How to tackle Bullying

Bullying may be identified as a psychological disorder wherein the bully has an exaggerated sense of his own importance, desperation for admiration and a lack of empathy. However, the outward hyper-confidence is often a mask to conceal their fragile and vulnerable self-esteem which is often prone to shatter at slight criticism. Bullying might either be social or physical. The former comprises actions such as causing embarrassment, hurtful talks, calling names, etc. whereas the latter comprises physical assaults-whether minor or significant- and might include stealing, slapping, tripping, hitting, spitting, etc. Most cases of bullying, however, fit the DSM-5 diagnosis of NPD or Narcissistic Personality Disorder (Fanti, K. A., & Frangou, G., 2018).

It could be argued that bullying is a part of the human instinct to demonstrate the power and involves an imbalance of power wherein the bully tends to overpower the victim. Since the issue is deeply embedded in human psychology, it seems very difficult to be solved. Simply punishing bullies may be an ineffective way of addressing bullying because suspending and expelling students does not address the root psychological causes of bullying. The issue primarily requires the educational facilities to utilize their funds to install various programs and other methods to stop bullying and at the same time promote acceptable behavior and support within the school community.

It might come as natural as it seems that a bully becomes so out of his intrinsic behavior and can never be transformed. In other words, “once a bully, always a bully”. However, labeling a bully as a bully for the rest of his life may not prevent or improve his bullying behavior. In fact, it can only aggravate the situation. On the other hand, with a scientific approach and bit of hard work and planning, the bullies may be transformed. The basic idea is to identify the bullying early and intervene before the situation goes out of control and the behavior takes over the personality of the bully. Early intervention can aid in disciplining the bully, as well as in equipping him with skills to tackle the fragile self-esteem in a positive way.

Analysis of the Problem

Researches have shown that the problem of bullying is less about the victims and more about the bullies themselves. A study carried out on the school children in Italy and Spain brought out the thought process of bullies in a bullying situation (Smith, P. K., 2016). The children were given a questionnaire wherein they had to categorize their peers as a bully, a victim, or an outsider. Those categorized as bullies responded to a hypothetical bullying incident with such statements that focussed on how the incident affected the bully themselves or such statements that demonstrated a lack of empathy. It is important to make a bully understand the impact of his actions. Formative consequences need to be designed to send in a message that bullying is unacceptable, whereas support must also be provided to the children who bully so that they learn useful social skills that divert them from bullying and inculcate within them the empathy that they lack.

Recent Developments

The recent implementation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program at Clifton Middle School in Monrovia, California is an excellent example of the successful prevention of bullying. The said program is primarily based on the observations initiated in Norway. The program encourages educational institutions to incorporate anti-bullying classes within the school curriculum and offer a system for addressing the concerns related to both the bullies and the victims. Though no statistics currently exist to support the success of the said program, Jennifer Jackson, the principal of the school, has claimed that the program has largely been successful in transforming the bullies into very empathetic human beings as the program was able to extract out of them something out of them they never knew they had. The school used a system of ‘positive behavior intervention support’ which focused on emphasizing and rewarding the positive actions instead of directly addressing the issue of bullying. Olweus tries to address the root causes of bullying and teach students social and emotional intelligence. As a part of the program, the school hosts regular mindfulness classes and lessons directly focusing on bullying. Furthermore, the school also makes use of therapy dogs in order to aid such students who have problems with complicated and confusing feelings.

Measures to Tackle

An excellent way of battling the issue of bullying is through introducing the Good Behaviour Game wherein the students are rewarded for their excellent behavior in school. It may be argued that the recognition of positive behavior and focus on the same can be an excellent method of reinforcing the desired positive attitude in students. When positive behavior is fortified, it sets out clear expectations envisioned from students which can be as (and even more) effective as enforcing strict rules. The ‘Good Behaviour Game’ can be used by the teachers in order to reward positive behavior. The same can be implemented by dividing a class into separate teams- each competing for the reward. This system of positive behavior appreciation requires the teachers to be unbiased and consistent in their observations and string of negative behaviors. In addition, the teachers are also expected to praise the winning teams for their efforts and link the reward to the observed positive behavior.

During the implementation of the program, it is desirable, and often helpful, for instructors to keep a weekly recording of points for each of the designated teams. The rewards may be customized as per the age, for example, for young students, a suitable reward could be lining up first for lunch. For older students, however, a more fitting reward would be earning an extra private study period so as to aid in lifting their workload. It is important to note that the students must not be reprimanded in public which might cause even more problems. Also, the students must receive one-to-one feedback during the course of their behavior assessment.

One way of building secure and open communication between teachers and students is having regular classroom meetings wherein the students should feel open to share their problems with their teachers. Such meetings would enable the students to discuss school-related problems beyond academics. Notably, there should be one-to-one sessions between teachers and students, as students may not feel comfortable sharing information in front of the whole class. Schools should be prepared to install adequate reporting systems, as they should advise teachers and staff to report incidents that happen at educational institutions. This is a successful method of containing the spread of bullying because reporting aids in spotting potential trends within the incidents; using this system may prevent any future incidents from occurring. One effective way of stopping bullying may be having nonverbal cues introduced in educational facilities. For instance, these can involve teachers and staff, internal decorations and the exterior of the school. If schools promote and send good messages, then bullying is less likely to occur as the school is able to foster a positive environment.

There is also a need to involve and inform parents about their child’s grades, friends, behavior, and attitudes in school as these parameters tend to be vital tools when addressing the behavior of students. If parents and teachers work together to encourage a positive attitude within the students, the message might sink in more effectively and stick with the child more easily. When parents help teachers encourage and enforce positive behavior, students are more likely to recognize and address a situation wherein another child is being bullied. Schools can develop a connection and trust in parents by sending invitations to different events or by having the parents perform a specific and active role in their child’s life.

Educational facilities may be inclined to install cameras or entrust teachers with the responsibility of surveilling certain places where bullying transpires the most. These can be places such as hallways, bathrooms or playgrounds since adults are not likely to often be present in these locations. In the presence of surveillance, students are more prone to feel safer, and bullying is less likely to happen. The entrusted adults must be alert at all times and be prepared to dedicate their full attention when many students are present in one location, which may be difficult. This reason is why it may be more useful to combine both methods to keep an eye on bullying behavior in educational facilities. Statistics demonstrate that 47.2% of bullying occurs in a hallway or stairwell, and 33.6% of bullying happens in the classroom (Seldin, M., & Yanez, C, 2019). They also reveal that 20% of bullying situations occur on school grounds, on playgrounds, on school buses, when kids are walking to and from school, and in lunchrooms, gyms, and cyberspace (Seldin, M., & Yanez, C, 2019). Therefore, it is recommended that all staff must work in unison to keep these spots regulated.

According to research, children with a large group of friends are less likely to be bullied as their friends act as a buffer against bullies (Nelson, et.al., 2018). Therefore, an effective way of battling bullying may be encouraging students to increase their social network of friends. For instance, some primary schools have chosen to install ‘FRIENDSHIP’ stop signs in the school playground where students can stand under if they feel sad or lonely and other children may gather to include the vulnerable student in their play. Schools may choose to help the socially isolated child make friends by organizing private meetings with the bullies, where teachers need to inform the students that they have neither the power or interest to punish them for their actions. Teachers are encouraged to find out in a non-threatening way the behaviors or traits that annoy the bullies in order to address the root cause of the bullying. Some ways teachers can address this issue is by delegating high-status responsibilities and chores to the isolated child as a way of showing acceptance towards the student. Furthermore, teachers can work to improve the child’s social standing by spotlighting the student’s achievements and interests that are unique to the child. Schools address the issue of social insolation by instating a buddy system to facilitate the social acceptance of bullied students. Therefore, educational facilities should invest in energy and effort into matching students with careful and sensitive forethought. Both students in the buddy system should be recognized and praised for their demonstration of good behavior.

Another method to tackle the problem of bullying is by involving the students themselves, as teachers can work to integrate socially isolated children in activities. For instance, instead of creating intra-class groupings on the basis of the academic skills of the students, teachers could, at times, group students according to their interests so as to create heterogeneous groups in their academic skills but with one common passion for a specific activity. This integration allows students, who generally do not interact with each other, to share time and knowledge while working on projections in a dynamic manner. Moreover, teachers can occasionally address the theme of bullying in their lessons by choosing examples or activities that emphasize the prevalence of bullying. For instance, in drama lessons, students could be encouraged to engage in role plays that demonstrate and explore the consequences of bullying and its negative impact on family and friends.

A very affordable method to help prevent bullying is the installation of widespread suggestion boxes, which allow students to anonymously report bullying behaviors to the school administration. Bystanders are also encouraged to participate and post questions into these boxes on problems such as how to act if they suspect or witness bullying behavior. These suggestion boxes could come with a fitting notice board that provides feedback and advice on the issues posted in the box by students to show how the school values and addresses the suggestions of students. Additionally, ‘sorry’ boxes can also be distributed that allow bullies to apologize for their behavior anonymously.

A system wherein older students befriend the victims or bullies and support them in solving their issue would be quite effective in solving the purpose. The students who have undergone training should also engage in monthly refresher courses on anti-bullying ideas. These students are also advised to lead by example. This method can be useful in fixing short-term friend rifts, as the victim may feel distressed if they have to address to tell the bully face-to-face how they feel if the bullying has been long-term. These programs must have active teacher involvement, and older students should be trained and informed about the effects of bullying and ways of caring for the victims. A practical method of instituting a bond between an older student and a victim may be through email and text messages, as talking face-to-face about these issues may be daunting and uncomfortable for the victim. The ability to do so behind a screen may be comforting.

Conclusion

The issue of bullying cannot be solved overnight. Instead, it requires various methodologies and long-term means that are installed to encourage positive behavior and develop healthy and supportive relationships between the body of the school. These may be by addressing these issues by involving older students or by placing adults in a position of surveillance while encouraging teachers and staff to project an image of active listening and willingness to hear out the problems of students. Some shy students may be more inclined to use more anonymous means of alerting adults and bystanders should also be encouraged to shed light on any bullying incidents by utilizing the suggestion boxes. The best way to try and stop bullying may be to install several of these methods to form an efficient and supportive mix that supports and teaches both the victims and the bullies.

References

Fanti, K. A., & Frangou, G. (2018). Narcissism and Bullying. In Handbook of Trait Narcissism (pp. 455-462). Springer, Cham

Nelson, H. J., Burns, S. K., Kendall, G. E., & Schonert-Reichl, K. A. (2018). The factors that influence and protect against the power imbalance in covert bullying among preadolescent children at school: a thematic analysis. The Journal of School Nursing, 34(4), 281-291.

Smith, P. K. (2016). Research on bullying in schools in European countries. School bullying in different cultures: Eastern and Western perspectives, 1-27

Seldin, M., & Yanez, C. (2019). Student Reports of Bullying: Results from the 2017 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey. Web Tables. NCES 2019-054. National Center for Education Statistics.