Researchers
Ken Rigby
“I have concluded that teachers are likely to have little effect on bystander behaviour if they simply tell children what is
expected of them. However …peer pressure can be
generated to
encourage positive peer behaviour ”
Background Information
Dr Ken Rigby is Adjunct Professor (Research) in the School of Education at the University of South Australia. An ex-school teacher and guidance officer employed by the South Australian Education Department, he has published widely in the area of school bullying and provides workshops for training teachers and counsellors in ways of countering school bullying.
On bullying....
Ken, how would you explain bullying?
There are many plausible explanations for bullying taking place in schools and elsewhere. I think that dealing with bullying is hindered by prioritising certain explanations for bullying behaviour at the expense of others that are at least equally valid.
In my opinion it is desirable to recognise a wide range of factors that can cause or sustain bullying behaviour. These include social prejudice related to race, sexual orientation, socio-economic differences, gender etc., but are not limited to such factors. In addition, there are individual characteristics which are strongly influenced by both genetic and environmental factors, the latter being especially associated with negative parenting and experiences in dysfunctional families.
Also we need to pay more attention to the role played by the influence of
friendship groups in determining how children treat each other.
What are some of the things you think need to be done to reduce bullying?
Here briefly is what I think should be done:
- Make an earnest attempt to find out what is actually going on between students that could be hurtful. This can be done through good surveys
- Carefully examine the pros and cons of different approaches to preventing bullying (including what can be put in the curriculum) and methods of dealing with cases of bullying
- Work towards an agreed, well supported anti-bullying policy which has practical implications for what is to be done.
- Undertake a rigorous implementation of the policy. Quite different approaches
can work reasonably well, if the implementation is thorough.
What would you suggest to young people and adults wishing to initiate positive change in their school community?
Make a study of bullying by reading books that draw upon research. Discuss what you have read and listen.
What do you think are the next challenges to work on?
Three areas:
- How effectively children can be trained as positive bystanders – and what schools can do to motivate and guide them.
- Whether non-punitive problem-solving approaches to address cases of bullying can be effective. I would hypothesise that the Method of Shared Concern can be successfully applied to cases of bullying in Australia. (see http://www.readymade.com.au/method for information on a Training DVD on this Method). I think that the adoption (or adapting) of this approach for use in selected cases could assist greatly in dealing humanely and effectively with a great deal of bullying that goes on in our schools.
- Discovering what teachers and counsellors are actually DOING in tackling
cases of bullying in schools. For example, I am working with a researcher
from Arizona on surveys conducted around the world on this issue. We are learning
a lot about what is being done by schools in Australia and in many other countries.
It would be very helpful to get hundreds more people responding from Australia
and elsewhere. (See http://www.ed.arizona.edu/bullying. The password is ijime
)
Any words of warning?
Be wary about exaggerated claims being made about the effectiveness of programs. To date the degree of success has been very limited – on average around 15% or so reductions. Many attempts to reduce bullying have been unsuccessful. What worries me is the plethora of misleading claims that some programs are ‘evidence-based’ when the best that can be said is that they may at times have had some limited positive effects. Too much hype is counter-productive!
For more information...
Ken Rigby’s website www.education.unisa.edu.au/bullying/
Smith, Pepler and Rigby (2004) Bullying in schools: How successful can interventions
be? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
On bystander behaviour....
Ken, can you tell us a little about your work on bystander behaviour?
About 5 years ago, I organised a cross-cultural study of how children responded as bystanders to different forms of bullying that they observed. To do so I made a video depicting physical and verbal bullying and also sexual coercion. There were 2400 students in the study, in six countries: Australia, England, South Africa, Bangladesh, Israel and Italy. The findings have been published in a number of papers (see www.education.unisa.edu.au/bullying/)
What are some of the things that the data found?
As previous research has shown, most bullying was found to occur in the presence of bystanders in all of the countries in the study.
Most children reported that they would ignore the bullying or else support the victim, and nearly all children thought that their parents and their teachers expected them to help the victim. However in general they were inclined to do what they thought their friends expected of them! They were not influenced by either their parents or their teachers.
What have you learnt from this?
I have concluded that teachers are likely to have little or no direct effect on bystander behaviour. They are unlikely to influence children by simply telling the children what they expect of them.
So what can make a difference - and how can teachers help?
By stimulating children - especially younger children - to express their thoughts about what should be done, and what they see the dangers might be, peer pressure can be generated to encourage positive peer behaviour. Teachers can then work with them and provide some guidance in how they might intervene without taking undue risks.
Doing this could make a big difference. Overseas research has shown that when a child bystander acts in some way to discourage bullying when they see it, there is a 50% chance it will stop.What are you focusing on now?
Currently I am working with schools to undertake and evaluate bystander work.
For more information....
Ken Rigby’s website www.education.unisa.edu.au/bullying
Ken Rigby & Bruce Johnston (2006) “Playground Heroes”, Greater Good Magazine, University of California, Berkeley, Fall/Winter 2006-07 pp. 14-17. http://peacecenter.berkeley.edu/greatergood/ (direct link to article)
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