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How to reduce bullying in school essay


Facts About Bullying | StopBullying.gov

This section pulls together fundamental information about bullying, including:

  • Definition
  • Research on Bullying
  • Bullying Statistics
  • Bullying and Suicide
  • Anti-Bullying Laws

Definition of Bullying

In 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Department of Education released the first federal definition of bullying. The definition includes three core elements:

  • unwanted aggressive behavior
  • observed or perceived power imbalance
  • repetition or high likelihood of repetition of bullying behaviors

This definition helps determine whether an incident is bullying or another type of aggressive behavior or both.

Research on Bullying

Bullying prevention is a growing research field that investigates the complexities and consequences of bullying. Important areas for more research include:

  • Prevalence of bullying in schools
  • Prevalence of cyberbullying in online spaces
  • How bullying affects people
  • Risk factors for people who are bullied, people who bully others, or both
  • How to prevent bullying
  • How media and media coverage affects bullying

What We’ve Learned about Bullying

  • Bullying affects all youth, including those who are bullied, those who bully others, and those who witness bullying. The effects of bullying may continue into adulthood.
  • There is not a single profile of a young person involved in bullying. Youth who bully can be either well connected socially or marginalized, and may be bullied by others as well. Similarly, those who are bullied sometimes bully others.
  • Solutions to bullying are not simple. Bullying prevention approaches that show the most promise confront the problem from many angles. They involve the entire school community—students, families, administrators, teachers, and staff such as bus drivers, nurses, cafeteria and front office staff—in creating a culture of respect. Zero tolerance and expulsion are not effective approaches.
  • Bystanders, or those who see bullying, can make a huge difference when they intervene on behalf of someone being bullied.
  • Studies also have shown that adults can help prevent bullying by talking to children about bullying, encouraging them to do what they love, modeling kindness and respect, and seeking help.

Bullying Statistics

Here are federal statistics about bullying in the United States. Data sources include the Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2019 (National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau of Justice) and the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

How Common Is Bullying

  • About 20% of students ages 12-18 experienced bullying nationwide.
  • Students ages 12–18 who reported being bullied said they thought those who bullied them:
    • Had the ability to influence other students’ perception of them (56%).
    • Had more social influence (50%).
    • Were physically stronger or larger (40%).
    • Had more money (31%).

Bullying in Schools

  • Nationwide, 19% of students in grades 9–12 report being bullied on school property in the 12 months prior to the survey.
  • The following percentages of students ages 12-18 had experienced bullying in various places at school:
    • Hallway or stairwell (43. 4%)
    • Classroom (42.1%)
    • Cafeteria (26.8%)
    • Outside on school grounds (21.9%)
    • Online or text (15.3%)
    • Bathroom or locker room (12.1%)
    • Somewhere else in the school building (2.1%)
  • Approximately 46% of students ages 12-18 who were bullied during the school year notified an adult at school about the bullying.

Cyberbullying

  • Among students ages 12-18 who reported being bullied at school during the school year, 15 % were bullied online or by text.
  • An estimated 14.9% of high school students were electronically bullied in the 12 months prior to the survey.

Types of Bullying

  • Students ages 12-18  experienced  various types of bullying, including:
    • Being the subject of rumors or lies (13. 4%)
    • Being made fun of, called names, or insulted (13.0%)
    • Pushed, shoved, tripped, or spit on (5.3%)
    • Leaving out/exclusion (5.2%)
    • Threatened with harm (3.9%)
    • Others tried to make them do things they did not want to do (1.9%)
    • Property was destroyed on purpose (1.4%)

State and Local Statistics

Follow these links for state and local figures on the following topics:

  • Bullied on School Property, Grades 9-12
  • Cyberbullied, Grades 9-12

International Statistics

According to the UNESCO Institute of Statistics:

  • One third of the globe’s youth is bullied; this ranges from as low as 7% in Tajikistan to 74% in Samoa.
  • Low socioeconomic status is a main factor in youth bullying within wealthy countries.
  • Immigrant-born youth in wealthy countries are more likely to be bullied than locally-born youth.

Bullying and Suicide

The relationship between bullying and suicide is complex. The media should avoid oversimplifying these issues and insinuating or directly stating that bullying can cause suicide. The facts tell a different story. It is not accurate and potentially dangerous to present bullying as the “cause” or “reason” for a suicide, or to suggest that suicide is a natural response to bullying.

  • Research indicates that persistent bullying can lead to or worsen feelings of isolation, rejection, exclusion, and despair, as well as depression and anxiety, which can contribute to suicidal behavior.
  • The vast majority of young people who are bullied do not become suicidal.
  • Most young people who die by suicide have multiple risk factors.
  • For more information on the relationship between bullying and suicide, read “The Relationship Between Bullying and Suicide: What We Know and What it Means for Schools” from the CDC.

Anti-Bullying Laws

All states have anti-bullying legislation. When bullying is also harassment and happens in the school context, schools have a legal obligation to respond to it according to federal laws.

10 Ways to Help Reduce Bullying in Schools

“Kids will be kids” is a famous saying suggesting that bullying is a normal part of growing up.

Yet with beatings, death threats, and 24-hour harassment via technology, bullying has become a dangerous, life-threatening epidemic. Children cannot get away from it, which has led to many suicides. Schools are struggling to take a stand against bullying, and with parents, politics, and the media involved, educators have a difficult time pleasing everyone.

Bullying can occur randomly or regularly. It can happen daily, weekly, or monthly. In fact, one in 10 bullying victims are bullied daily, while one in five victims are bullied once or twice a month (Mahoney, 2012). The bullied student can rarely predict when the bullying will occur, and if the student can predict the bullying, often teachers and staff may not address the incident. In fact, staff may not even catch the first few acts of bulling.

Schools need to find ways to reduce this problem. This includes having all teachers, staff, and administrators on board to prevent bullying from occurring. Here are some tips to help you reduce bullying in your school.

1. Have a clear definition of bullying

Bullying occurs at all grade levels. An entire school district needs to have the same language within all its schools in order to reduce bullying. To start, the schools need to have a common definition of bullying. CPI defines bullying (2011) as being characterized by intentionally aggressive behavior that involves an imbalance of power and strength. It can be exemplified through physical, verbal/nonverbal, and/or relational means. It is a repeated offense, even when teachers observe it for the first time. Talking to the victim about what happened and whether there have been past occurrences is very important.

Staff should be able to distinguish between teasing and bullying. According to Sweeting and West (2001), teasing is reported more frequently than bullying because teasing is done to irritate or provoke another with persistent distractions or other annoyances. Bullying, on the other hand, is an imbalance of power. This is key. Bullied students are unable or viewed as unlikely to defend themselves, which is what causes the imbalance of power. Bullying occurs in different forms such as threats, teasing, name calling, excluding, preventing others from going where they want or doing what they want, pushing, hitting, and all forms of physical violence (Mahoney, 2012). The severity of bullying varies from case to case.

Cyberbullying is becoming more of a problem. Cyberbullying is the “use of any electronic device to harass, intimidate, or bully another” (Mahoney, 2012). This includes texts, emails, videos, and posts and messages on social media. Schools need to ensure that bullying prevention efforts are stressed when it comes to cyberbullying. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, “All school staff need to be trained on what bullying is, what the school’s policies and rules are, and how to enforce the rules. ”

2. Remove labels; address behaviors

When teachers and staff call a child a bully or a victim, they place a judgment on that child, which can then cause problems in the future for that student.

When addressing students’ behavior, be nonjudgmental. First, find out what happened before deciding whether or not the incident qualifies as bullying (US Department of Health and Human Services). Looking at the specific behaviors that occurred is important so that they can be addressed at a later time. Keep in mind that each student involved in a situation comes from different circumstances. Everyone has baggage. There may be a reason that the child who engages in bullying behavior is acting this way. To fix the problem, involve the student who’s doing the bullying (US Department of Health and Human Services). They need to know what their actions are doing to the student they’re bullying.

Ensure that the person who is doing the bulling knows what behavior is wrong, why it’s wrong, and what the consequences are for engaging in the behavior. If the behavior keeps occurring, the parents will need to be involved. Multiple staff members from various schools have reported that parents of kids who engage in bullying behavior come in saying that their children are victims because they’ve been accused of being bullies. But when teachers address specific behaviors such as disrupting the classroom or harassing other students, parents recognize that the behavior needs to stop.

3. Set clear and enforceable rules and expectations

Age-appropriate rules allow a student to know what behavior is expected. When kids are younger, keep rules simple. When kids are older, shape the rules to help them meet their maturity level.

Scheuermann and Hall (2008) have a list of suggestions for writing rules within a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (PBIS) framework. The authors suggest that staff should:

  • State rules in positive terms,
  • Keep the number of rules to a minimum (3–5 depending upon age),
  • Set rules that cover multiple situations,
  • Make sure rules are age appropriate,
  • Teach your students the rules,
  • Set an example for rule-following behavior, and
  • Be consistent in enforcing the rules.

These guidelines for rules set a tone for the classroom. They can help the teacher have a well-managed classroom that is less prone to bullying behaviors (US Department of Health and Human Services).

The rules and the consequences for breaking the rules should be clearly stated. Students need to know what will happen if they engage in a certain behavior. This provides clear expectations.

Rules need to enforce respect, responsibility, and safety (Scheuermann and Hall, 2008). Rules should incorporate these vital components and apply to every situation every day to everyone. Remember, rules are there to keep students and staff safe.

4. Reward positive behavior

When a student does something bad, it’s easy to point it out, especially if the student always seems to be in trouble. What if you caught him doing something good? Would you point it out? Wright (2012) came up with the “Good Behavior Game” in which good classroom behaviors are rewarded during the instructional time of day.

Not many people choose to reinforce good behavior because good behavior is expected. This is a problem. When a child is always getting into trouble, then “catching them being good” is positive and reinforcing (Mahoney, 2012). Pointing out the good behavior acknowledges and reinforces that behavior. This way the student will be more likely to engage in the positive behavior again. Just like setting clear rules and enforcing those rules, reinforcing good behavior will give students clear expectations about what you want in a positive way.

The US Department of Health and Human Services recommends that schools “Try to affirm good behavior four to five times for every one criticism of bad behavior. Use one-on-one feedback, and do not publically reprimand. Help students correct their behaviors. Help them understand violating the rules results in consequences.” Following these suggestions can help reduce bullying behaviors by helping students become more accepting of the positive and less likely to engage in negative behaviors.

5. Have open communication

Communication is key to building rapport. When teachers have open communication with their students, their students will feel more open to talking to them about their problems—including bullying. Having classroom meetings is one way to build that communication. Classroom meetings provide a way for students to talk about school-related issues beyond academics (US Department of Health and Human Services). These meetings can help teachers and parents stay informed about what’s going on at the school and in the child’s life. Be sure to listen during these meetings.

Empathic Listening is key. Students want to know that they’re truly being listened to. They need to feel welcome to talk to their teachers one-on-one, especially if they feel they’ve been bullied. Keep in mind that a student who's being bullied might not want to say something in front of the whole class or if the student who's doing the bullying is in the classroom meeting.

Schools need to have adequate reporting systems as well. They need to encourage teachers and staff to report the incidents that occur. This way the school can provide a way to protect students and prevent these circumstances from occurring again. Reporting also helps track the individual incidents and responses so you can see if there’s a trend (US Department of Health and Human Services). By using this system, possible future incidents can be prevented. Make the reporting system easy to use and confidential, and encourage staff to use it.

Communication is not just verbal. A school can also provide nonverbal cues. These can include interior decorations like signs, it can include teachers and staff, and it can include the exterior of the school. The look of the school sends a strong message to students and parents about whether the school fosters a positive environment. If it does not send a good message, bullying is more likely to occur.

6.

Engage parents

Many people are involved in children’s lives. They all have an impact. When these people work together, the biggest difference can be made in a child’s life. Communication with parents about their child’s behavior—whether their child is a perpetrator of or on the receiving end of bullying behavior—can be tricky. Thus teachers and staff need to build rapport with the parents of their students.

Keeping parents informed about their child’s grades, friends, behavior, and even attitudes in school is an important tool when addressing behaviors. Working together, parents and teachers can provide a consistent approach to introduce more productive and appropriate replacement behaviors. This makes the message more likely to sink in and stick with the child. It can even help the child recognize when another child is being bullied or is a bully (US Department of Health and Human Services).

In urban areas, some parents may have had a difficult time with schools in the past and may sense a lack of connection and trust in school staff. Staff should show parents how their school has changed or is changing, and that every student is given an opportunity to succeed. You can convey this message by sending invitations for different events or by having the parents play a specific and active role in their child’s life (Mahoney, 2012). To help engage hard-to-reach parents, look for meaningful motivators to draw them into the discussion.

7. Look for warning signs

When bullying is occurring, there may be warning signs. Ask yourself these questions:

  • Are you constantly breaking up the same kids?
  • Do you get to the bottom of what goes on?
  • Have there been changes in the kids’ attitudes?

When a kid is being bullied, they can show many different signs that indicate that bullying is occurring. Teachers may not witness every incident, but that’s why it’s necessary to involve other students, as well as parents. Does the child have:

  • Unexplainable injuries?
  • Frequent headaches or stomachaches?
  • Changes in eating habits?
  • Difficulty sleeping?
  • Declining grades?
  • Loss of interest in school?
  • Loss of friends?
  • Lost or destroyed personal items?
  • Decreased self-esteem?

Does the child avoid social situations or talk of harming themselves (US Department of Health and Human Services)? These are only a few of the warning signs that indicate that a child is being bullied. Kids rarely show all the same signs.

There are also signs that one student is bullying another:

  • Does the student get into a lot of fights or have friends that bully others?
  • Is the student increasingly aggressive or sent to the principal’s office frequently?
  • Does the student have new belongings, blame others for their problems, refuse to accept responsibility for their actions, or worry about their popularity and reputation (US Department of Health and Human Services)?

These are only a few signs that indicate that a kid is engaging in bullying behavior. In order to fully understand what’s going on, you must communicate and work with their parents.

8. When bullying occurs, clear the scene

Most of the time, teachers and staff break up incidents as they occur. It’s important to separate the students involved so you can gather the facts. This allows the school to fix the situation while preventing it from occurring again.

Remember that there are often bystanders, and bystanders frequently encourage and reinforce bullies (Mahoney, 2012). It’s often easier to first remove the bystanders and then to deal with the kid who's bullying and the kid who's being bullied.

Once the crowd is split up, get the facts. Interview the bystanders. When you listen, show empathy. You don’t know all of the circumstances. Remember to be nonjudgmental. That’s how you find out what’s going on. Get the story from several sources, including the aggressor, the target, and some bystanders (US Department of Health and Human Services).

Bullying will rarely end right away. Be persistent and consistent about stopping it, follow through with consequences, and follow up with the students after incidents (US Department of Health and Human Services). Show the kids that you really care, and you could become their trusted adult.

9. Monitor hot spots

There are certain places where bullying occurs the most, and these tend to be areas where adults are not likely to often be present — areas like hallways, bathrooms, playgrounds, and busses. When an adult is present, kids feel safer, and bullying behaviors are less likely to occur. It’s important for adults to be alert and to give their full attention when multiple students are present.

Statistics show that 47.2% of bullying occurs in a hallway or stairwell and 33.6% of bullying happens in the classroom (Mahoney, 2012). 20% of bullying situations occur on school grounds, on playgrounds, on school buss es, when kids are walking to and from school, and in lunchrooms, gyms, and cyberspace (Mahoney, 2012). One way to stop behaviors is to have open communication. All staff must work together to keep these spots monitored.

10. Know your state laws and district policies

The US government also aims to ensure that students have the safest environments possible. That’s why 49 out of 50 states currently have bullying laws in place (Bully Police USA, 2012). All staff should be familiar with their state laws and regulations regarding bullying. They should also know what their school district’s policy is and whether it follows the state law.

The National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention (2011) suggests that you find your law, find your district policy, match the law and the policy, educate district leadership on legal responsibilities, and ensure that your policy is being implemented properly. Train staff, educate parents, and ensure that the whole district is consistent when enforcing its policy (US Department of Health and Human Services). This allows everyone to be on the same page and helps students feel safe. 

Bullying can be reduced. These tips will help decrease and prevent bullying in your school, and they’ll help you ensure that your students thrive in a safe and caring environment in which they’re free to learn and grow.

For more on reducing and stopping bullying, check out 31 Bullying Prevention Difference Makers.

References

  • Bully Police USA. (2012). Bully police USA. 
  • CPI. (2011). Bullying behaviors: Applying CPI’s Crisis Development Model℠. CPI.
  • Mahoney, M. (2012). Part I—An overview of bullying and guidance for its prevention. 
  • Mahoney, M. (2012). Part II—Cyber-bullying.
  • National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention (2011). Bullying Prevention State Laws. 
  • Scheuermann, B. K., & Hall, J. A. (2008). Positive behavioral supports for the classroom. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
  • Sweeting, H., & West, P. (2001). Being different: Correlates of the experience of teasing and bullying at age 11. Research Papers in Education, 16(3), 225-246.
  • US Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Build a safe environment.
  • Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Educate about bullying. 
  • US Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Engage parents and youth. 
  • US Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Find out what happened. 
  • US Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Set policies & rules. 
  • US Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Support the kids involved. 
  • US Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Warning signs. 
  • Wright, J. (2012). Good behavior game. 

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How to deal with bullying at school

The problem of bullying among teenagers is not new, but until recently it was not taken seriously in our country. Every year this issue becomes more acute and takes on new forms.

Bullying or conflict?

First of all, we must understand that bullying is not just a conflict situation.

Conflict in itself is a good and necessary thing. Only in conflicts is a personality strengthened, a child is forced to learn to cope with difficult situations: analyze, take into account the opinion of another person, make decisions, coordinate them with his conscience, etc. But there is nothing in the conflict that threatens to break the personality, but there is in bullying.

How to tell? When bullying, one of the parties always feels superior, while the other feels helpless and humiliated. There is no question of any equality of positions in the case of bullying. There is simply no way for the victim of bullying to reduce the imbalance on their own. If there is an opportunity to defend oneself, such a phenomenon will not arise.

Bullying is a purposeful, repetitive, regular act to humiliate and cause suffering, in which the cause of bullying is not the behavior of the victim. You need to understand that in order to stop it (bullying cannot be allowed, only stopped), you need to work with the aggressor: this is the problem in him, and not in the victim. And the only way to resolve this problem is the intervention of a third, adult, party.

What is happening

According to statistics, verbal bullying (insults, malicious and obscene jokes, verbal provocations, name-calling, etc.) is in the first place in terms of frequency of occurrence, boycott is in second place, physical violence is in third place, on the fourth - the spread of rumors and gossip, on the fifth - theft. Each type of bullying leaves an indelible mark on the soul of a child or teenager who is subjected to this bullying.

Bullying causes the victim to lose confidence. Also, this negative phenomenon can cause various severity of mental disorders, psychosomatic diseases, and even cause suicide.

What does the aggressor get in a bullying situation? Again, the feeling of their own "coolness", impunity. In the future, this leads to an even greater development of destructive, i.e. destructive personality, qualities, deviant behavior and, as a result, registration with the commission on juvenile affairs and problems with the police.

What do bully observers get? Shame and guilt for not helping the victim showed weakness.

And of course, the most severe psychological trauma is inflicted on the victim of bullying. Even after many years, as adults, the victims remember all their painful experiences associated with bullying.

Prevention works

School bullying has no chance of originating in those classes where the teacher himself acts as an authority. It can effectively stop manifestations of violence. It is necessary to conduct class hours, the main ideas of which will be topics about respectful and tolerant attitude towards people around. The socio-psychological service should conduct trainings for uniting the class team, developing tolerance, empathic thinking in relation to others.

It is recommended to invite a school psychologist to the class. The sooner you start working with children, the more chances to avoid this problem, because after 12 years of moral beliefs have already been formed, and they will not be so easy to change.

In addition, it is necessary to create a general healthy climate in the school, build clear, fair and uniform rules of conduct for all, and build trust between teachers and children. It is important that everyone understands the consequences for violating these rules.

The best prevention a parent can offer is to strengthen their child's self-esteem and independence, and prepare them to take the right action when needed. Discuss and practice safe, constructive ways for your child to respond to the bully's words and actions. Together, come up with key phrases that your son or daughter may have in store for the abuser, such as "Your words are unpleasant," "Leave me alone," or "Leave me alone."

Precedent: what to do?

If a case of bullying is identified, it is extremely important to understand that, in addition to the participation of the parents of the aggressor or victim, the work of the teaching staff and the school administration as a whole is necessary to eliminate the problem. The child should know that he can turn to an adult with his problem, and this is very important! Because when deciding whether to contact the teacher, the student evaluates the possible negative consequences of this appeal. The risk of victimization is higher for children who do not have good relationships with parents and teachers.

When working with a bully, firstly, the aggressor needs to be conveyed the seriousness of the harm that he causes by his actions, to make it clear how the object of his ridicule and bullying feels. Secondly, the aggressor must officially accept responsibility for his actions, apologize. But adults should understand that in no case should this go through the humiliation of the aggressor. And of course, you need to understand: where does the aggressor get the desire to feel his own superiority? Perhaps this is teenage self-affirmation, and here it is necessary to reconfigure the implementation of his leadership qualities and direct them in a peaceful direction, or maybe the teenager has serious problems at home. In any case, without immersion in the situation of all participants in the educational process, the problem cannot be resolved.

Psychologist Maria Fadeeva

How to deal effectively with school bullying - News - IQ Research and Education Portal - National Research University Higher School of Economics

Teachers do not always choose effective methods of dealing with school aggression. Sometimes they resort to harsh and unsystematic methods that only increase bullying. According to the expertise of the HSE Laboratory for the Prevention of Antisocial Behavior, a comprehensive approach is needed to solve this problem: programs for the prevention of aggression at the level of educational policy and, as a result, an improvement in the psychological climate in schools, and the formation of trust between teachers and children. Teachers should help teenagers resolve conflicts and show by example alternatives to aggressive behavior. Artur Rean and Maria Novikova told how to effectively deal with bullying.

Methods that don't work

School bullying is a repetitive situation in which one student (or group) intentionally harms another who is somewhat weaker than them.

This behavior is often associated with strong negative feelings - anger, fear, frustration and a desire to improve one's status among peers. The types of bullying are varied: fights, insults, boycotts, cyber aggression (in social networks), etc.

Meta-analysis showed that 35% of schoolchildren in the world are involved in traditional bullying (both as initiators and victims) and 15% - in cyber aggression.

To reduce these numbers, the response of adults to adolescent aggression is critical. Teacher responses can often prevent bullying. However, the researchers revealed a bitter paradox.

Despite the severity of the problem of bullying in many countries and against the background of good awareness of its causes, forms, consequences, teachers rarely use effective countermeasures. Their repertoire is limited. It is dominated by "means of suppression": from a relatively harmless appeal to the teacher's authority to humiliation and punishment.

In a survey, the majority (82%) of German educators found it appropriate to "coercive discipline and appeal to their own authority." The situation is similar in Great Britain, Finland and the USA. Comprehensive work - not only with the aggressors, but also with the victims, the class as a whole - is not common.

Prohibited techniques: pressure, humiliation, intimidation

Meanwhile, forceful methods are unacceptable: they reinforce cruelty. Not getting involved in teenage conflict is also not an option.

Arthur Rean and Maria Novikova explain why repression strategies are inapplicable:

Aggression does not decrease as adolescents reproduce the "repressive" behavior of "significant others": teachers and parents. Not coincidentally, one study found that an educator's tendency to bully predicts—predicts—the prevalence of bullying. In addition, students perceive teachers as people who are not ready to help.

Indignation at the teacher's actions, accumulated aggression can then "detonate", which happens in cases of attacks on schools.

The bully (aggressor) never realizes how much harm he has done to the victim and that he really suffers.

The results of disciplinary action are usually short-lived. The aggressor often switches to covert forms of bullying, which can be even more destructive. After all, adults do not know about them at all and definitely will not help the victim.

Psychological pressure in the form of excessive control and intimidation of adolescents is also extremely unconstructive. For example, the Estonian project revealed how teachers, acting on “hot spots” - humiliating teenagers, actually provoked their attacks on others.

It is important for adolescents to feel independent, competent and belonging to a team.

“If, as a result of the controlling behavior of the teacher, the teenager does not feel autonomous enough, he has an increased need to control his peers. Deprived of the opportunity to feel competent, the student will try to demonstrate his physical superiority. Feeling isolated from fellow practitioners, he may begin to behave aggressively,” comment Arthur Rean and Maria Novikova.

Injuries from inaction

Russian educators, according to research, have a fairly accurate understanding of teenage bullying. But in practice, they often act haphazardly or take the position of an observer. The non-intervention of teachers is also typical for schools in the USA and Australia. Most American families face rebuff from school officials when they demand to take action against bullying. They are advised to simply transfer the child to another school.

Non-intervention in adolescent conflict leads to dangerous consequences. The victim is convinced of his defenselessness. Her self-esteem falls, her risk of depression and suicide increases. In fact, it is a trauma for life. And the aggressor, feeling impunity, gets used to continue to act by force.

Only systemic actions at different levels effectively reduce bullying, the researchers emphasize.

At country level, bullying prevention programs.

In schools in general, the creation of a safe and child-friendly psychological climate. This is such an ecosystem in which there is trust between teachers and students, as well as within the class, and students feel belonging to the team. It helps in socialization and learning.

In interpersonal relationships between individual members of the team.

Anti-bullying programs

A meta-analysis of studies has shown that in countries where bullying prevention programs are common (USA, UK, Scandinavian countries), bullying rates are 20% lower than in other countries.

The first major anti-bullying program, the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program (OBPP), was implemented from 1983-1985. It is still developing. It includes a set of strategies for working at several levels: school, class, individual students. The OBPP clearly articulates the unacceptability of bullying by adults and measures to protect potential victims. Another world famous anti-bullying program (KiVa) was developed in Finland and is now used in many countries around the world.

However, the existence of such initiatives does not always guarantee a long-term effect.

Improving the school climate

The School Level Action Strategy has two points. This is the adoption of clear, fair and uniform rules of conduct for all, as well as the formation of trust between teachers and children.

Rules of conduct may be enshrined in the school charter. It is desirable that children participate in its development. The "code" of conduct must be immutable. It is important that non-compliance with the rules - the initiation of bullying - entails known consequences.

According to studies, in groups where aggression was condemned, its manifestations actually became less. Bullying was simply not perceived as a way to solve problems, and bullies could not impose their style of communication on everyone.

It is equally important to build constructive relationships between teachers and children.

Trust between an adult and a child at school reduces the risk of victimization.

Schoolchildren need to be sure that in case of problems they can ask adults for help.

Bullying is less in groups in which teachers and other employees are guaranteed to intervene in schoolchildren's conflicts.

But the problem is that the victims do not always seek help. There are significantly more children who are attacked for a long time and remain silent about it than those who, having reported bullying, were able to break out of this circle. We need to work a lot with the guys who have been victimized.

Help for victims of bullying

Advice about how to stand up for yourself (and this is also a common, although ineffective teacher strategy) is not enough. The victim needs adult support. But even asking for help can be stressful for a teenager.

When deciding whether to contact a teacher, a child evaluates the possible negative consequences of this. In a study of British schoolchildren, it turned out that adolescents avoid contacting a teacher primarily for three reasons: disapproval of classmates (75.5%), experiencing their own weakness (64.2%) and the desire to solve the problem on their own (58.8%). That is, seeking help may be associated with a decline in status and a loss of self-esteem.

That is why the reaction of adults to the first mention of a child being bullied is critically important. Any frivolous attitude to such a conversation can lead to hushing up the problem: a teenager will experience trauma alone. The risks of victimization are higher for those children who do not have good relationships with parents and teachers.

Support from friends

It makes sense for teachers to separate aggressors and victims in class space so that they meet less face to face. But this is not enough. We need to help children who feel insecure to find the right social circle: experiencing a sense of belonging is extremely important. “The activity of finding a suitable social circle is a difficult process in which it would be good for a teacher to unite with school colleagues and with the child’s parents,” notes Maria Novikova.

You can involve your child in activities that will help him feel confident in his own worth, such as hobby groups. There may be many options, they may be partially outside the school. “Now the sphere of volunteering is actively developing, in which schoolchildren can also take part,” the expert says. — There are interesting projects in the field of contemporary art, when professional artists work with teenagers. For example, the Cascade project. There, when working with teenage groups, there is always a psychologist who makes sure that everyone in the team communicates normally.

A circle of friends is a good defense. Peer support reduces aggression towards students at high risk of victimization.

Raising a bully

Experts named the main vectors of work with an aggressor.

First, you need to convey to him the seriousness of the harm that he causes by his actions, to make it clear how the object of his ridicule and mockery feels.

Secondly, the aggressor must be given back responsibility for what he has done and given the opportunity to correct the situation. What exactly a bully child can do is decided in a dialogue with an adult - a teacher or a school psychologist. “If we are talking about physical damage to things, there may be a question of compensation for the damaged,” explains Maria Novikova. If the bullying was expressed in rumors and gossip, then you need to officially refute them and apologize to the victim.

“It is important to remember that in no case does an adult have the task of humiliating the aggressor, of hurting him as much as he hurt the victim. This, as we have already said, will only lead to more aggression in the future, ”the researcher emphasizes.

Thirdly, many aggressors have excellent communication and leadership skills.

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