Safe Schools are Effective Schools

Strategies for Bullying Intervention

There is no clear answer about the best actions students can take when they are being bullied. It can be very difficult for students to stop it on their own.

Here are some suggested responses to students when they ask for help:

  • 'You could try asking them calmly and politely to stop it and then increase this to telling them firmly and loudly to stop it.'
  • 'Consider putting on a 'protective shell' by acting unimpressed. If you feel up to it, make a funny comment.'
  • 'Keep notes (what, who where and when) and make sure they know about it.'
  • 'Talk to a friend and ask for support and ideas about what you could do to solve the problem.'

If these strategies don't work, it is best to utilise other strategies as soon as possible.

The following information describes some prevention and intervention strategies that are currently being used in Victorian government schools. It is recommended that any prevention and management programs that schools consider implementing be critically evaluated to ensure that they are theoretically sound, unbiased and evidence-based in terms of content, pedagogy and delivery.

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Assertiveness Training

There is some evidence that training students to respond assertively can be a useful strategy.

Responding assertively to a bullying incident requires the student to respond in a way that is respectful to themselves, their abilities and knowing their basic human rights.

Teachers can help students to be assertive by encouraging them to:

  • Plan and practice responses to bullying incidents in a clear and polite manner, that does not insult the bully
  • Respond using an assertive body language, i.e. standing up straight and keeping eye contact

Teachers can help students to utilise these behaviours through classroom based role-plays, where the students identify assertive behaviours, as opposed to an aggressive or passive response.

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Restorative Practices

Restorative Practices are increasingly being used by Victorian government schools to manage bullying incidents.

The term 'Restorative Practices' refers to a range of processes which are underpinned by the following concepts:

  • Misconduct is viewed as a violation of people and relationships
  • These violations create obligations and liabilities
  • Problem-solving focuses on healing and making things right

These practices, ranging from proactive to reactive, involve the development and enhancement of relationships in schools and teaching of conflict resolution and other problem-solving skills. They also involve classroom management that is participatory and democratic and focuses on problem solving.

These practices require a shift in philosophy from traditional punitive models of behaviour management to those relational models which, as well as holding wrong doers accountable for their behaviour, provide support for the community affected by the wrong doing.

Specific Restorative Practices include:

Community Conferences

A community conference brings together, in the wake of a serious incident of harm, the wrongdoer and the student being bullied, along with their families and appropriate school personnel.

Conducted by a trained facilitator, a series of scripted questions is directed to participants in order to understand the incident and its antecedents and the effects of the incident on the community.

An agreement is reached whereby all participants feel that there has been some restitution and that relationships have been repaired.  The agreement also reflects plans to meet identified needs of the participants, such as counselling, and to implement necessary changes to school policy and practice.

Follow-up is crucial for ongoing support and to ensure compliance with the agreement.

Small Group Individual Conferences

These are usually confined to a small group of students or an individual student and perhaps teacher(s) who have been involved in a less serious incident. Typically small group conferences might be used to deal with low-level bullying before matters escalate.

Parents, while not directly involved, are informed of the process and its outcomes. 

Follow-up is crucial for ongoing support and to ensure compliance with the agreement.

Classroom Conferences

These involve the whole class in addressing issues which have affected teaching and learning in the classroom and student wellbeing, such as classroom bullying and more generally, classroom disruption.

As adapted from Margaret Armstrong & Margaret Thorsborne’s chapter ‘Restorative responses to bullying’ in Bulling Solutions: Evidence-based approaches to bullying in Australian Schools, Pearson Education, Sydney: 2005

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Bystander Training

A popular strategy in the prevention of bullying is Bystander Training. This form of prevention strategy trains bystander students to behave in a supportive way to students who are being bullied, and to intervene where feasible. It is based on the notion that bad things continue to happen if good people do nothing.

For students to effectively stand up for another student who is being bullied, they need to feel confident in their own skills to intervene and know that they will have the support of teachers.#

Bystander Training should:

  • stress to all students that they are expected to act responsibly and either challenge the bullying behaviour directly or indirectly or report the incident to a teacher
  • build the students skills to effectively challenge the actions of bullies.

When developing Bystander Training modules, teachers can:

  • elicit from students how they think they would react if they were observers of a bullying incident
  • ask the students to give a reason for their reaction
  • at the next lesson, feed back to them the results, reading out what students have said about why they would help the student being bullied
  • pay attention to, and discuss, comments that call attention to the potential danger of intervening and when obligations to help should be limited only to one’s friends
  • discuss how students might distinguish between dangerous and non-dangerous situations – and take appropriate action
  • consider what forms of discouragement could be effective without inflaming the situation
  • discuss how students might get others to voice their disapproval together with their own
  • rehearse possible scenarios and actions using role-plays
  • monitor what happens by getting the class to report back periodically
  • always bear in mind that a direction by a teacher that a student is expected to help students being bullied is likely to be disregarded. But there are ways of indirectly mobilising positive action under the influence of peer pressure.

As adapted from Ken Rigby and Dale Bagshaw’s chapter ‘Using educational drama and bystander training to counteract bullying’ in

#Rigby, K and Bagshaw, D. (2006) Using educational drama and bystander training to counteract bullying 133-146.   In Bullying Solutions. Editors H.  McGrath , and T. Noble.  Sydney:  Pearson Education

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Friendly Schools and Families

The Friendly Schools and Families program was a whole-school anti-bullying intervention implemented in a number of primary schools in Perth between 2002 and 2004. It was implemented in 20 randomly selected Perth metropolitan primary schools and nearly 4000 students, their families and 450 teachers took part in the program. The intervention was an initiative of the Child Health Promotion Research Unit and was based on a 'health-promoting school' model and included 'validated' components that had been identified in international research.

The basic assumption behind the program is that effectiveness in reducing bullying and increasing pro-social behaviour is the result of many small moves, not just one approach. Some of the key components of the program are:

  • open communication about bullying in the whole school community
  • a consistent and positive response from all teachers towards bullying behaviour
  • the teaching of peer support skills to enable all students in a bystander role to discourage bullying
  • resilience skills that would be needed if students were bullied
  • modified playground environments that would be more stimulating to students
  • the teaching of social skills and pro-social values
  • high visibility of playground supervisors during lunch and recess breaks
  • school pride campaigns
  • teacher professional development

The Friendly Schools and Families Program was adapted following the outcomes of this project.

Friendly Schools and Families aims to assist with the design, development, implementation, dissemination and evaluation of a social skill building and comprehensive anti-bullying program in schools. It provides templates for evaluation of current anti-bullying policy and practice within a school, review action taken, identify areas that may require further attention and help schools engage in evidence based activities to reduce bullying. Support and guidance can also be assessed through the program.

As adapted from the Friendly Schools and Families web site. (http://www.friendlyschools.com.au/)

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Buddy Systems

Buddy systems can help to promote friendship and support between older and younger peers through regular collaboration between their classes, which fosters a sense of whole-school community.

The key characteristic of most buddy systems is the participation of older students in positive, supportive, structured and facilitated one-on-one relationships with younger students. Buddy systems can create feelings of connectedness that enable both older and younger ‘buddies’ to bond more closely with their school within a psychologically safe environment, thereby increasing the likelihood of more positive school behaviour and less bullying.

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You Can Do It! Education

You Can Do It! Education is a system for helping children to develop social, emotional and behavioural wellbeing.

You Can Do It! Education involves a number of educational programs for teachers, students, parents and community members based on research which identifies five necessary social-emotional capabilities for all children to possess in order for them to achieve and experience social, emotional, and behavioural wellbeing: confidence, persistence, organisation, getting along and resilience. Five blockers that contribute to poor psychological health, under-achievement and disaffection are also identified for intervention: feeling very down, feeling very anxious, procrastination, not paying attention-distributing others and feeling very angry-behaving poorly. 

As adapted from the You Can Do It! Education web site. (http://www.youcandoit.com.au/)

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School procedures and practices for responding to students who bully

School Procedures and Practices for Responding to Students Who Bully resource builds on the Safe Schools are Effective Schools resource by providing primary and secondary schools with additional support to respond to bullying. It describes and summarises actions that teachers can take to respond to incidents of bullying and that student welfare coordinators and counsellors can take to develop and implement individual behaviour plans for students.

This resource involves the collection, use and disclosure of personal information. It is consistent with the Department’s purposes for collecting personal information in that it supports the development of a whole school approach to bullying, specifically in relation to students who bully.

See the School Procedures and Practices for Responding to Students who Bully (PDF - 564Kb)