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
• Cyberbullying (UNICEF)
• Bullied: A Student, a School and a Case That Made History
• On-the-Spot Bullying Prevention
• On-the-Spot Mediation: how to use your skills in everyday life
• Girls Bullying
• Help Increase the Peace Students Bullying Research Project
• The Transformation of West Philadelphia High School: a story of hope
• Overview of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program
• PAX Good Behaviour Game
• Another Bully Busters Song
• Puppet Show – Kids Against Bullying
• Peaceful School Bus Program – Hazelden Foundation
• Students Take on Cyberbullying
• Social Emotional Learning via The Heart Story (RCCP)
• Cyberbullying Toolkit: Webinar Archive

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