Information sheet
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Whole school community |
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Knowing when bullying is happening, acting to stop it and supporting those involved |
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Encourage and explicitly teach effective bystander behaviour for staff, students and community members |
Students are under great pressure to conform to the accepted norms of their peer group and the dominant ways of being they are exposed to at school, in their community and in the media.
Schools can teach and support young people to build more equitable social dynamics, including effective bystander skills, which 'allow' individuals to have a voice to challenge and discourage behaviours they view as harmful.
Cooperative approaches - that value assertive non-aggressive resolution of conflict - can be taught and promoted through the curriculum and reinforced throughout the school community. These approaches are more likely to be effective than punishment in genuinely changing an abusive peer culture and enabling students to support each other in positive ways.
Classroom discussions can focus on recognising stereotypes and misuses of power in relationships and the media. These discussions provide students with a shared base for understanding and help them move beyond the restraints of popular ways of thinking about bullying. Students come to recognise that if they do nothing about instances of bullying or harassment, they reinforce the power of the perpetrators.
Students need to feel safe and confident in applying these new understandings and using their power appropriately, for themselves and others. To achieve this, they require practise in a range of settings and feedback from significant others.
Issues surrounding boys and violence in schools provide a platform for change.
To decrease violence in schools we need to develop a range of options and
skills for boys that challenge the masculine male stereotype and provide opportunities
for different nonviolent ways of being a boy. The school community can support
boys by rejecting processes that legitimise violence and providing alternative
ways of developing a sense of self and interpersonal position.
Year 8 students were identified in surveys as being the most vulnerable students in a secondary school. In collaboration with the Year 8 team leader and staff, the school psychologist developed a bystander-training program as part of a whole school approach. The program involving two one-hour sessions during the transition week using the Sticks and Stones video and activities to raise student awareness and teach them effective bystander skills. This program is also part of an ongoing process in which students have used the theme in developing their own website. A middle school structure has also been put in place. The result is a significant decrease in bullying and harassment. Staff have also noted an increase in student willingness to go to teachers to ask for assistance to deal effectively with bullying incidents.
A rural high school has made some major changes to the school culture to address the issue of gender and violence. Staff were concerned about two main experiences of boys - their lack of success at school and their aggressive behaviour. Bullying and harassment of fellow students were common and there was a strong culture of 'not telling'.
Addressing Gender and Violence in Schools
Northern Territory Department of Education (1998)
Darwin: Government Printing Office
A kit containing case studies, a whole school planning guide and strategies to address gender and violence through whole school change.
Challenging Violence in Schools - An issue of masculinities
Mills, Martin (2001)
London: Open University Press.
This 169 page book examines the role of violence in school as the demonstration of a valued form of masculinity. School case studies are included along with key questions and suggestions to encourage constructive long term change.
