When do you feel safe? When you are at home? When you are by yourself or with friends? School should be a place where students feel safe and a place where they can count on being treated fairly and with respect. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Many students are the target of bullying that could result in physical, emotional and academic consequences. We will look at what bullying is and what constitutes bullying and what school can do to prevent students from being bullied. All schools are aware or they are becoming increasing aware of the prevalence and seriousness and negative impacts of bullying (Lester, Cross, Dooley, & Shaw). What is bullying? Bullying is aggressive acts made with harmful intent, repeatedly inflicted
Bullies, bully supporters, defenders, victims and non-participants are all effected and need to be included in the prevention plan. The bullies themselves need to be encouraged and motivated by someone they trust. Find a way to be supportive with the bully, often, bullies have lacked a caring relationship (McNamee, Mercurio). A good intervention would assist victims in overcoming emotional trauma and would address self-esteem issues. Bully supporters are students that stand around when bullying takes place. They are the largest group of students. These students would benefit from self-esteem development activities. They need confidence in their decision making abilities (Austin, Reynolds, Barns). For the victim or target, McNamee & Mercurio suggest teaching ways to avoid being intimidated, including reading and interpreting social signalds, practicing social behavior, not walking alone, avoiding unsupervised areas, sitting near the bus driver, and labeling belongings in case they are stolen. They also suggest teaching ways to neutralize a bully through confident and assertive behavior, standing tall, using humor, identifying friends who can give support, and asking an adult for