18 February 2012

Bullying in ACT Schools

| Wini
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I have been a long-time follower of RiotACT and I always enjoy reading the commentary of Canberrans (especially ‘the regulars’ who I feel bring a balanced outlook to some heady topics).

I noticed tonight that there is one topic that always get a very strong response and that is one that appears under “Education” and relates to bullying. Clearly this topic compels people to respond. One type of ‘poster’ has a child who is a victim of bullying, the second ‘poster’ has had first hand experience, and the third ‘poster’ has worked in the educational arena and has experienced the machinations of a system trying to deal with bullies.

Clearly the anti-bullying campaign is not working and a departmental solution does not seem to be on the horizon. Interestingly, the collective knowledge of all the ‘posters’ leads me to believe that we could actually make a difference to the way that bullying is dealt with in all ACT schools.

Can we use ‘people-power’ to really make a difference in how bullying is handled in ACT schools? I think we can. With this in mind, how many ‘posters’ would be interested in forming a working party to eradicate bullying in schools? I am happy to co-ordinate…

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It’s a noble thought, but I agree with others that it is a bit of a vague initiative.

There are programs designed to achieve culture changes in schools to prevent or deal with bullying that have been successfully implemented in some Australian schools. Rather than starting from scratch, it would be more effective to lobby the Education Dept to take up these programs in all of their schools.

What would the working party be doing? Actively working with young people in schools or working with school principals and teachers or communicating with the Education Directorate or the Minister or, like many ‘working’ groups i’ve been part of, continually meeting and discussing but finding no other way to move except that which already exists?

I absolutely appreciate the idea though that looking at issues around young people being bullied is not something that should be left to Gov’t or people working within a structured system that only allows them to act in particular ways (teachers and school principals) – rather it is something that should be acted on by ALL people. Having said that though, I reckon there will always be bullies. At school, at work, on the roads, in some our homes. We could put our energies towards building resilience and a sense of social inclusion in young people being bullied rather than ‘eradicating’ bullying itself.

Providing young people opportunties and experiences to develop their emotional and physical resilience, and feel included within their society would go a long way to addressing the situation. For both the Bullied and the Bullies.

GardeningGirl11:54 am 23 Feb 12

Good on you for wanting to do something! I don’t think bullying will ever be eradicated but more can be done and a combined effort works better, whether that’s when teachers get adequate consistent support in their efforts from their colleagues and management, or when families get assistance and advice that actually helps. I’ve both heard and personally experienced that sometimes other parents are more useful than officialdom, so I’m sure getting a group of people together who have been through it could be a really useful resource for others, and could also help the government tackle the issue if they were interested in listening.

whitelaughter said :

Assume that you end bullying in schools. *You* have ended it. The kids who get bullied will not have learned anything.
Assume, instead, that you grab a bunch of 20+ bullied kids, whip them up into a frenzied mob, and have them beat a bully senseless. Then *they* have ended bullying, and will have the understanding of what to do should another bully be so foolish as to appear.

Create twenty bullies to deal with one bully. Such logic, no wonder the problem has been solved. You sir are an idiot

whitelaughter1:25 pm 19 Feb 12

Assume that you end bullying in schools. *You* have ended it. The kids who get bullied will not have learned anything.
Assume, instead, that you grab a bunch of 20+ bullied kids, whip them up into a frenzied mob, and have them beat a bully senseless. Then *they* have ended bullying, and will have the understanding of what to do should another bully be so foolish as to appear.

Wini, whilst it’s a great idea as long as ACTETD fail to deal with even workplace bullying (and it is RIFE in education), there is little they will do about bullying of students.

Personally, expulsions should be allowed back and suspensions actually mean something other than a 5 day holiday from school. By all means write to your member of parliament but teachers really cannot do anything more than post anonymously on RA because we are at risk of losing our jobs for speaking out – even if it’s for a good reason.

Good luck.

You are right WIni, these topics do get a large response…….but to actually DO anything, well, much easier to post anonymous gripes yeah?

Good luck with it though.

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