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
- Help Increase the Peace Students Bullying Research Project
- Peaceful School Bus Program – Hazelden Foundation
- On-the-Spot Mediation: how to use your skills in everyday life
- Teaching Students How to “Stand Up” to Bullying – Webinar Archive
- PAX Good Behaviour Game
- Social Emotional Learning via The Heart Story (RCCP)
- Puppet Show – Kids Against Bullying
- Bullied: A Student, a School and a Case That Made History
- Overview of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program
- The Transformation of West Philadelphia High School: a story of hope
- Cyberbullying Toolkit for Educators
- Students Take on Cyberbullying
- Girls Bullying
- Another Bully Busters Song
- Cyberbullying Toolkit: Webinar Archive
- On-the-Spot Bullying Prevention
- Cyberbullying (UNICEF)
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tug of war - Peace Through Understanding Conflict | This 10-chapter 104-page book, available as a pdf, is for youth ages 8-16 interested in a peaceful world - and in understanding the forces that cause conflict, both in personal relationships and across the globe. Tug of War describes: 1) What the roots of war are. 2) How we create "The Enemy". 3) A new way to handle violence. Illustrated by award-winning artist, Rod Cameron. Part of the Education for Peace Series by Atrium Society Publications | |
| Sample newsletter article: bullying among children and youth | Pdf document presenting a sample newsletter article on bullying. | |
| Best practices in bullying prevention and intervention | Pdf document outlining best practices for bullying prevention and intervention. | |
| Educational resources: articles, books, films about bullying and teasing | Word document provides list of books, articles and films on bullying and teasing. | |
| Exploring the nature and prevention of bullying: bullying quiz | One page true/false quiz on bullying. | |
| Flirting or hurting?: Teacher guide, grade 6-9 | 9-page PDF teacher's guide which accompanies 3 filmed programs on sexual harrassment, "two of the modules target students, and one targets teachers. Throughout the student programs, the host, an older sister character, provides definitions, explanations and insights based on her own experiences ... the two 15-minute classroom programs include breaks for discussions or activities. These programs are appropriate for coeducational Health, Guidance, Family & Consumer Science, English, Social Studies, Physical Education, and New Student Orientation classes, or Vocational shops in grades 6 through 9." | |
| What to do if your child is being bullied | Pdf document with instructions to parents whose children are being bullied. | |
| Cyber bullying | Word document examining bullying in cyberspace, with advice to parents and young people from Aman Batheja. | |
| 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. | |
| Children who bully | Pdf document on children who bully. | |
| 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 | |
| Community-based bullying prevention: tips for community members | Pdf document, geared toward community members, discussing bullying prevention. | |
| Understanding bullying within the camp setting: tips for parents | Pdf document for parents about bullying in the camp setting. | |
| Bullying in out-of-school time programs: tips for youth-serving professionals and volunteers | Pdf document that examines bullying in extracurricular activities with tips for professionals and volunteers. | |
| Olweus intervention suggestions | Powerpoint presentation providing guidelines for combating bullying in schools, from the Olweus Bullying Prevention Group. | |
| The Young Peacebuilders Guide To Tackling Harmful Narratives | The Young Peacebuilders’ Guide to Tackling Harmful Narratives entails a concrete step-by-step methodology and tools to support young peacebuilders in their fight against harmful narratives, as well as four concrete alternative narrative campaigns that were developed by UNOY Peacebuilders members. Rather than creating the umpteenth resource that sheds light on the issue of harmful narratives, this by-youth-for-youth guide is a collaborative document that encapsulates the work and input of 11 UNOY members who took part in UNOY Peacebuilders’ capacity development programme—Youth Promoting Peaceful and Cohesive Societies in Europe—held between April and June 2022, as well as the insights of experts in disinformation and media development at large. | |
| GIRC Annotated Bibliography of Conflict Resolution Resources | An annotated bibliography from the Global Issues Resource Center on conflict resolution resources covering the topics of bullying prevention, classroom management, and trauma & violence prevention. Includes books, curricula, videotapes, simulations and games. | |
| HRSA stop bullying now resource kit | One page list of materials on bullying for professionals and parents. | |
| Exploring the nature and prevention of bullying: Significant identifying characteristics for victims | Word document that lists 21 characteristics of victims of bullying. | |
| 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." |