BULLYING AT SCHOOL
School bullying is a type of
bullying that occurs in an educational setting. Bullying can be physical,
sexual, verbal or emotional in nature.
School bullying may be more specifically
characterized by:
1.
An intention to harm: intention suggests
that the harm caused by bullying is deliberate, not accidental.
2.
Victimization distress: bullying causes the
victim to suffer mild to severe psychological, social or physical trauma.
3.
Repetition: bullying is
persistent; it happens more than once or has the potential to occur multiple
times.
4.
Power inequity: definitions of
bullying often state that bullying includes a real or perceived imbalance of
power between the bully and the victim. This characteristic is disputed, as
both bullies and victims have reported that the conflict and/or behaviours most
commonly occur between two equals.
5.
Provocation: bullying is proposed
to be a part of progressive aggression: motivated by perceived benefits of
their aggressive behaviours.
The long-term effects of school bullying
are numerous, and can include sensitivity, anxiety, and depression. Recent
statistics suggest that the majority of students will experience bullying at
some point in their academic careers. In the early 21st century, increasing
attention has been given to the importance of teachers and parents
understanding and recognizing the signs of bullying (among both bullies and
victims), and being equipped with strategies and tools to address school
bullying.
Bullies
·
Developmental research suggests bullies are often morally disengaged and
use egocentric reasoning strategies.
·
Adolescents who experience violence or aggression in the home, or are influenced
by negative peer relationships, are more likely to bully. This suggests that
positive social relationships reduce the likelihood of bullying.
·
The diagnosis of a mental health disorder is strongly associated with being
a bully. This trend is most evident in adolescents diagnosed with depression,
anxiety, or ADHD.
·
Poor theory of mind is associated with bullying among school-aged children.
Types of
bullying
Direct bullying is a relatively open
attack on a victim that is physical and/or verbal in nature.Indirect bullying is
more subtle and harder to direct, but involves one or more forms of relational
aggression, including social isolation, intentional exclusion, rumor-spreading,
damaging someone's reputation, making faces or obscene gestures
behind someone's back, and manipulating friendships and other relationships.
Physical
bullying
Physical bullying is
any unwanted physical contact between the bully and the victim. This is one of
the most easily identifiable forms of bullying. Examples include:
·
punching
·
pushing
·
shoving
·
kicking
·
hazing
·
inappropriate touching
·
pinching
·
fighting
·
use of available objects as weapons
Emotional
Emotional bullying is
any form of bullying that causes damage to a victim’s psyche and/or emotional
well-being. Examples include:
·
keeping certain people out of a "group"
·
getting certain people to "gang up" on
others (could also be considered physical bullying)
·
making fun of certain people
·
provocation
·
pretending the victim is non-existent
·
saying hurtful sentences (also a form of verbal
bullying)
·
belittling
Verbal
Verbal bullying is
any slanderous statements or accusations that cause the victim undue emotional
distress. Examples include:
·
tormenting
·
mocking
·
teasing
Cyber-bullying
According to the
website Stop Cyberbullying, "Cyberbullying is when a child, preteen or
teen is tormented, threatened, harassed, humiliated, embarrassed or otherwise
targeted by another child, preteen or teen using the Internet, interactive and
digital technologies or mobile phones."] This
form of bullying can easily go undetected because of lack of
parental/authoritative supervision. Because bullies can pose as someone else,
it is the most anonymous form of bullying. Cyber-bullying includes, but is not
limited to, abuse using e-mail, blogs, instant messaging, text messaging or
websites. Many who are bullied in school are likely to be bullied over the Internet,
and vice versa.
Prevention
of cyber-bullying
According to the website Stop Cyberbullying,
"When schools try and get involved by disciplining the student for
cyber-bullying actions that took place off-campus and outside of school hours,
they are often sued for exceeding their authority and violating the student's
free speech right."
Cyber-bullying has
become extremely prevalent in today's society. Since 95 percent of teens making
use of social media reported having witnessed malicious behavior on social
media from 2009 to 2013,] the odds for rash behaviour by
a victim are very high. This calls for preventive measures. As sites like Facebook or Twitter offer
no routine monitoring, children from a young age must learn proper Internet
behaviour, say Abraham Foxman and Cyndi Silverman: "This is a call for
parents and educators to teach these modern skills... through awareness and
advocacy.""Parents and educators need to make children aware at a
young age of the life-changing effects cyber-bullying can have on the victim.
The next step for prevention is advocacy. For example, three high school
students from Melville, New York organized a Bullying Awareness Walk, where
several hundred people turned out to show their support.
Sexual bullying
Sexual bullying is
"any bullying behavior, whether physical or non-physical, that is based on
a person’s sexuality or gender. It is when sexuality or gender is used as a
weapon by boys or girls towards other boys or girls—although it is more
commonly directed at girls. It can be carried out to a person’s face, behind
their back or through the use of technology."
The U.K.
charity Beatbullying has claimed that
as gang culture enters inner-city schools, children are being bullied into
providing ‘sexual favours’ in exchange for protection.However, other
anti-bullying groups and teachers' unions, including the National Union of Teachers,
challenged the charity to provide evidence of this, as they had no evidence
that this sort of behaviour was happening in schools.
Sexting cases are
also on the rise and is becoming a major source of bullying. The circulation of
explicit photos of those involved either around school or the internet put the
originators in a position to be scorned and bullied. There have been
reports of some cases in which the bullying has been so extensive that the
victim has taken their life.
Pack bullying
Pack bullying is
bullying undertaken by a group. The 2009 Wesley Report on bullying prepared by
an Australia-based group, found that pack bullying was more prominent in high
schools and characteristically lasted longer than bullying undertaken by
individuals. Pack bullying may be physical bullying or emotional bullying and
may be perpetrated in person or in cyberspace. It can take place in
schoolyards, school hallways, sports fields and gymnasiums, classrooms and on
the school bus.
Bystanders
to Bullying
According to
Department of Education and Training of Western Australia, bullying also
involves the concept of “bystanders”. A bystander may be someone who sees
bullying or knows about it, but he or she is not usually directly involved.
Everyone at the school can have a role in supporting those who are being
bullied. All members of the whole school community need to be aware of their
role in supporting those who are being bullied and their responsibility to
discourage bullying behaviours when they observe them. Any member of the school
community can be a bystander and can act successfully to prevent or stop
bullying. Bystanders are encouraged to report to someone who can help, such as
a member of the school staff
ŞEYDA NUR AY
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