School Bullying

1. Vodcast Four: Three more ways of intervening School Bullying Dr Ken RigbyConsultant Developed for

2. The three ways 1. Strengthening the victim 2. Mediating between the bully and the victim 3. Applying restorative practice Developed for

3. Strengthening the victim Rationale • If there is no imbalance of power, then bullying cannot occur • Therefore seek to equalise the power by strengthening the victim • If this is achieved the school no longer needs to take action Developed for

4. Reducing the imbalance of power • This can be attempted by teaching the victim to learn new skills or suggesting the use of different tactics • When the victim uses counter-aggressive means the conflict may escalate and lead to a worsening situation • Hence, methods have been suggested that can discourage the ‘bully’ without antagonising, for example by ‘fogging’ Developed for

5. Rationale for Fogging • The bully enjoys a sense of being more powerful, as long as the victim is manifestly upset by what he/she is saying • If the victim is not upset the bully loses any ascendancy • The victim can learn to react as one unperturbed, reply in ways that are not provocative and give no satisfaction to the bully who then desists Developed for

6. Fogging: Advice on confronting the ‘bully.’ • Take control of the situation - Do not let the bully see that you are intimidated or upset • Maintain eye contact with the bully, speak clearly and firmly, stand upright and try not to fidget. Act or pretend to be brave • Be prepared to focus on the ‘perceptions’ of the bully – acknowledge how he/she sees things. Don’t strike back! Become boring! Developed for

7. Examples of Fogging • Bully: “You have great big ears” Victim: “That’s true, I do have big ears" • Bully: “They stick out so much they flap in the wind” Victim: “It’s true they stick out” • Bully: “You are the most stupid person in the whole school” Victim: “That might be true” • Bully: “You are wearing pov shoes!’’ Victim: “You are not wrong”. Further examples are given in the handouts Developed for

8. When Fogging cannot be used • The bullying is physical rather than verbal • The bullying is being conducted by a group • A child’s disability - eg. Asperger Syndrome or speech impediment – makes handling such verbal exchanges impossible or very difficult • The targeted child is feeling traumatised or very anxious and is unable to use the technique with the bully Developed for

9. Mediation • Mediation involves meeting with students in conflict to help them to resolve their differences • They must not be forced to meet and the mediator must remain neutral, favouring neither side • The practitioners must be skilled in the process • They may be teachers or students acting as peer mediators Developed for

10. Mediation Developed for

11. Advantages and limitations • A successful resolution removes the source of the conflict and ends the dispute • The use of mediation improves the ethos of the school – students are encouraged to negotiate solutions • However, it does require that the ‘bully’ and the ‘victim’ are prepared to be mediated. Often the ‘bully’ is unwilling • It is difficult if not impossible for practitioners to remain ‘neutral’ when a student is being treated badly by another Developed for

12. Restorative Practice • This is a method that seeks to produce a resolution to a bully/victim problem by inducing the ‘offender’ to feel remorse and to act so as to repair the damaged relationship • It requires that the ‘victim’ accepts the apology and, in some cases – further restorative action Developed for

13. Applications of Restorative Practice with bullying These include meetings conducted by a practitioner 1. With just the offender and the offended 2.With a group of students who have participated in, or observed, the bullying behaviour, eg. a class of students 3. With the offender and offended plus persons closely associated with those in conflict, eg. parents and other adults. These meetings - sometimes used with very serious cases - are known as ‘community conferences’ and require a highly skilled facilitator Developed for

14. Method in Restorative Practice The approach involves: • Requiring the offender to listen to what the ‘victim’ has to say • Requiring the offender to reflect on what has been happening, the harm that has been done - and how things can be put right • Inducing a restorative act and its acceptance by the person(s) offended against • Commonly users of this method work from a ‘script’ as in the handout Developed for

15. Strengths and limitations • Focuses upon restoring damaged relationships • Seeks to gain the cooperation of the offender through a reflective process rather than by means of coercion • Is limited to cases where a degree of remorse exists or can be induced without undue pressure • For the best outcomes support is needed from the total school community Developed for

16. Questions • What has been your experience of employing the following approaches in tackling cases of bullying (i) strengthening the victim (ii) mediation and (iii) restorative practices • What would your advice be to teachers considering using each of these? • Can some students be helped by teaching them ‘fogging’? You may like to try out the script with a partner – one playing the bully, the other the victim Developed for