Top tips to tackle bullying

Turn down the temperature ! NZEI’s primary teacher leadership team offers advice on how to make your class bully-free.

1.     Central to solving a bully problem is improved social and emotional skills, and in particular, it’s important that individual students don’t become socially isolated. Make sure groups or teams are selected neutrally, for example, have each child call a number or letter in order– “A, B, C, D, E” or “1, 2, 3, 4, 5” – then it’s, “All As together”, “All Bs together”.

2.    Encourage social skills. Say, “Today I’ll be looking for someone who’s made a new friend.” Allow for constructive criticism, “Today, I’m listening out to hear you say one positive thing – for example, ‘that was a really great jump’ – and one thing that might help somebody do better – ‘Mathletics will help your basic facts’.”

3.    Read Wellbeing at School – Building a safe and caring school climate that deters bullying from NZCER. It outlines a whole-school approach, as well as how to work with individual students. Download it from www.nzcer.org.nz – and seach on “wellbeing”.

4.    Consider the concept of tuakana/teina – relationships of older/younger brother/sister. This relationship is an integral part of Māori society, and provides a model for buddy systems. An older or more experienced tuakana helps and guides a younger or less expert teina. The relationship may be reversed at any time – the student who yesterday was an expert on te wā and explained the lunar calendar may learn tomorrow from a classmate about how manaakitanga (hospitality) is practiced by the local hapu.

5.    If a student complains of bullying, always reassure them that they’ve been heard and that action will be taken, even if the situation cannot be resolved right away. Get back to them later so they know you have acted.

6.    Have literature in the class that deals with bullying– Kiwi writers Jack Lasenby and Maurice Gee, for example, and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Louis Sachar’s Holes for older children.

7.    Create a classroom environment where children feel safe. Write a class Treaty that sets up a safe and supportive environment. Be consistent, firm and fair. Set clear expectations and boundaries about what’s cool and what’s not.

8.    Teach strategies that empower children to deal with bullying, for example, WITS – Walk away, Ignore, Tell someone, Say an I statement; or Stop-Think-Do.

9.     Teach values explicitly through the key competencies. Build resilience and compassion in children to look beyond themselves.

10.    Commercial PD providers offer a number of good programmes that take a whole-school approach – check them out by googling  “restorative practices”, “restorative justice”, “circle time”, and “Ideasys”.

11.    Reserve judgment, assume positive intent, maintain humour – a situation can easily escalate. For example, a child at the back of the line may trip while tying their laces and push the kid in front, who then pushes the next kid. Three kids on, and someone may lash out – yet there was never any ill will, and once the situation is explained, apologies can be made, and harmony restored.

12.    Change your “duty” roster to “supervision and interaction” (or “walk and talk”) – attention seekers will be less inclined to do the bad stuff to get a teacher’s attention if they’re being talked “with” at least some of the time, rather than talked “at” all of the time. Set yourself a goal of having, say, five conversations with students during the break. This makes break time much more enjoyable.

13. Other ways to build strong relationships are to go on camp together, and role plays where students switch roles and “walk in others’ shoes”.

14. Create a place for confidential talking. Have a kia kaha box in your class. Run an online survey.