Overview
As of the year 2016, more than 20% of students reported being bullied, per data from the National Center on Education Statistics.
Given the wide range of negative outcomes associated with bullying, this is a truly shocking number. Academic struggles, trouble sleeping, anxiety, and depression are common among the targeted children. Students who engage in bullying themselves put themselves at a much higher risk for a variety of problems, some of which may persist into adulthood and range from violent behavior to substance abuse.
Bạn đang xem: Ways To Stop Bullying In Schools That You Should Know
As a teacher, how can you have the greatest impact? To what extent can bullying be avoided in the classroom, and what interventions can be implemented to stop bullying when it first occurs? In order to develop these methods, we consulted with professionals in the fields of education and mental health counseling.
Ways to stop bullying in schools
Educate Your Child About Bullying
At a young age, kids start picking up social cues. They learn from watching and imitating us adults.
So, remember to be respectful at all times. Be courteous and polite, and try to help people out whenever possible. Your good habits will be picked up by your children as they watch you.
Kids of preschool and younger age should be taught the importance of cooperation and sharing. Children should not take something that belongs to another child simply because they want it. They need to gain insight into the effect this has on others and the emotions it evokes.
It’s important for kids to understand that bullying takes many forms, including the use of technology to spread rumors or be mean to other kids.
Teach your kid that having a positive self-image and treating others with respect will go a long way toward establishing and maintaining positive relationships. They need to take the advice of their friends and avoid gossiping about them behind their backs. They should back up their pals, believe in them, and tell the truth to them.
Teach Your Child Not to Bully
We’ve already discussed how children mimic their elders. Be the kind of person others want to follow.
Instruct them to avoid isolating children who look or act differently. Foster compassion for others and discourage participation in bullying. Reinforce to your child that they can be themselves without endorsing the actions of bullies.
Bullying is a serious problem in today’s society, and kids need to know that there are real-world repercussions to their actions. They risk losing access to resources and even criminal prosecution.
Boost Your Child’s Confidence
Children who are supported and loved tend to grow up with higher levels of self-worth and assurance. By doing so, they may be less likely to become a target of bullying.
Taking part in activities that they enjoy can help children gain confidence. Such activities might include making music, preparing food, playing sports, or moving to music.
If they’re good at their hobby, it’ll give them a sense of accomplishment in life. They will feel accomplished and more confident in themselves after acquiring these skills, and they will have a much easier time relating to other kids their age.
A child can feel more connected to the school community and make new friends through participation in extracurricular activities. They could take part in extracurricular activities such as sports, drama productions, volunteering, and more. It’s helpful to have friends who share your interests in order to avoid being bullied.
Reporting Bullying
If your child experiences bullying at school, you should be aware of the school’s protocol for dealing with such cases. It will also lay out the school’s potential course of action in the event that it arises.
Students should not expect their schools to completely eliminate bullying.
Xem thêm : Best Online English Learning Platforms That You Should Know
However, schools can prevent bullying by taking an active role in the issue. You would be justified in anticipating swift, effective, and firm action from the school administration in such a situation.
The administration of the school needs to establish rules and regulations. Among these should be looking into parents’ worries and communicating the steps being taken to address them.
Meetings with the bully and the bullied child should be avoided at all costs. The target may feel threatened or ashamed.
The school should meet with the bullied child to assure them that they are taking appropriate measures to end the bullying. An anti-bullying strategy should be implemented in which staff members are alerted to any further incidents of bullying and the child is protected.
Additionally, a meeting with a school administrator is warranted for the bully(ies). They need to understand that bullying is not tolerated.
Also, they should know that if the behavior persists, their parents will be notified and they will lose some of their privileges.
The bullied child should not be made to feel at fault, and both parents and teachers should work toward that end. They must not be made to feel at fault for what happened.
A bullied child’s actions may be questioned on rare occasions. Perhaps they were picked on because of their lack of social skills and the fact that they are annoying to others. The issue should be discussed with a school counselor, as this in no way condones or justifies bullying.
Time should be given to the school to address the concerns that have been raised. They can’t get to the bottom of things until they hear both sides of the story. Expect at least a week for this to happen.
If the bullying persists, talk to or write to the school’s principal. If this doesn’t work, or if management is unwilling or unable to stop the bullying, you should write to the school’s principal.
Try not to give up easily and be as persistent as possible. If you are worried about your child’s safety, you should speak up about bullying.
Teach kindness and empathy
Students are less likely to engage in bullying behavior when they are taught to consider alternative points of view.
Beginning at a young age, students should take part in a variety of activities designed to foster both academic and personal growth. As a teacher, you should think of ways to get students to recognize and value their own uniqueness while also learning to respect and value the identities of those around them. Teachers like Susan Patterson, who teaches a course on cyberbullying at Lesley University, are confident that students can be taught the empathy and kindness necessary to stop cyberbullying.
According to Patterson, “empathy is the ability to put yourself in another person’s shoes,” so it’s important for educators to instill that ability in their students. As one expert put it, “we need to do identity work with children at an early age so that kids know who they are and who everybody else is and what their place is in the world.”
Bringing together kids to discuss their differences is one approach. Give them opportunities to work out their differences, solve their problems, and gain a deeper understanding of the people around them.
Use the arts to create context
The arts have the potential to be a potent tool for teaching young people to think critically and creatively about complex issues. Educators can aid their students in comprehending the consequences of bullying through the use of drama, literature, and the visual arts. This is what Erika Dawes, a professor of early childhood literacy at Lesley, does with Jacqueline Woodson’s Each Kindness.
According to Dawes, “each Kindness” tells the tale of a young girl who bullies a fellow student. You can’t expect a happy ending because this isn’t your typical story. That leaves students with mixed feelings. The room for interpretation here is ideal for starting a discussion.
Dawes encourages student discussion in a round after each reading session. By focusing on the problems that were brought up in the story, she allowed the students to feel comfortable discussing the issue of bullying. She does this to provide background for the phenomenon of bullying in the classroom without drawing attention to any particular incidents.
Participate in simulations.
To theorize about how to stop and deal with bullying in schools is one thing. It’s something entirely different to see it for the first time. It can be difficult for new teachers to know exactly how they’ll react when bullying situations arise without proper pre-service training. The teachers at Lesley University’s Grasp of Education are taking action.
Xem thêm : Quick Certifications That Pay Well That You Should Know
The head of Lesley’s creative arts and learning department, Maureen Creegan-Quinquis, explains that the university is currently using technology to recreate the experience for pre-service teachers in a mixed reality lab.
The future educators observe a bullying situation as an onlooker in a mixed reality lab. They have to think on their feet and help find a solution to the problem. Creegan-Quinquis claims that people who try this exercise are frequently taken aback by how challenging it actually is.
For many of these students, “this is the first opportunity in their life to actually be in a room and experience [bullying], and be asked to negotiate through those feelings,” says Creegan-Quinquis. When you’re awake enough to feel the electricity, it’s an incredible feeling.
Building a positive school climate
Even though it’s not always easy to pin down, you can definitely measure the atmosphere in your school. A school’s “heart and soul,” its “quality and character,” is what students and faculty experience when they interact with one another and with the institution as a whole. This “felt sense” can result from anything from a simple greeting to the way a difficult situation is handled. Students are less likely to engage in bullying, aggression, victimization, and a sense of unsafety when they attend schools with a positive climate.
Norms regarding emotions and relationships, power and its expression, and media use are just a few examples of the factors that can make a difference in a community’s overall climate. Through a deliberate process known as “social norm engineering,” a supportive culture among students and faculty members at a school can be created and encouraged over time. School environments that foster health and wellness are like immune systems in that they protect against dysfunction and illness.
Atmospheric success depends on strong leadership. Is bullying seen as harmful peer abuse or a “normal rite of childhood”? Do those in charge realize that the effects of prolonged, severe bullying on victims, perpetrators, and bystanders can be devastating? Do school administrators prioritize the mental well-being of all students, or do they rely too heavily on disciplinary measures to deal with disruptive behavior? Can they tell the difference between normal phases of growth that call for guidance and bullying that demands a firm hand? Do teachers care about and respect the emotional needs of their students?
Finally, do you think that schools have adequate resources to deal with bullying? When asked for assistance, students say their teachers don’t do anything to stop the bullying that’s happening. The vast majority of educators say they lack confidence in their ability to address bullying in the classroom. There are some educators who engage in bullying behavior or who show little sympathy for bullied students. In the absence of formal training in “classroom management,” some educators resort to the disciplinary practices they observed in their own families as children.
However, in order to address the unique challenges of each school and preserve the distinctive flavor of their respective local cultures, it is imperative that all parties involved in the school’s climate reform—including students, parents, and faculty—work together. Regular assessments of the school climate can be used to measure the success of interventions.
Join With Others To Stop Bullying
Bullying is not limited to the school environment; it can occur anywhere, from the street to the mall to the youth club. Fighting bullying requires the help of the whole community.
The more kids who hear anti-bullying messages, the better, and anyone who works with kids in the community can do just that.
Help is available from local organizations that focus on children and their parents. Law enforcement officials, community groups, mental health professionals, businesses, and religious institutions are also involved. Any of them may overhear bullying taking place, and by working together, you can find specific answers.
Teenagers could be enlisted to assist younger children in adopting anti-bullying practices.
Once you’ve figured out where community groups can be most useful, you can focus on figuring out your own strengths and how best to put them to use. To learn more about where bullying occurs and how it is handled in the community, you could conduct a survey of local residents.
Once everyone is on the same page about the issue at hand, we can begin to work together to find a solution. It’s important to get the word out about the dangers of bullying, so it’s encouraging to see local media outlets like radio stations, TV stations, and newspapers taking up the cause.
If your plans aren’t yielding the desired results, you can adjust them over time to improve their efficacy.
Conclusion
Learning that your child is being bullied or is being accused of bullying is devastating. You will probably feel a range of emotions, and you may even start to blame yourself.
It’s good news that there are steps you can take to lessen the likelihood of that happening. Schools today are better equipped to deal with bullying than ever before, both in terms of awareness and resources.
Bullying can be avoided in later years if children are taught to respect themselves and others from a young age. Walk them through appropriate behavior.
Be encouraging and understanding toward your kid as a parent. Remember to be a role model for them to follow. Little ones don’t miss a thing.
Nguồn: https://greeningschools.org
Danh mục: Blog
