ROdown Blog
Bullying in schools...what can be done?
Most of you would have read the reports and updates in the news on the death of Alex Wildman, the 14 year old, who suicided in 2008.
The most recent news story talks about the coroner's report, where he indicates that bullying played a major role in Alex ending his own life.
We have been talking a lot lately about bullying, cyber bullying and cyber safety...
allyXD09 wrote a really informative one on ROdown in May:http://au.reachout.com/connect/blog/bullying and some of you were able to share your experiences and insights in response to this.
What was insightful for me in this report in the Sydney Morning Herald, was the coroner's recommendations as a result of his findings. They included:
- Having a dedicated email address, sms or IM account set up in school with 500+ students, for students and parents to report bullying.
- Compulsory meetings of school executives when students who have previously seen a school counsellor are transferred to another school
- A revision of anti-bullying policies to make it clearer when police should be called to deal with physical assaults, threats and intimidation.
- Police to consider employing more school liaison officers.
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15 Comments
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Sydney1
4 months ago
Reply ReportI have a 10 year old son hE is considerably short for his age.He started year 5 in a consrvative catholic school this year.Its currently term 4 and he still is being bullied Although it has lessened alot).
what i find diffcult is that the school have intervened and provided counselling for him , we have also got him seeing a counsellor with our local church.
He is often depressed and it drives me crazy because i cant help him make friends on a daily level. The problem is he has trouble making friends because he is on the defensive all the time.I started taking him to the local PCYC and this has helped a bit. But i still find that kids at 10 , 11 and 12 years old can be very mean.
Does anybody know of any age appropiate self esteem building groups for this age?
ajayabajpai
over 1 year ago
Reply Reportbullying in schools takes an uglier turn as ragging in professional colleges.
Trekkie
over 1 year ago
Reply ReportI think the problem with the bullying in my school is not so much that there aren't enough teachers in the school, but that the bullying that happens isn't really obvious (i.e. someone shouting names or throwing stuff at someone else from ten metres away) but more like the stuff you wouldn't even notice if you walked by it, because most of the bullies at my school can make bullying look like a normal conversation to a casual onlooker. So, basically, unless the victim tells; no-one would ever know about it at my school. Of course, you do have exceptions when someone starts a fight or whatever.
k-vik
over 1 year ago
Reply ReportIt's a real difficult toopic to try to prevent as it is so technologically involved these days. I think the main thing is ensuring students, youth, even people entering the workplace need to be aware of bullying and that they do not need to or should they put up with it.
More relevant reporting strategies, like via web or net pages,( maybe this is something the students can run, like a workshop teaching students how to use it and monitoring the site). I think involving the youth in making the changes in the school, ie. they set up an appropriate discipline ( i dont want to use the word but, punishment) for students breaking the bullying rules.
Then there is positive attributes schools could try implement. They could try things like positive thoughts, or a website aimed around good things in people. ie. i like your hair ( I know its alittle lame ) but this may help some students with self esteem and also give them positive feedback.
Programs including the older and younger students, increasing team work between different years it could be a good tutor program and I think both sides ( the older student working with the younger student) would both be able to gain experience and knowledge.
and most importantly do not give out person information, or give out other peoples information without permission.
that was just a few things I thought of-hope everyone is dapper
K.
Chey
over 1 year ago
Reply ReportHey Everyone
Idk if this is allowed on here so please remove if its not.
But when Looking a the news today I found this story which I wanted to share as it fits in with Bullying,Its sad.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/1073665/suicide-attempt-leaves-bullies-teen-in-wheelchair
ehon
over 1 year ago
Reply ReportSchools need to have in place a way to report bullying. Too many schools are still stuck in a reactive approach to any form of misbehaviour e.g. bullying, drug abuse, etc.
Ophelia.L
over 1 year ago
Reply ReportHey (above Chey's post)
Chey
over 1 year ago
Reply ReportHey,
Im sorry to hear you where given a hard time at school due to being you,its always sad when others judge you due to having something diffrent.
I hope the bullying has stopped now.
Just wondering if you have any ideas of what you would have liked as support for the bullying,did anyone ever offer help etc or was done behind teachers back.
Look after yourself and thanks for sharing with us
knuklem
over 1 year ago
Reply Reporti used to be tormented in school because i was 'emo' since i didnt beleive in religion i had a tough time... people used to throw rubbers at me, push me around call me names and spit on me and all i said was bug someone else... they all laughed at me i saw many others go through the same thing i went through and from time to time i wonder if those bullies have learnt from their behaviour or have they gotten worse.
Chey
over 1 year ago
Reply Report@K-Vik love the point you made about technology,there is ALOT of Cyberbullying now days,do you have any suggestions for preventing this at all? I know theres been ideas floationg around the forums n blogs but would love to know your thoughts. And I would love also to get my hands on one of these book not only cause im from W.A but for other reasons to.
Can I also point out something though.
I was thinking Today and sometimes teachers working with Parents wont work,as sometimes its actually due to adults behaviours which makes a kid a bully,maybe they are abused at home,or feel defeated at home that they want that overpowering role or to feel strong.if thats making any sense.I think if someone bullies look at the reason to why before punshing them and then let them go out and redo it again.Maybe if we can work with bullies and discover why they do it.
Theres a dvd called Bridge to Terbitha makes me cry alot but check out the reason for the bully being a bully.
k-vik
over 1 year ago
Reply ReportA lot of the time it's finding someone your comfortable to tell about the situation..unfortunatly sometimes the people we tell dont have the knowledge or power to act..
Ophelia.L
over 1 year ago
Reply ReportSometimes bullying can get out of hand, like a true life situation I heard about yesterday at my sisters school.
NadineF
over 1 year ago
Reply ReportChey, these are great suggestions, thanks for adding your experiences. I agree with you on having teachers in the vicinity during breaks.
Chey
over 1 year ago
Reply ReportI also had a thought,this may seem a stupid thing to suggest cause we all like our freedom but on breaks like recess and lunch have more teachers around,Some times when there was huge fights there was like no teachers in the area at all and we would have to walk to the other side of the school to find one.
Fights,Bullying,recording of fights happen when adults are not around.
Also schools need to check who they have as teachers,alot of teachers are actually the Bullies (i know seems weird me saying that) but teachers can cause issues and for other students to gang up on another student.
In yr 9 we had what was called the pink slips which we could write any complaint,issue etc on and had a choice to put our name on it or leave it anmyous we then could put them in one of the locked boxes which was checked each day.
Chey
over 1 year ago
Reply ReportIts really sad to hear of Alex's story
When I was at Tafe we actually watched a film on a bully who bullied a guy who commited sucide due to it,It was amazing but also sad to know a life was lost but also to hear the bullies side of the story.
I do personally think schools need to look at what they are doing when it comes to bullying,
I know I went to a number of schools and each had a diffrent bully plan sadly I think only one of this plan did any good.
Having post up about Bullying is good aswell and a bit more awarness of who people can go to.
Alot of the time teens dont always want to speak to teachers cause it can actually make the issue worse.
Knowing that cyberbullying can do damage and more awarness on how to protect yourself would be great aswell,there was a boy a few yrs back on the news who was great he had set up a program to let Young ppl know about how to protect themselves and also for parents to know how to speak with there kids if they fill something is wrong,I sadly cant remember his name :(.
I think Bullying in schools is sadly getting worse not better!!