Bullying in schools

Master Teacher I, Ivisan National High School BULLYING is an ongoing misuse of power in relationships through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behavior that causes physical and/or psychological harm. It can involve an individual or a group misusing their power over one or more persons.

The critical feature that distinguishes violence, harassment and discrimination from bullying is that bullying happens within social relationships, featuring repeated and harmful behaviors that stem from a misuse of power. Violence, harassment and discrimination can occur as part of bullying, but also can occur in one-off conflicts or between strangers.

The NCES (National Center for Education Statistics) report reveals that there is noticeably more bullying in middle school (grades 6, 7, and 8) that in senior high school. Emotional bullying is the most prevalent type of bullying, with pushing/shoving/tripping/spitting on someone being second. Bullying undermines key values that schools aim to promote in students – respect, trust and honesty.

Recent researches shows that bullying can have a negative impact on students’ academic performance, self-esteem, coping skills, and can increase anxiety and unhappiness. Everyone plays a part in ensuring the safety and wellbeing of others – parents, staffs, students and community members. It is essential that these members of the school community know how to deal with incidents of bullying effectively and safely.

Bullying is complex. Approaches to bullying need to include relationship and social solutions at the whole-school, class and student level, and on occasion, at the family and community level.

In creating and maintaining a safe and supportive school environment, strategies to address bullying include:

* preventing bullying through promoting a positive whole-school culture based on values agreed to by the whole school community

* intervening early in suspected or identified bullying issues and communicating clearly with all involved

* responding to bullying incidents with approaches which have been shown to be effective

Anti-bullying campaigns and programs are just one aspect of the work that schools need to do to counter bullying. The long-term aim is to foster a school culture based on positive values and supportive relationships which feature respect, inclusion, belonging, and cooperation. ( /