Bullying in Schools

The most effective means of addressing bullying is through comprehensive school-wide programs (Atlas and Pepler, 1998: Garrity et al., 1997: Skiba and Fontanini, 2000). One of the most important reasons for developing a school wide anti-bullying program is to engage and empower the large percentage of students who do not bully others to recognize and intervene in bullying.

The following measures have been found to have the greatest impact on curbing incidents of bullying and harassment in school.

  • Administer a bullying survey to determine the extent of the problem
  • Provide education activities for teachers, administrators, school staff, parents, students, and community members to learn about bullying.
  • Provide increased supervision in areas where bullying tends to occur.
  • Create an advisory group to oversee the program and evaluate its success.
  • Convene ongoing meetings between parents and school staff.
  • Implement a curriculum that promotes kindness, communication, cooperation and friendship. Include lessons stressing empathy, anger management, and conflict resolution skills.
  • Develop classroom rules against bullying.
  • Provide immediate rewards for inclusive, kind behaviors and consequences for aggressive behaviors.
  • Facilitate weekly meetings to communicate to students clear, consistent expectations and to engage students as resources in preventing bullying behavior.
  • Provide ongoing communication with parents.
  • Facilitate serious talks with students who bully and individuals who are targeted.
  • Facilitate serious talks with parents of students who bully and are targeted.
  • Organize role-playing of non-aggressive behaviors and assertive behaviors.
  • Place primary responsibility for solving the problem in the hands of an adult at school.
  • Articulate a clear moral stand against bullying.
  • Include both system-oriented and individual-oriented components.
  • Set short-term and long-term goals.
  • Target the entire school population.
  • Make the program a permanent component of the school environment.
  • Implement strategies that have a positive effect on the student and school climate, beyond the issue of bullying.

Bullying Publications For Educators