What do people think about this issue? What does the research say?

Bullying. No way! talks with the following school communities, champions, practitioners and researchers.

Creating a supportive school community A low socioeconomic, culturally diverse secondary school community talks about increasing student ownership, participation, support and safety.

Examining gender, race, class and power A large urban school in Brisbane with more than 900 students from different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds used action research and integrated curriculum planning to increase acceptance of difference.

An inclusive culture supports all students A small regional primary school community talks about an inclusive culture that supports all students and contributes to a safe, happy and inclusive environment.

Carissa Scammell works with Streetwize Communications - a national not-for-profit agency that researches and communicates social issues to young people, Indigenous communities and people of culturally diverse backgrounds. Streetwize resources include comics and other resources on topics such as bullying, racism and violence, the law, health, employment, and Indigenous specific issues.

Roger Holdsworth is the Manager of the Youth Research Centre at the University of Melbourne, Roger publishes a regular national journal, Connect, to support student participation.

Where to now? Eva Cox, the social analyst, has been working on ways to measure the social and civic wellbeing of our organisations and groups. These measures, adapted slightly, may be highly relevant for school communities interested in encouraging student contribution and supporting long-term positive change.

Write it! Paint it! See how young people have expressed their feelings about the issues and their vision of a world without bullying or harassment.

Research and other links

Student Voice: a historical perspective and new directions (2007)
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Victoria.
This report summarises local and international literature on the concept of ‘student voice’ and explores the links between student voice and student learning and engagement. Includes some examples of schools that actively support student voice.
http://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/publ/research/publ/
Student_Voice_report.pdf

Taking Action, Keeping Safe: A resource for student leaders to counter bullying (2005)
New South Wales Department of Education and Training. This resource provides strategies and support materials for student leaders and teachers to increase students' knowledge and understanding of bullying. http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/media/downloads/schoolsweb/
studentsupport/studentwellbeing/antibullying/takingaction.pdf

Voices of Australia: Education module for Australian secondary school teachers (2007)
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.  The teaching and learning activities incorporated in the resource allow for students to share ideas about each other, to explore their own family history and experiences of diversity, discrimination, race relations, friendships and signs of respect.
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/education/voices_of_australia/index.html

Thirty-three curriculum approaches: enhancing effective student participation (1999)
Roger Holdsworth.  An article which outlines possibilities based on actual programs that have operated in primary and secondary schools in Australia and elsewhere. While it may be possible to pick up some of these descriptions 'intact', the particular strength of such approaches lies in their responsiveness to local needs and situations.
http://www.civicsandcitizenship.edu.au/cce/default.asp?id=9345#a

TakingITGlobal a global online community for young people, engaging hundreds of thousands of young people in over 200 countries and territories. http://www.takingitglobal.org/

Meaningful Student Involvement: Guide to Students as Partners in School Change (2005)
Adam Fletcher for SoundOut.org in partnership with HumanLinks Foundation.
A concise introduction to a burgeoning movement and the substantive theory, models, research, and resources needed to advocate for student voice.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/36929916/Meaningful-Student-Involvement

Power to the Students: Contributing to Debates on Effective Learning about Civic Engagement (2005)
Eva Dobozy, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia
This paper argues that there is a greater need for awareness of the close relationship between two distinct although interrelated issues: the education for Democracy and Human Rights on the one hand, and Democracy and Human Rights in education on the other hand.  http://www.aare.edu.au/05pap/dob05053.pdf

Connect is a bi-monthly magazine supporting active student participation - in governance and curriculum areas - in primary and secondary schools throughout Australia.
http://www.geocities.com/rogermhold/Connect/

Student Voice in Transforming Education (USA)
New Horizons for Learning.  Articles, recommended readings and related links.
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=ED440049

Incorporating Student Voice into Teaching Practice
Articles from U.S. site Sound Out which promotes Student Voice in school.
http://www.soundout.org/features/incorporating.html