What constitutes the process of developing programs that would actually respond to the growing problem of bullying in schools in the manner by which the authorities of the institution are able to implement ways that could define the monitoring process by which student actions are being recorded and reported once they reach a particular category that would implicate conditions of bullying or being bullied on the other end of the case. In the study of Kallestad and Olweus regarding the implementation of the Olweus Bullying prevention program in 37 schools, some 89 faculty members joined in the process of survey in which they are asked to respond to several questions the determination of the said individuals to implement rules that could protect the young students from bullying.
This research was successful enough to determine factors that identify well with how much teachers influence the implementation of anti-bullying programs in schools. It is pointed out through the results that there are two elements accounted to have been able to create a distinct impact on how the programs are implemented. One is the Openness in Communication and another is Social Attention to Bullying Problems among staff members of the administration [including the instructors]. Considerably, it could be understood that such condition of giving attention to such matters allow the administrators and other staff members to collaborate on how to deal with the problem at hand. In this phase of the case, the instructors are expected to take the largest share of responsibility as they are the ones directly involved in dealing with the students. They spend hours with the learners hence giving them the chance to observe their actuations and note particular irregularities they may be able to find.
The attention given to the problems that spur the possibilities of developing bullying attributes among students play a great role in determining whether or not there are arising cases that need consideration in the school. The researchers’ focus on the CIM or the Classroom Intervention Measures and the Individual Contact with the parents and the students involved in the case provides a good foundation towards finding out how bullying in schools could actually be helped and halted as much. Among these two approaches, it is proven by the researchers that CIM procedures specifically give more positive results than that of the individual-based evaluations and interview. In a way, the students respond more to the application of classroom interventions.
Considering the situations happening in the society today, it is not impossible that bullying could already be occurring under the teachers’ noses and yet they are not able to identify its existence. Some students are simply able to pretend perfectly that everything is alright. This study imposes that the need to seek truth behind these presentations of symptoms of bullying should not be set aside. Getting the teachers into gear and giving them training on how to intervene in situations where students may be specifically being bullied or that some students are becoming a bully, would help so much in determining the competence of each instructor to handle the challenge of helping out their students be protected from the influences and degrading impacts of bullying on their developing characteristics towards maturity.
Overall, this article proves that the teachers situated in classrooms and considered as the second parents of the students play a great role on how they are protected from bullying and the issues related to it. Considerably, this study inspires me to further develop a distinct understanding on how much more could teachers be trained to handle the challenge of being both an instructor and a counselor to their students. The aim of protecting the students from harm is only the beginning of the quest towards ending bullying in schools.
- Kumpulainen, K. (2008). “Psychiatric conditions associated with bullying”. International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health (National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine) 20 (2): 121–132. PMID 18714551. Retrieved 2013-10-29.
- Hazlerr, R. J.; Carney, J. V.; Green, S.; Powell, R.; Jolly, L. S. (1997). “Areas of Expert Agreement on Identification of School Bullies and Victims”. School Psychology International 18: 5.
- Kallestad, J and Olweus, D. (2003). Predicting Teachers’ and Schools’ Implementation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program: A Multilevel Study. Prevention and Treatment Journal.