Introduction

Bullying continues to be a problem worldwide which has affected the lives of numerous
individuals and has led to incidents which have had serious consequences on the lives of the
students. It may be considered a norm in the form of ragging, or it might be hushed upon in the
society but it is still carried out one way or another. This policy brief intends to help educators
redesign their curriculum to effectively tackle bullying in schools. Bullying can be described as
“repeated oppression, psychological or physical, of a less powerful person by a more powerful
one” (Farrington). Not all forms of bullying are the same, nor do they have the same impact.
Hence, defining bullying in a precise manner is a preliminary measure to tackle it.

Main body
Bullying can have consequences which are not just short lived but can be very long term or
permanent. What we are referring to are the psychological effects of bullying. A very important
factor in preventing bullying is the need of policies and proper rules in schools which deal with
both the perpetrators and victims so that the bullying itself and its harmful effects can be
minimized. Unfortunately, this policy making part is not very simple as we have to keep in mind
that the perpetrators of bullying are mostly children or teenagers and they cannot be treated as
criminals with a zero tolerance policy. Moreover, the definition of bullying is very broad which
mentions that there needs to be intentional aggression if an act is to be considered as bullying.
What this means is that bullying can easily be confused with other more and less serious acts
such as sexual harassment and ordinary teasing. This is well explained in the paper “Law and
Policy on the Concept of Bullying at School”, where the authors state that “bullying can overlap
with many other proscribed behaviors such as criminal assault, extortion, hate crimes, and
sexual harassment. In its milder forms, bullying can be difficult to distinguish from ordinary
teasing, horseplay, or conflict” (Cornell, and Limber). Another very significant issue is the
underreporting of bullying, as the victims are afraid that they might be targeted by the bully if
they report the incident to the administration. According to a research, “eight characteristics of
bullying victimization were statistically associated with increased reporting” (Petrisino et al.).
Hence, the underreporting due to this fear does not allow the administration to get a complete
picture of bullying taking place in institutions.
An efficient and effective method of tackling not only the victims of bullying but also the
perpetrators is to provide counselling to both. Since bullying can have serious psychological
effects on the victims and can seriously hamper their self-confidence, timely and constant
counselling for them is very important to prevent the effects of bullying taking over their
mental health. The study results of a research conducted on bully victims indicated “significant
statistical differences at 0.05 between the experimental and control groups in self-concept,
bullying victim behavior, and achievement on the post-assessment. The experimental group
showed improvement in self-concept and achievement, and a decrease in bullying behavior
compared with the control group (Tawalbeh et al.). Therefore, there is no doubt that
counselling has positive effects on the victims of bullying and is very beneficial for them.
Moreover, the students who bully show lack of empathy towards their target which is why they
are able to bully them. This building of compassion and empathy in the bullies is the domain of
the counsellors. This is also evident from the paper “Managing Bullying Problems in Nigerian
Secondary Schools: Some Counselling Interventions for Implementation”, where the authors
state that activities such as role plays where the perpetrators place themselves in the shoes of
the victims, should be introduced by counsellors as these may “foster sensitivity for the feeling
of others” in the perpetrators (Oyaziwo, and Adegoke). Lastly, the safety of the person
reporting bullying should be given utmost importance as it can have a ripple effect on other
students reporting bullying incidents. The administration should make sure that security is
provided to the reporters and their anonymity is maintained so that the bullies do not get more
aggressive towards the victims for exposing them. Moreover, parents should also be educated
on school procedures and how to reach out in case they sense any such activity. This is well
summed up by Dewey Cornell in his paper, where he emphasized on the importance of both
students’ and parents’ education with regards to school procedures in case they are seeking
help, and focused on the issue of reporting which according to him should be made much easier
for the victims by removing unnecessary procedures and by strictly maintaining the anonymity
of the reporters (Cornell, and Limber).
Our last recommendation is one that has been a recent breakthrough in the science of
preventative measures taken to reduce bullying and has proven to be effective in countering the
drawbacks of measures that are currently in use. It is the process of building a positive school
climate. School climates can be described as the “felt sense of being in a school, which can arise
from a greeting, the way a problem is resolved, or how people work together; it is a school’s
heart and soul, its quality and character. Schools with a positive climate foster healthy
development, while a negative school climate is associated with higher rates of student bullying,
aggression, victimization, and feeling unsafe” (Divecha). In other words, schools with a positive
climate have good teacher- student relationships, have considerable distaste and zero room for
bullying and others acts of violence and aggression and have an overall friendlier, inclusive and
welcoming atmosphere. For schools with negative school climates, everything is reversed.
Bullying is more widespread and hence the implications of are more severe. According to a
longitudinal analysis done in 2019 on School Climate and Middle School Bullying Behaviors,
“individuals involved in traditional or cyber bullying often have negative long-term outcomes
associated with their involvement. For example, youth who bully and victims of bullying
reported low academic achievement, loneliness, and psychosocial maladjustment” (EO.
Acquah).

Now that it has been established that “students’ perceptions of school climate is significantly
related to maladaptive bullying role behaviors” and “there is evidence that a healthy school
climate is associated with less frequent traditional victimization and bully perpetration” (EO.
Acquah), our focus shifts to how this recommendation can be implemented to real time schools.
The initial step schools can take towards building a more positive school environment is by
assessing the current climate of the school first and identifying its positives, that should be
maintained, and its negatives, that should be discarded. While there are many ways to assess
the current climate, the easiest being surveys, we propose meeting in small groups to assess
and discuss the situation and individual interviews to ask people how/what they feel the current
school climate is like. Survey questions have the tendency to be misinterpreted and can easily
be mismanaged. Meeting in small groups as well as individual interviews, preferably mediated
by an outsider to prevent bias and ensure impartiality, will give everyone a chance to speak
their mind and give honest, upfront opinions about what the school atmosphere is currently
like.

The second step that can be taken is creating a shared vision of the kind of climate they want.
In order to make this successful, we recommend everyone writing their own personal visions of
what they want to see in a school and then building a shared vision upon those personal visions.
Teachers can help students throughout the process. Other steps comprise of increasing the
involvement of parents through increased parent teaching meetings and workshops so children
know that their guardians are an active part of the school community and are updated with
their activities and performance at school. Similarly, teachers should celebrate personal
achievements and good behavior in the classroom and honor ceremonies should be held for
students to praise and rewards their good deeds and behaviors. Through positive reinforcement,
they can increase the occurrences of such events and improve the climate by raising the frequency
of good behavior. Although effort intensive, these steps lead to the start of a positive and inclusive
climate, the benefits of which far outweigh the cost of the effort that has to be put in making it a
reality.

Citations

Cornell, Dewey, and Susan P. Limber. "Law And Policy On The Concept Of Bullying At
School.". American Psychologist, vol 70, no. 4, 2015, pp. 333-343. American Psychological
Association (APA), doi:10.1037/a0038558. Accessed 15 Dec 2020.
Petrosino, A., Guckenburg, S., DeVoe, J., and Hanson, T. (2010). What characteristics of bullying,
bullying victims, and schools are associated with increased reporting of bullying to school
officials? (Issues & Answers Report, REL 2010–No. 092). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and
Regional Assistance, Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands. Retrieved from
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/ edlabs.
Oyaziwo, A, and AA Adegoke. "Managing Bullying Problems In Nigerian Secondary Schools:
Some Counselling Interventions For Implementation". Nigerian Journal Of Guidance And
Counselling, vol 15, no. 1, 2011. African Journals Online (AJOL), doi:10.4314/njgc.v15i1.64660.
Accessed 15 Dec 2020.
Tawalbeh, Aysha H. et al. "Effectiveness Of A Counseling Program To Improve Self-Concept And
Achievement In Bully-Victims". Review Of European Studies, vol 7, no. 7, 2015. Canadian Center
Of Science And Education, doi:10.5539/res.v7n7p36. Accessed 15 Dec 2020.
Farrington, David P., and Search for more articles by this author. “Understanding and
Preventing Bullying.” Crime and Justice, 1 Jan. 1993.