BULLYING IN SCHOOLSJennifer Rhodes | Home School Liaison Officer  Swansea Office, 11-15 Josephson Street, Swansea NSW 2281 P: 02 4972 3000 |  F: 02 4971 6196 | E: jennifer.rhodes4@det.nsw.edu.au

National Centre Against BullyingInitiative of The Alannah and Madeline FoundationKeeping children safe from violence

World’s latest research Prof Michel Boivin; When hell is other people: the early

onset, development and consequences of peer relation difficulties in childhood.

Professor Donna Cross: Same dog but different fleas - How does cyber bullying compare to face-to-face bullying in Australia ?

Professor Ken Rigby: Addressing cases of school bullying: an appraisal of six major methods of intervention and their implications for student wellbeing

Research Unit on Children's Psycho-Social Maladjustment, an interdisciplinary and inter-university research centre investigating risk and protective factors influencing children's development Encyclopaedia on Early Childhood Development 2005 Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development ,Boivin M

The team have found that;

10% of children are rejected, harassed and victimised by one or more peers on a regular basis resulting in loneliness, depression, low self-esteem and school avoidance. This has begun by age 3.

Behaviour may initiate a negative social process with consequences for the child.

Aggression = peer rejection = victimisation loneliness, depression (withdrawal) in and before preschool

By about Grade 6 the target may have changed to bully.

Predictors of target were identified at 18months ;

Genetic (physical aggression, hyperactivity)/ Harsh parenting/ Low income

Early intervention must teach self-regulation or peer relation difficulties are expected. The link to aggression diminishes with age as the target tends to move to withdrawal.

What is bullying?

Bullying is when someone (or a group of people) with more power than you repeatedly and intentionally uses negative words and/or actions against you, which causes you distress and risks your wellbeing. ncab 2010

Five kinds of bullying

1. Physical bullying

e.g. hitting, poking, tripping, pushing or damaging someone’s belongings.

2. Verbal bullying

e.g. name calling, insults, homophobic or racist remarks and verbal abuse.

3. Social (covert) bullying

e.g. lying, spreading rumours, playing a nasty joke, mimicking and deliberately excluding someone.

4. Psychological bullying

e.g. threatening, manipulation and stalking.

5. Cyberbullying

Using technology (e.g. email, mobile phones, chat rooms, social networking sites) to bully verbally, socially or psychologically.

Bullying isn’t. . .

• mutual arguments and disagreements

• single episodes of social rejection or dislike

• single-episode acts of nastiness or spite

• random acts of aggression or intimidation.

What is Cyberbullying?

A repeated or sustained pattern of intentional cyber-attacks that causes distress and is directed against a specific student or group. Cyberbullying can also be a multi-faceted or multi-step campaign of humiliation or hostility that causes distress and is directed against a specific student or group.

Cyberbullying is not...

One off or single instances of;

Cyber-exploitation

Cyber-attack

Unacceptable or inappropriate use of technology

Cyber-jokes or cyber-teasing

Cyber-fighting

The following are some examples of Australian e-crime offences and penalties:

Impersonation

A student dishonestly obtains someone’s email address and access information and sends an offensive email to everyone in that person’s email address book.

The offence: Unlawful operation of computer system.

The maximum penalty: Imprisonment for 6 months or $2,500.

Child abuse

Uploading a photograph of someone under-age who is naked (e.g., whilst he/she is

changing for sport in a locker room and isn’t aware of being photographed and then transmitting it to others).

OR (if under-age or appearing to be)

Taking a photo of oneself naked and uploading it to a website.

The offence: Production or dissemination of child abuse material.

The maximum penalty: Imprisonment for 10 years.

Hate website

A group of students create a racially focused hate website about their classmates.

The offence: Racial vilification.

The maximum penalty: $5,000, or imprisonment for 3 years, or both.

Cyber-attack

A threat to hurt someone is sent via text message or email.

The offence: Using internet or mobile phone carriers to make a threat.

Maximum penalty: Imprisonment for 7 years.

A humiliating and untrue story about someone is posted online and others are invited to comment on it.

The offence: Using internet or mobile phone carriers to menace, harass or cause offence.

The maximum penalty: Imprisonment for 3 years.

Effects of bullying

Embed youtube video of Allem Halkic

In 2009 students who are cyber bullied are…

6 times more likely to feel disconnected to school

3 times more likely to feel lonely at school

7 times more likely to never feel safe at school

5-6 times more likely to experience greater socio-emotional difficulties and some depressive symptoms

 *Controlling for gender, year level, SES, school size

Significant at 0.01 level of significance

 

In 2009 students who cyber bully others are…

7 times more likely to never feel safe at school

2-3 times more likely to experience greater socio-emotional difficulties and feelings of depression

3 times more likely to feel less connected to school

 *Controlling for gender, year level, SES, school size

Significant at 0.01 level of significance

Bullying and the law

Education Act 2009

Occupational Health and Safety Act

Civil law

Criminal law

Anti-discrimination Act

The responsibility and rights of the school in responding to a cyber-attack or cyberbullying that occurs outside school hours and off the school premises

If there is material or substantive disruption of learning

If it interferes with the educational mission

If it uses school property If there is a nexus to the schoolFormer Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia, The Hon. Alastair Nicholson AO RFD QC

What can schools/teachers do?

anyone can bully

bullying is behaviour

behaviour can change

6 major methods of intervention

the traditional disciplinary approach

restorative practices

strengthening the target

mediation

the support group method

the method of shared concern.

 

Active Bystanders

Bullying stops in 10 seconds if a student intervenes.

The highest incidence of bullying is in the first and last term of the school year.

Bullying increases at transition.

when a bystander actually does object, in morethan half the cases the bullying actually stops.

If their friends were thought to expect them to support the victim, students were much more likely to say they would do so. The perceived expectations of parents appeared to be largely irrelevant as far as boys were concerned, and of small relevance for girls. The perceived expectations of teachers were of no relevance whatsoever, for either boys or girls!

(See Rigby and Johnson, 2004.)