Anti-Bullying in school
Thursday 22 November 2007
n2k looks at some of the work UK schools, colleges and other organisations are doing to combat bullying.
Text help
Text Someone is a system that was set up to encourage young people to report incidents of bullying, theft, crime or any antisocial behaviour directly to their school. The idea is that students can text, email or call their school 24 hours a day 7 days a week, to report any problems they may have and the schools can then act on the call by texting, emailing or calling back.
The creators of Text Someone provide a mobile telephone number and local rate phone number to the school. Those details are then printed on individual cards that all pupils can carry. Check it out for yourself.
No Blame or Support Group
Other schools have set up what they call “No Blame or Support” group. The idea is to provide an open forum for victim, bullies and other pupils to talk about what’s going on. The way it works is that the victim will be interviewed about how bullying is affecting them. A meeting is then set up between a teacher and a group of students, including bullies and bystanders. The victim explains their feelings, then the group are given the chance to offer suggestions to resolve the situation.
Bullies are not blamed in this method which has led to complaints from parents, the anti bullying and child abuse charity Kidscape and even Tony Blair, who in 2005 who said he was shocked that bullies were not blamed or punished. What do you think? Have you been involved in this kind of support group? Has it worked for you? Send an email with your experiences.
Friends again
Other schools have taken on the idea of the bully and victim discussing what is going, working with a mediator to try to end the cycle of bullying. This has been found to work well when two pupils involved are friends who have fallen out.
Check out what pop star Mutya says about falling out with friends.
Peer support programmes
Last September saw the start of the National Peer Mentoring Pilot, with 180 secondary schools taking part in a two year programme.
These schools have started peer support programmes where older pupils have undergone training to become a peer counsellor and learned how to care for younger pupils who are affected by bullying.
Peer mentors are identifiable by a badge and are seen as responsible within the school environment. Boxes for notes are placed around school for those who can't approach the counsellor directly. Up to now over 7000 students have taken part in the scheme. Find out more about peer mentoring.
