Bullying in Schools

1. Bullying in Schools By Brad Rector, Sally Nulton, Alexandra Boothby, and Doug Burnett

2. What Is Bullying? • Bullying is a form of aggressive behavior that is intentional, hurtful, (physical and psychological), and/or threatening and persistent (repeated). There is an imbalance of strength (power and dominance). • The above definition includes the following criteria that will help you determine if a student is being bullied: • The mistreatment must be intentional. • The mistreatment must be hurtful (physical or psychological). • The mistreatment is threatening. The individual fears harms. Fear their safety. • The mistreatment must occur more than once. However, some disagree with this. They say one very hurtful event is enough to label it bullying. • There must be a power imbalance

3. What Does Bullying Look Like? • Direct Bullying Behaviors • Physical Bullying (a few examples) • Hitting, slapping, elbowing, shouldering (slamming someone with your shoulder) • Shoving in a hurtful or embarrassing way • Kicking • Taking, stealing, damaging or defacing belongings or other property • Restraining • Pinching • Flushing someone’s head in the toilet • Cramming someone into his or her locker • Attacking with spit wads or food • Verbal Bullying (a few examples) • Name-calling • Insulting remarks and put-downs • Repeated teasing • Racist remarks or other harassment • Threats and intimidation • Whispering behind someone’s back • Indirect Bullying Behaviors

4. What Does Bullying Look Like? • Social/Relational (a few examples) • Destroying and manipulating relationships (turning your best friend against you) • Destroying status within a peer group • Destroying reputations • Humiliation and embarrassment • Intimidation • Gossiping, spreading nasty and malicious rumors and lies about someone • Hurtful graffiti • Excluding someone from a group (social rejection or isolation) • Stealing boyfriends or girlfriends to hurt someone • Negative body language (facial expressions, turning your back to someone) • Threatening gestures, taunting, pestering, insulting remarks and gestures • Glares and dirty looks, nasty jokes, notes passed around, anonymous notes • Hate petitions (promising to hate someone) • Other Bullying Behaviors • Cyber bullying: negative text messages on cell phones, e-mail, or voice-mail messages, Web pages, and so on Direct and indirect forms of bullying often occur together. All of these behaviors can be interrelated.

5. Who Are the Victims of Bullying? • Children who are bullied are often insecure, socially isolated, anxious, and have low self-esteem • They are unlikely to defend themselves or retaliate • They tend to be weaker than their peers • Parents of children who are bullied are often overprotective or enmeshed with their children • Children who are bullied perceive parent or teacher intervention to be ineffective and are unlikely to report the problem

6. Bullying Rational of Adults • Bullying is often perceived as a harmless rite of passage that all children will experience • Unless bullying is likely to lead to physical injury, many adults believe it is best left to be resolved by children and their peers

7. Long-Term Implications of Bullying • Children who are bullies are likely experience legal or criminal problems as adults • Children can carry bullying behaviors into adulthood and experience difficulty in forming and maintaining relationships • Children who are bullied often experience low self-esteem and depression even into adulthood • Children who are bullied perceive school as an unsafe place and are likely to miss more days of school than their peers, as a result their education is negatively affected

8. How Do We Stop Bullying? • Develop a school-wide bullying policy to: • raise awareness of teachers and administrators • create a framework for responding to bullying • improve overall school environment • ensure change is occurring in the classroom • empower students through programs such as peer counseling, mediation, or conflict resolution

9. How Do We Stop Bullying? • Develop a school-wide bullying policy • Implement classroom curriculum: • Develop classroom rules against bullying • Develop cooperative learning projects that encourage teamwork and reduce social isolation • Create activities or assignments that teach problem-solving or conflict-resolution skills • Participate in role-playing or other activities to help children understand the perspectives of others and identify feelings

10. How Do We Stop Bullying? • Develop a school-wide bullying policy • Implement classroom curriculum • Raise awareness of bullying: • Allow students to fill out surveys to better understand their perspective of bullying • Inform caregivers of bullying policies/curriculum through conferences, newsletters, or PTA meetings • Encourage parent involvement in anti-bullying initiatives