Addressing Bullying in Queensland Schools

Addressing Bullying in Queensland Schools

Vodcast 4

Three more ways of intervening

Support Materials

Dr Ken Rigby

Consultant

Department of Education and Training

Developed for

Contents

Introduction

Summary

Questions for discussion

Background Readings

1.An exercise on Fogging

2.Mediation

3.An application of Restorative Practice

References – Vodcast 4

General References

Copyright Acknowledgementas

Introduction

This booklet is a supplementary resource to accompany Vodcast 4 – Three more ways of intervening produced by the Department of Education and Training. The presenter is Dr Ken Rigby, consultant to the Department on issues relating to bullying in Queenslandschools.

It contains a brief description of the vodcast, together with articles by Dr Rigby or other acknowledged authors, references and questions that may be used to facilitate discussion amongst staff.

In viewing the vodcast, it would be useful to:

examine background readings which provide an explanation of how to implement the techniques and strategies presented for preventing or dealing with cases of bullying in schools

consider and discuss the questions that have been provided
complete suggested activities with staff/students.

Vodcast Four: Three more ways of intervening

Summary

In this vodcast, further methods of intervention are considered. The first, strengthening the victim, entails reducing the imbalance of power between the bully and the victim by helping the victim to acquire skills, or utilise existing ones, to respond effectively to attempts at intimidation. Secondly, it is suggested that in some situations conflicts involving bullying may be addressed through a mediation process applied by teachers or by appropriately trained students. Finally, restorative practices aim to repair interpersonal relationships that have been damaged through acts of bullying. The rationale for each intervention approach is examined and suggestions are made regarding their strengths and limitations in relation to the circumstances in which they might be applied.

Questions for discussion

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.

Background Reading 1

An exercise on Fogging

To illustrate the fogging technique, form pairs and try out the script provided.

One of you takes the part of the ‘victim’ in an encounter with the ‘bully’ and uses Instructions A.The other takes the role of the ‘bully’ and uses Instructions B.

Simply follow the scripts – and then afterwards discuss the possible value of this approach that victims may take – and importantly under what conditions it could be helpful.

Instructions A (for the ‘victim’)

This exercise is intended to illustrate the ‘fogging’ technique. Read the instructions below. When you are ready, interact with the ‘bully’ using the suggested responses. No need to make up anything!

Generally, what to do:

take control of the situation and let the bully see that youare not feeling intimidated
maintain eye contact with the bully, speak clearly and firmly, stand upright and try not to fidget
act or pretend to be confident.

Below is a script for you to use in this role play. It outlines what the ‘bully’ will say and what your reply could be. Simply read your reply to the bully.

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 disliked person in the whole school”
Victim: “That might be true”
Bully: “You are wearing pov shoes”
Victim: “You are not wrong“
Bully: “You must be really stupid to keep agreeing with me”
Victim: “That’s true“
Bully: “You keep saying that’s true”
Victim: “That’s true. Why does that bother you?”
The Victim keeps answering a question with a question. The idea is to put the bully on to the back foot.
Bully: “Nobody likes you”
Victim: “That’s your opinion. Why do you think that?”
Bully: “You spend lunch time in the library”
Victim: “That’s true. Why does that bother you?”
Bully: “Only geeks spend lunch time in the library”
Victim: “That’s your opinion”
Bully: “You have no friends”
Victim: “It may seem like that to you”

Instructions B (for the ‘bully’)

This exercise is intended to illustrate the ‘fogging’ technique. Read the instructions below. When you are ready, interact with the ‘victime’ using the suggested responses. No need to make up anything!

In this role play you are asked to make a number of statements directly to your ‘victim’.

After each statement wait for the response, then move on the next statement. No need to make anything up in this exercise, simply note how you think the responses would work in real life.

While you are waiting for the victim to read their instructions, jot down what you think your motives might be if you behaved along the lines given below.

“You have great big ears”
“They stick out so much they flap in the wind”
“You must be really stupid to keep agreeing with me”
“You keep saying that’s true”

For the next 2 sentences, make up a brief answer after you have heard the reply.

Bully: “Nobody likes you”

Bully: “You spend lunch time in the library”

You have two more statements to make. Listen to the response.

Bully: “Only geeks spend lunch time in the library”

Bully:“You have no friends”

Now discuss with the ‘victim’ how well the responses seemed to work in frustrating you – and whether this approach could be effective, at least in some cases.
Under what circumstances do you think it is least likely to work?
What suggestions can you make to improve this approach?

Comments on fogging

Fogging is a simple assertiveness technique, which allows people to deflect insults and putdowns.

It is assumed that students often bullybecause they are bored. They are looking for a response from their target that is entertaining.

When people are insulted, they tend to feel upset or angry. Getting people upset and angry can actually make the bully feel more powerful. Fogging carried out effectively deprives the bully of an anticipated source of entertainment.

Behind the technique of fogging is the idea that it is sometimes better for targeted children to be able to stand their ground than trying to avoid confrontation. Escape may provide a temporary solution but it can still make the bully feel powerful and more determined next time around.

There are situations in which it is not recommended, for example:

when the bullying is physical
when a group of students are engaged in the bullying
when the targeted person is psychologically incapable of acting in a confident way, for example children suffering from chronic or acute anxiety
when the targeted person is unable to acquire the verbal techniques necessary to learn how to use the method, for example some students with disabilities.

Teaching the method to individual students requires patience and sensitivity. Rather than ‘telling’ the student what to say, it is best to explore with the student what he or she is comfortable in saying and to monitor closely after the approach has been tried.

Background Reading 2

Mediation

Typically mediation involves the following stages or processes:

1.Identifying students who are in conflict and are ready to negotiate, with the help of a mediator, how they can resolve their differences. Without initial commitment, mediation cannot proceed.

2.A meeting is arranged with the students who are in conflict. Some mediation may be attempted ‘on the spot’ by a mediator who happens to encounter children who are at odds with each other and want to be helped to resolve their problem. More commonly the meeting is held later when tempers have cooled. A private place is found where there will be no interruptions and the participants meet there.

3.The participants are required to agree to certain rules that make the process of mediation practicable. These include a requirement that only one person talks at a time while the other person listens without interrupting, and that each of them stays to hear the other out.

4.The mediator asks each member to describe in turn what has been happening. The other person must repeat what has been said without making any judgement or comment. The mediator may prompt, if necessary seek more information, and clarify what is being said. Importantly, at this stage there is to be no discussion or point-scoring.

5.Besides enabling the students to describe what they see as having happened, the mediator must listen carefully and summarise what has been said to the satisfaction of those involved.

6.Having established what happened according to the participants, the next stage is to enable the speakers to share their feelings about each other’s actions. Again each of them is expected to say how they felt without being interrupted and the other to reflect back what has been said - without making any comment. Again the mediator summarises what has been said.

7.Next, the mediator invites the participants to make suggestions about what could be done to improve matters and these are listed.

8.Having a list of options before them, the participants are then invited to choose a solution to the conflict that is most acceptable to them. This may involve the participants in finding a win-win course of action that effectively solves the problem or they may agree to a compromise. It is not up to the mediator to say which solution is best.

9.The mediator records what the parties have agreed upon, using their own words, and each of them is expected to sign a document to indicate that they will abide by the agreement.

10.Subsequently, the behaviour of the participants is monitored and, if necessary, further meetings may be held.

From Rigby, K 2010, in press, Interventions in cases of bullying in schools: six basic approaches, ACER Press, Melbourne.

Background Reading 3

An Application of Restorative Practice

Below is a possible script that may be used in a case of bullying, in which one person has been continually upsetting another person (the victim) by ridicule, name-calling and getting others to do so as well. The victim has asked the perpetrator to stop but it has continued. Eventually the person being victimised has sought help from a teacher.

The teacher talks to them in a meeting which both attend together. The teacher/counsellor begins with the student who has been engaging in bullying. For each question imagine how the respondent may reply.

Under what circumstances do you think this approach would lead to a genuine apology and actions on the part of the perpetrator to improve their relationship with the victim?How useful would this approach be in your school?

To the perpetrator

What has been happening?

What were you thinking of at the time?

What have you thought about since?

Who has been affected by what you have done? In what way?

Switch now to the victim

What did you think when you realised what was happening to you?

What have you thought about since?

What impact has this incident had on you and others?

What has been the hardest thing for you?

What do you think needs to happen to make things right?

Switch back to the perpetrator

What do you think you need to do to make things right?
How can we make sure this doesn’t happen again?

You may like to invent a case of bullying in which one student has been engaged in taunting another student and seriously upsetting them. Form a group of three, in which one is the practitioner, another bully and one the victim.

You may like to roleplay or imagine the scene first with the bully feeling remorseful after being asked to reflect on the effects of upsetting the other child – and then again when the student is stubbornly unremorseful. Consider how the practitioner would handle each of these cases – and with what probable outcomes.

More detailed and informative descriptions of Restorative Practices may be found in Thorsborne et al 2006, Renn et al 2009, and Rigby 2010.

References - Vodcast 4

Thorsborne, M & Vinegrad, D 2006, Restorative practice and the management of bullying: rethinking behaviour management, Inyahead Press, Queenscliff, Victoria.

Renn, S, Van Velsen, J, Matheison, P, Dennis, K, Langley, J 2009, The bullying intervention toolkit: A practical Account of non-punitive intervention strategies,Inyahead Press, Queenscliff, Victoria.

Rigby, K 2009, in press, Bullying interventions: six basic approaches, ACER Press, Melbourne.

General References

(This includes references given in the text and also other sources of information that are considered helpful)

Bauman, S, Rigby, K & Hoppa, K 2008, US teachers' and school counsellors' strategies for handling school bullying incidents in Educational Psychology, 28, p. 837-56.

Blake, E and Rigby, K 2004, Bullying and Bystander behaviour at school, in Principal Matters, p. 2-3.

Farrington, DP 1993, Understanding and preventing bullying. In Tonny, M and Morris, N (Eds) in Crime and Justice, 17, 5, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Lewers, R & Murphy, E 2000, The Hidden Hurt, Wizard Books, Ballarat.

Molcho, M, Craig, W, Due, P, Pickett, W, Harel-Fisch, Y, Overpeck, M and the HBSC Bullying Writing Group 2009 in press, Cross-national time trends in bullying behaviour 1994-2006: findings from Europe and North America in International Journal of Health.

Olweus, D 1993, Bullyingat school: What we know and what we can do, Blackwell, Cambridge, MA.

The Method of Shared Concern: a staff training resource for dealing with bullying in schools, 2007, Readymade Productions, Adelaide.

Pikas, A 2002, New developments of the Shared Concern Method in School Psychology International, 23, 3, p 307-336.

Rigby, K 2010, Bullying interventions: six basic approaches ACER Press, Melbourne.

Rigby, K 2008, Children and bullying: how parents and educators can reduce bullying at school, Wiley-Blackwell, Boston.

Rigby, K 2002, Stop the bullying, ACER, Camberwell, Victoria.

Rigby, K 2007, Bullying in schools and what to do about it, ACER, Melbourne.

Rigby, K & Thomas, EB 2003, How schools counter bullying: policies and procedures in selected Australian schools, in The Professional Reading Guide, Point Lonsdale, Australia.

Rigby, K & Slee, PT 2008, Interventions to reduce bullying in International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 20, p. 165-83.

Rigby, K & Barnes, A 2002, To tell or not to tell: the victimised student’s dilemma in Youth Studies, Australia, 21, 3, p. 33-36.

Rigby, K & Johnson, B 2006-07, Playground Heroes in Greater Good Magazine, Vol 3/2.

Rigby, K & Johnson, B 2006, Expressed readiness of Australian school children to act as bystanders in support of children who are being bullied in Educational Psychology, 26, p. 425-441.

Robinson, G and Maines, B 2008, Bullying: A Complete Guide to the Support Group Method, Sage, London.

Smith, PK, Pepler, D & Rigby, K 2004, Bullying in schools: how successful can interventions be?CambridgeUniversity Press, Cambridge.

Suckling, A and Temple, C 2001, Bullying: a whole school approach, ACER, Melbourne.

Tattum, DP 1992, What is bullying? in Tattum, D (Ed), Understanding and managing bullying, Heinemann, London.

Thorsborne, M & Vinegrad, D 2006, Restorative practice and the management of bullying: rethinking behaviour management, Inyahead Press, Queenscliff, Victoria.

Acknowledgements are given to the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) for permission to include in this resource, articles and extracts or modifications of extracts originally published by ACER.

These comprise the following:

Figure 1 illustrating Degree of Severity of Bullying on p 12, published in Rigby, K 2002, Stop the bullying, ACER, Camberwell, Victoria.
The article by Rigby and Bauman (2007) on pp 15-16, What teachers think should be done about cases of bullying in Professional Educator.
Extracts and modifications of extracts taken from Rigby, K (2010), Bullying Interventions in schools: Six basic approaches.

Mediation, pp 41-42

Support Groups, p 45
The Method of Shared Concern, pp 46-48
An exercise on choice of intervention method, page 50
Advice to Parents, pp 53-54
Evaluating Interventions, pp 60-61.

Acknowledgements are also due to:

Rigby and Johnson (2006/7) entitled Playground Heroes from Greater Good Magazine, Vol III, Issue 2, Fall/Winter, pp14-17. For more information please visit
Principal Matters which published the article, Bullying and bystander behaviour at school by Blake and Rigby (2004), reproduced on pp 2-3.