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
- Teaching Students How to “Stand Up” to Bullying – Webinar Archive
- Cyberbullying Toolkit for Educators
- Overview of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program
- Another Bully Busters Song
- Bullied: A Student, a School and a Case That Made History
- The Transformation of West Philadelphia High School: a story of hope
- Students Take on Cyberbullying
- Cyberbullying Toolkit: Webinar Archive
- PAX Good Behaviour Game
- On-the-Spot Bullying Prevention
- Peaceful School Bus Program – Hazelden Foundation
- Social Emotional Learning via The Heart Story (RCCP)
- Cyberbullying (UNICEF)
- On-the-Spot Mediation: how to use your skills in everyday life
- Girls Bullying
- Help Increase the Peace Students Bullying Research Project
- Puppet Show – Kids Against Bullying
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 |
|---|---|---|
| SACSC Toward a safe and caring secondary curriculum | 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 "purpose of the Society for Safe and Caring Schools and Communities Toward a Safe and Caring Curriculum Secondary Unit and Lesson Plans web-based resource is to provide units, lesson plans and other resources that integrate safe and caring knowledge, skills and attitudes into all subject areas in the Alberta secondary curriculum... this resource was developed by Alberta reachers in whose classrooms the accompanying lessons have been field tested." The lessons address 6 topics: Living Respectfully; Developing Self-Esteem; Respecting Diversity and Preventing Prejudice; Managing Anger; Dealing with Bullying; and Resolving Conflicts Peacefully for junior and senior high school students. | |
| Bullying among children and youth with disabilities and special needs | Pdf document discussing bullying of children with disabilities and special needs. | |
| Roles for health and safety professionals in bullying prevention and intervention | Pdf document discussing bullying with tips on what health and safety professionals can do to stop the behavior. | |
| Understanding bullying within the camp setting: tips for parents | Pdf document for parents about bullying in the camp setting. | |
| Bullying prevention and intervention: TeamMates Mentoring Program Lincoln Public Schools | 9-page PDF case study which, "looks at one program in Nebraska, Lincoln Public Schools (LPS) TeamMates, that has decided to address bullying at several schools through mentoring, using volunteers from the community to reach out to bullies and victims alike." | |
| Cyber bullying | Word document examining bullying in cyberspace, with advice to parents and young people from Aman Batheja. | |
| Bullying prevention: CRETE training day 3 | Powerpoint presentation for educators on bullying and ways to prevent bullying behavior. | |
| Intervention tips for law enforcement officers | Pdf document examining the role of law enforcement in bullying. | |
| Measuring Bullying Victimization, Perpetration, and Bystander Experiences: A Compendium | This compendium (128-page pdf) provides researchers, prevention specialists, and health educators with tools to measure a range of bullying experiences: bully perpetration, bully victimization, bully-victim experiences, and bystander experiences. The compendium represents a starting point from which researchers can consider a set of psychometrically sound measures for assessing self-reported incidence and prevalence of a variety of bullying experiences. | |
| Restorative Interventions Implementation Tool Kit | Implementation tools and resources for school staff and other adults trained to facilitate conferences and circles to repair harm in educational settings. The tools and resources are designed to assess readiness, implementation and outcomes, as well provide guidance for implementing any school-based restorative model. | |
| What can students and youth do to lend a hand | Pdf document with advice to students and youth on bullying prevention. | |
| Research-based books and articles on bullying and peer victimization | Pdf document presents list of books and articles on bullying and peer victimization. | |
| Being an ally | Pdf document for students outlining steps and sample phrases to help diffuse bullying incidents. | |
| Children who bully | Pdf document on children who bully. | |
| Exploring the nature and prevention of bullying: bullying quiz | One page true/false quiz on bullying. | |
| Digital Citizenship Poster for Middle and High School Classrooms | A poster targeting middle school and high school age youth that provides a flow chart to help students decide if sharing something (a photo for instance) online is appropriate or not. A larger poster is available for order - info at www.commonsensemedia.org/educators/middlehigh_poster | |
| Olweus intervention suggestions | Powerpoint presentation providing guidelines for combating bullying in schools, from the Olweus Bullying Prevention Group. | |
| Bullying prevention | On-line learning module which teaches the user to "State definitions and types of bullying, list the short and long-term effects of bullying, describe places where bullying happens, state examples of effective and appropriate bullying interventions, describe the roles of parents, siblings and others in preventing bullying, recognize the requirements of a school bullying prevention program and locate resources for bully prevention." | |
| Exploring the nature and prevention of bullying: Significant identifying characteristics for victims | Word document that lists 21 characteristics of victims of bullying. | |
| Physical and verbal bullying | Web-based interative scenario which explores bullying. |