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Armour
Heights puts energy into educating bystanders When three grade eight students at Armour Heights Public School saw a student at the centre of a bully ring recently, they took action. Together the three boys approached the scene, and spoke to the targeted student. They were planning to play some football, they said to him. "Did he want to join them?" He did, and, leaving the ring together, the four spent the rest of the recess playing together. The bullying episode had been effectively diffused. Cindy Hudson, child and youth worker at Armour
Heights, tells the above story as an example of how a new program, BullySmart,
that the school is implementing has already influenced the behaviour of
students when it comes to addressing bullying. Cindy, who is heading up the program, is positive about the results that the program has had and is expected to have. "There's enough data out there now that indicates that if we do more preventative education, we can reduce our bullying by 50 per cent," she says. For this five-month period she is just hoping to see a reduction at all in the bullying incidents at the school. The program focuses on developing specific skills and identifying particular strategies that can be used by targeted students, bullies, teachers, parents and bystanders. However, it is injecting a significant amount of energy into educating bystanders, the people who watch it all happen. This is because 88 per cent of the students of any school population are strictly bystanders, according to research. Within the 88 per cent, there are typically three different roles that students may assume. There are those that become actively involved as either positive or negative influences. Then there are those that are basically unaware of what is taking place. And then there is the middle group. "Unfortunately the majority, it's the group that knows what's going on and chooses not to do anything," says Cindy. "It's with this group in particular that we're trying to put some energy into skill development." At Armour Heights, students are learning specific strategies they can use when they see a student who is being targeted by a bully. To begin with, they're instructed not to enter a situation independently. "We tell them, if you see something happening, grab some of your friends and walk towards the situation," says Cindy. Students are then advised to address the target directly. "For example, they could say, 'We're playing some one-on-one basketball, do you want to join us?'" Cindy explains. Without giving attention to the bully, they should
then withdraw the targeted student from the centre of the group and leave
to play together elsewhere. Besides identifying key strategies for bystanders, the program is helping Armour Heights students develop four specific skills that are expected to contribute to the reduction of bullying long-term. The four skills include empathy, respect and responsibility, making and keeping friends, and problem solving. Every two weeks, teachers for all eight grades consistently implement a one-hour lesson designed to teach and strengthen these skills. For the bystanders, developing these skills has a special relevance. For instance, if they can learn how to identify a student who lacks friendship skills or a student who is in need of a friendship circle, they can take action to befriend this student before he/she becomes a target of a bully. Bullies typically target shy, withdrawn people, who tend to be loners, says Cindy. "If students deliberately befriend someone who has these characteristics, they can prevent the bullying before it ever takes place." The effectiveness of the program will be evaluated in mid-February. A subsequent course of action will then be identified. For more information on the program, contact Cindy at Armour Heights. (705) 742-6001. |
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