Bullying Prevention
Conflict resolution and bullying prevention are natural partners. A comprehensive violence prevention plan should include both. Schools that have a solid conflict resolution program in place are ideally positioned to engage in bullying prevention as a next step. Conflict resolution teaches students how to solve problems when power is fairly equal and when both parties have some interest in resolving the conflict. Bullying, on the other hand, occurs when one party has more power, that party has no interest in resolving the problem, and he is primarily interested in hurting the other. In these circumstances, conflict resolution techniques are not likely to be effective, so other methods must be in place. (To learning more about bullying prevention, please visit our online learning module.)
A bullying prevention program should teach students how to distinguish normal peer conflict, which responds well to conflict resolution strategies, from bullying violence, which warrants a different set of strategies. Once students understand which type of conflict they are dealing with, they can decide which strategies to use. There are several factors (for example, contextual factors and personality traits) that determine when some strategies are more appropriate than others.
Rethinking the deeper impacts that bullying has on our school culture is important for existing conflict resolution programs. While many such programs have a long history of creating safe and caring youth cultures and providing students and staff with specific skills to confront injustice, the recent attention to bullying has expanded the importance of this work and has provided language and additional strategies for surfacing and handling this more serious form of conflict and violence. Likewise, bullying prevention programs can benefit from the comprehensive experience that conflict resolution programs offer.
Videos of Possible Interest
- The Transformation of West Philadelphia High School: a story of hope
- PAX Good Behaviour Game
- Teaching Students How to “Stand Up” to Bullying – Webinar Archive
- Puppet Show – Kids Against Bullying
- Help Increase the Peace Students Bullying Research Project
- Cyberbullying Toolkit for Educators
- Another Bully Busters Song
- Cyberbullying Toolkit: Webinar Archive
- On-the-Spot Bullying Prevention
- Social Emotional Learning via The Heart Story (RCCP)
- Bullied: A Student, a School and a Case That Made History
- On-the-Spot Mediation: how to use your skills in everyday life
- Cyberbullying (UNICEF)
- Girls Bullying
- Students Take on Cyberbullying
- Peaceful School Bus Program – Hazelden Foundation
- Overview of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program
See MORE VIDEOS...
Sample Catalog Resources
Below you'll find a randomized listing of up to 20 related items (we may have more...) drawn from our Resource Catalog.
Resource Title | Description | Links |
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Assessing the status of your school's comprehensive bullying prevention plan | Pdf document which presents a series of questions to help educators determine the status of bullying programs, based on Dan Olweus's, "Bullying prevention program." | |
International network on school bullying and violence: March 2007 overview | Powerpoint presentation overview of the work of the International Network on School Bullying and Violence whose aim is to, "stimulate and support more effective measures against school bullying and violence." | |
Bullying behavior chart | Pdf document in table form which outlines three types of bullying, (physical, emotional and social), as well as levels of severity, with behaviors in each section, adapted from, "New Jersey cares about bullying." | |
Bully Prevention in Positive Behavior Support for Middle Schools | This 45-page handbook focuses on school-wide positive behavior support, explicit instruction, and a redefinition of the bullying construct in a middle school. | |
Documenting bullying at your school: tips for school administrators | Pdf document which introduces the idea of assessing and tracking bullying behavior at school for administrators. | |
What we know about bullying | Pdf document with information on bullying. | |
SACSC Elementary unit and lesson plans | Web site developed by the Society for Safe and Caring Schools and Communities in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada whose mission "is to encourage home, school and community practices that teach, model and reinforce socially responsible and respectful behaviors, so that living and learning can take place in a safe, caring and inclusive environment. Achieving this mission requires the involvement not only of parents, teachers, and children, but of all the important adults in children’s lives." The site houses a number of lesson plans and educational units "focusing on adult modeling, the SACSC programs prevent negative social behavior through character education, conflict management training and building respect for diversity. They promote a problem-solving approach to discipline that encourages positive social behavior by expecting young people to fix the wrong they have caused, thereby learning from their mistakes." They focus on 5 topics: Living Respectfully; Developing Self-Esteem; Respecting Diversity and Preventing Prejudice; Managing Anger and Dealing with Bullying and Harassment; and Resolving Conflicts Peacefully for grades K-6. | |
How to talk to educators at your child's school about bullying: tips for parents of bullied children | Pdf document that helps parents of bullied children address issues with educators. | |
Exploring the nature and prevention of bullying: Significant identifying characteristics for victims | Word document that lists 21 characteristics of victims of bullying. | |
Olweus intervention suggestions | Powerpoint presentation providing guidelines for combating bullying in schools, from the Olweus Bullying Prevention Group. | |
Bullying in our schools: protecting GLBT youth | Powerpoint presentation which discusses bullying in schools particularly involving gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgendered youth in schools. | |
Warning signs that a child is being bullied | Pdf document illustrating behaviors that may alert parents of bullied children and steps they can take to correct the problem. | |
2010-2011 Playworks Playbook | Playworks is a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play. The Playbook, a 390-page pdf, provides full descriptions of games and activities appropriate for K-5 school children. They are organized in the following categories: Ice Breakers; Readiness Games; Tag Games; Cooperative Games; Core Playground Games and Sports; Core Games Modifications; and Health and Fitness - FitKid Program. Also included is structured curriculum in Violence Prevention and Peace Promotion. The Violence Prevention materials focus on providing students with a set of foundation skills for preventing violence using a framework called the Five Fingers of Safety. The Peace Promotion materials focus on proactive measures to encourage and foster a healthy community, and can be used with a variety of student groups. | |
Advice from our "tween" and teen experts | Pdf document with advice on bullying from the Youth Expert Panel. | |
How to intervene to stop bullying: tips for on-the-spot intervention at school | Pdf document with instruction on dealing with bullying at school, how to intervene and follow-up procedures. | |
Sample responses for using the "Teachable moment" for responding to bullying: On-the-spot interventi | Word document that describes different types of bullying behavior and situations, with suggested responses for educators. | |
Steps to address bullying at your school: tips for school administrators | Pdf document with advice to school administrators on addressing bullying at school. | |
What to do if your child is being bullied | Pdf document with instructions to parents whose children are being bullied. | |
Social and Emotional Learning and Bullying Prevention | 21-page briefing paper prepared for the National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and the Social and Emotional Learning Research Group at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "Schools using a social and emotional learning (SEL) framework can foster an overall climate of inclusion, warmth, and respect, and promote the development of core social and emotional skills among both students and staff. Because bullying prevention is entirely congruent with SEL, it can be embedded in a school's SEL framework. The aims of this brief are to (a) provide a basic description of a school-wide SEL framework, (b) illustrate the relationship between social and emotional factors and bullying, and (c) explain how an SEL framework can be extended to include bullying prevention." | |
Scope and impact of bullying | Pdf document which discusses bullying. |