Tourette Syndrome Plus - Behavior - Preventing Bullying P. 2

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Information Section: Behavior
Article: Preventing Bullying
Source: Linda Lumsden (2002), ERIC Identifier: ED463563
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WHAT CAN SCHOOLS DO TO COUNTERACT BULLYING?

According to Froschl and Gropper (1999), a written anti-bullying policy distributed to everyone in the school community can help to send the message that bullying incidents will be taken seriously. Of course, to be effective, the policy must have the support of school staff, and it must be fairly and consistently applied.

To discern the nature and extent of the bullying problem in their school, administrators can distribute surveys to students, school personnel, and parents (Colvin and others). Once baseline data are collected, school personnel will be better able to judge whether any subsequent changes are actually making a difference.

Debra Pepler, director of the LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution at York University in Toronto, suggests mapping a school's "hot spots" for bullying incidents (Ruth Walker 2001). Once problematic locations have been pinpointed through survey responses or a review of disciplinary records, supervision can be concentrated where it is most needed.

Barone points out that providing better supervision is not necessarily costly. For example, principals can ask teachers to stand in the doorways of their classrooms during passing time so that the halls are well supervised.

To achieve permanent changes in how students interact, Colvin and others recommend not only delivering negative consequences to those who bully, but teaching positive behavior through modeling, coaching, prompting, praise, and other forms of reinforcement. Similarly, Ballard and others encourage schools to take a proactive stance by implementing programs that teach students "social skills, conflict resolution, anger management, and character education."

One 15-year-old girl said, "I don't know how you do this, but we need to make acceptance cool" (National Association of Attorneys General).

At Central York Middle School in Pennsylvania, all students sign anti-teasing pledges and are taught how to appropriately manager their anger. Since this practice was started, the school reports a reduction in fistfights. At Laurel Elementary in Fort Collins, Colorado, students undergo "Be Cool" training in which counselors present them with provocative situations and help them recognize the difference between a "hot response" and a "cool response" (Labi 2001).

HOW CAN PEERS DISCOURAGE BULLYING?

O'Connell and others (1999) assert that "peers may actively or passively reinforce the aggressive behaviors of bullies through their attention and engagement. Peer presence is positively related to the persistence of bullying episodes." Similarly, psychologist Peter Fonagy says, "The whole drama is supported by the bystander. The theater can't take place if there's no audience" (Labi 2001).

According to Salmivall (1999), bullying is increasingly viewed as a "group phenomenon," and intervention approaches should be directed toward witnesses as well as direct participants. Salmivall encourages the development of anti-bullying attitudes among peers through awareness-raising, the opportunity for self-reflection and awakening feelings of responsibility, and role-playing or rehearsing new behaviors.

To discourage peers from acting as an "audience" to bullying behavior, Seeds University Elementary School (UES) in Los Angeles has a policy of sending bystanders as well as bullies for after-school mediation. Students and their parents sign contracts at the beginning of the school year acknowledging they understand it is unacceptable to ridicule, taunt, or attempt to hurt other students (Labi). If an incident occurs, it can be used as an opportunity to educate students about alternative ways of resolving similar situations in the future.

Teaching respect and nonviolence should start in elementary school. Some suggest that nonviolence training conducted by older peers can be particularly powerful because, as one high school student put it, younger students "don't look up to old people; they look up to teenagers" (National Association of Attorneys General).

A survey administered by Naylor and Cowie (1999) found positive effects of peer-support systems designed to challenge bullying. Students accessing support, offered in the form of mentoring, befriending, mediation, and counseling, as well as their peers who provided the support, both derived benefits.

WHAT ELSE CAN BE DONE?

Some states are beginning to require schools to adopt anti-bullying policies. Colorado, New Hampshire, and West Virginia recently passed legislation that makes it mandatory for schools to have anti-bullying policies. Massachusetts has allocated one million dollars to "bully-proof" its schools.

Students who bully often need intensive support or intervention, so it is important for schools and social-service agencies to work together. Perpetrators are frequently from "hostile family environments" (Ballard and others). They may be victims of acts of aggression at home, or witness aggression among other family members.

Parents can play a role in reducing bullying. William Pollack, a psychologist, says, "Research shows that the success of any program is 60% grounded in whether the same kinds of approaches are used at home" (Labi).

If everyone works together to discourage bullying and respond to incidents, fertile conditions are created for students to develop a greater sense of connection to their peers and for seeds of respect and acceptance to grow.

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