistics, it is quite clear
  that bullying is a major problem in Ontario
  schools and MUST be dealt with accordingly.

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What is Bullying?

• Bullying is harmful, deliberate behaviour
  intended to hurt the victim physically,
  emotionally and/or psychologically. Bullying is
  ABUSE and as such needs to be taken very
  seriously.

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Why do children bully?

• Children who bully enjoy having power and control
  over other children. They often get positive
  attention from their peers for bullying. Victims
  of bullies may learn to become bullies
  themselves.
• (Victim Services Brant)
• The intention of bullying is to put the victim in
  distress in some way

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Types of Bullying

• Physical This type of bullying involves hitting
  or kicking the victim, or taking and/or damaging
  the victims property. As these types of bullies
  get older, their attacks usually become more
  aggressive.
• Verbal This type of bullying involves using
  words to hurt or humiliate another person. It
  includes name-calling, insulting, making racist
  comments and constant teasing.

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Types of Bullying

• Relational This is where bullies try to convince
  their peers to exclude or reject a certain person
  or people and cut the victims off from their
  social connections. This is most often seen in
  girls who spread and create nasty rumours about
  others or exclude an ex-friend from the peer
  group.

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Confrontation Types in Children

• The Terrible-Tempered Atoms Regard anger as a
  way of life, and trust no one. They give out
  insults where none was intended, at times.
• The Hipshooters Are quick to express anger and
  quick to forget it. They are impulsive, volatile,
  and often surprised at the negative reaction they
  evoke.
• The Counterattackers Hide their hurt over
  criticism by criticizing in return. What they are
  really saying is, When you hurt me, Ill hurt
  you right back!
• The Displacers Handle anger they dare not
  direct at a powerful figure, such as a parent, by
  blowing up at someone elseoften another child.
  This rage is out of proportion to the incident
  that provoked it.
• The Handlers Have a repertoire of responses to
  employ in different situations. They know how to
  take time to cool off, ventilate, and understand
  the source of their anger. They attack the
  problem, not the person!
• (From Managing Conflict A Guide to Conflict
  Resolution for Educators)

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Group Activity

• Your group has formed a school committee for
  anti-bullying. What aspects should and do you
  think you need to consider when creating a school
  behaviour management plan?
• Brainstorm some points you should consider and
  include in your plan. (5 minutes)

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What Schools Can doSix Recommended Components
in a Conflict Resolution Program

• Curriculum
• All students learn how to deal with and resolve
  problems and conflicts peacefully.
• Students gain tools and skills to solve common
  problems in the classroom and playground.

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Recommendations continued...

• Peer Mediation
• Students are trained in conflict-resolution and
  mediation and can handle common
  student-to-student problems, such as rumours,
  friendship arguments, misunderstandings, etc.
• Teaches students how to solve disagreements,
  without consulting with adults.
• Peer Mediators are expected to communicate
  effectively, ensure confidentiality, remain
  neutral, find the underlying cause of conflict,
  know the steps for resolving conflicts and
  maintain self-control.

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Recommendations continued...

• 3. Professional Development
• Need to train staff on the conflict-resolution
  curriculums and for certain roles, such as policy
  makers, counselors, and administrators.
• Teaching staff about programs, how to implement
  them, and how to model them.
• As well, on an ongoing basis, to refresh,
  develop, and possibly adapt the program.

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Recommendations continued...

• 4. Parent/Community Initiatives
• Provide training and materials for families to
  reinforce conflict-resolution strategies at home.
• Encourages parents to help at school, as
  negotiators or facilitators of peer mediation-
  parents can help facilitate these programs.
• Other people in the community can also be
  involved, like police, business, churches, local
  government agencies, and community and public
  services.
• With these community agents, schools can create
  partnerships.

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Recommendations continued...

• School-wide Reinforcement and Behaviour
  Management Systems
• Conflict-resolution programs
• The program should be integrated into school
  policies and procedures and be outlined in the
  student/school handbook.
• Behavioural issues should be disciplined and
  resolved with cooperation.
• Teachers classroom management plans should also
  reflect the school conflict-resolution
  program/system.

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Recommendations continued...

• Evaluation
• Have to evaluate the needs of the school before
  establishing a program (as each school and
  neighbourhood experiences different issues and
  problems).
• Need to look at ways to improve issues and
  maintain areas that are good or working well.
• Also need to continue to evaluate the
  effectiveness of the program and continuously
  improve various aspects (as schools needs do
  change over time).

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Four Examples of Conflict-Resolution Programs in
Ontario Schools

• Kelsos Choices (Conflict Management Program for
  Children)
• Mascot is a green frog named Kelso, as the
  program is geared towards primary/junior
  students.
• Child can resolve conflict and is capable of
  being a peacemaker.
• Knowing what to do will help students reduce the
  stress and number of conflicts in the school
  playground and classroom.

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Kelsos Choices

• If a child has a problem in the school yard, he
  or she can try 2 of Kelsos choices
• Wait and cool off
• Go to another game
• Share and take turns
• Talk it out until the issue is resolved and there
  are no hard feelings
• Walk away
• Ignore it
• Tell him or her to stop and how you feel.
• Apologize
• Make a deal or compromise
• (www.shentel.net/school/ales/kelso/kelso.html)

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Four Examples of Conflict-Resolution Programs in
Ontario Schools

• 2. SNAP Program (Stop, Now And Plan)
• Helps students think before they act
• Can reduce impulsiveness or reactive responses to
  conflicts with peers
• Encourages students to describe how they feel and
  think about a situation
• Helps students recognize physical and emotional
  signs before they react to a problem (understand
  the problem trigger)

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SNAP PROGRAM

• STOP- Snap fingers, take deep breaths, put hands
  in pockets, count to ten, and tell him or herself
  to stop.
• NOW- Calm down and make the right choices.
• AND.
• PLAN- pick a plan that will work for him or her
  in the situation. Example use words to solve the
  problem, ignore the issue, and/or ask for help
  from a friend and teacher.

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Four Examples of Conflict-Resolution Programs in
Ontario Schools

• Peacemakers Program
• Curriculum-based violence prevention program for
  upper elementary school students.
• 18-lesson psychoeducational curriculum delivered
  by teachers.
• Teaches students positive attitudes and values
  related to violence, and trains youth in
  conflict-related psychosocial skills such as
  anger management, and problem solving.
• The program includes a variety of classroom
  activities, including instruction, role-plays,
  hand outs, and experiential exercises.

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Peacemakers Program

• After this program is completed by each student
  in grades 7 and 8, students who score 75 or over
  in the program are selected to become
  peacemakers or peer-mediators in their school
  playground at recesses and lunches.
• The students, much like lunch monitors, walk
  around the playground and mediate or assist
  students who need help in solving conflicts or
  communicating to say NO to bullies.
• At an elementary school in Toronto, the school
  reports indicated that the intervention was
  associated with a 41 decrease in disciplinary
  incidents and 67 fewer suspensions.

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Four Examples of Conflict-Resolution Programs in
Ontario Schools

• Second Step A Violence Prevention Curriculum
• Classroom-based social skills program for 4-14
  years old children.
• Aim is to reduce impulsive, aggressive behaviour
  and to increase social-emotional competence.
• The program was created by the Committee for
  Children, which is a non-profit organization.

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Second-Step A Violence Prevention Curriculum

• The program is organized into 3 skill-building
  units
• Empathy Teach students to identify and
  understand their own emotions and others.
• Impulse control and Problem Solving Choose
  positive goals, evaluate consequences, understand
  safety, fairness, and the impact on others.
• Anger Management Manage emotional reactions and
  engage in decision making.

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Conclusion

• Bullying is a very serious problem that is
  affecting elementary schools in Ontario today.
• Whether it is calling others names or physically
  or emotionally harassing others, these are forms
  of bullying that affect students. They are
  damaging to childrens lives, grades, and they
  impact schools by creating a climate of fear and
  disrespect.
• If we, as future teachers, target this problem at
  an early age in children then we can prevent more
  aggressive incidents from taking place. Incidents
  such as the Columbine School shooting or the most
  recent incident in Hamilton, on November 22nd
  2005, at Glendale Secondary School where 15 boys
  burst into the school with machetes to avenge the
  bullying on one of their younger brothers.
• If the problem of bullying is tackled early
  enough with proper education on bullying
  techniques given to teachers, parents and
  students, it will hopefully become a PROBLEM OF
  THE PAST!

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• HAHA! ?
• We hope you enjoyed our presentation!!