Chapter One:

The Introduction

Taken from Nassem, E. (2019) ‘The Teacher’s Guide to Resolving School Bullying: Evidence-Based Strategies and Pupil-Led Interventions’, Jessica Kingsley Publishers: London, pp. 11-22.

Aims and Scope

‘The Teacher's Guide to Resolving School Bullying’ will help you address the mundane, challenging and complex issues of bullying you are frequently confronted with but are often neglected by researchers and practitioners. Such complex cases of bullying include teasing which ‘may’ cause distress, persistent conflict between ‘friends’, and hostility between teachers and pupils. These experiences are often considered as too nuanced for traditional researchers to examine. Traditional research on school bullying usually focus on statistics which suppress the child’s voice and overlook their unique experiences. Furthermore, they cannot tell us enough about how to deal with the underlying reasons behind the bullying. However, this book will help you understand children’s lived experiences and resolve bullying by dealing with the fundamental issues which contribute to it.

Many people know what it feels like to be bullied. Despite a wealth of research and interventions to combat bullying, it is still a common problem in schools (The Children’s Society 2016) – and associated with depression, anxiety and even suicide. Although schools are legally obliged to tackle bullying (Department for Education, DfE 2017), school practitioners may not have had the adequate guidance or training on how to do so. Consequently, attempts to tackle bullying often focus on the more obvious forms of physical aggression rather than considering more nuanced experiences which are much more prevalent in school. There has recently been an increase in theoretical approaches to understanding school bullying which considers the complexities involved (for example, Walton, 2010; Schott and Sondergaard, 2014; Kousholt and Fisker, 2015). However, they usually do not include the child’s input in sufficient depth.

I have researched bullying for more than ten years and implemented interventions in schools since 2014. My most recent interventions have found that the most effective approaches reposition children as active agents enable children who are instrumental in understanding and resolving their bullying. We can do much more to involve children in creating an anti-bullying culture – this book will help you get started. Rather than focusing on the negative characteristics of a pathologized minority identified as ‘victims’ and ‘bullies,’ as traditional research tends to do, this book considers how all children are affected by bullying because of the fear, tensions and disruption to learning it can cause (Lurie and Zylke 2001), for example, if they are frightened of being humiliated for answering a question wrong in class. In ‘The Complexity of School Bullying... and what to do about it’ new approaches are recommended which have arisen from my research into the complexity of school bullying from the child’s perspective. These approaches will help school practitioners who are responsible for dealing with bullying to feel confident and equipped to do so, as recommended by Ofsted (2012).

What is bullying?

Bullying is usually defined as a specific form of aggression which is repeated, intentional and where the bully clearly has more power (physical or psychological) over the victim. This definition was developed by Olweus (1993) and is considered as the traditional approach because more researchers of school bullying use this definition (for example, Terasahjo and Salmivalli, 2003; Rowe et al, 2008; Gumpel et al, 2014). Olweus’ (1993) definition, however, is problematic. Lee (2006) challenges the concept of repetition by arguing that just one experience of maltreatment can have side-effects such as fear and distress long after the maltreatment has been experienced. The intentionality dimension is oversimplified as it can be difficult to determine if children consciously aim to harm others. Many say they ‘didn’t mean it’ (Ofsted 2003). Furthermore, how much does it matter whether or not bullying is intentional? Children can be just as hurt by inadvertent remarks as deliberate attempts to cause harm (Cullingford and Brown 1995). There are cases when it is difficult to establish a clear imbalance of power, for example, when there is maltreatment between pupils in the same class who appear to have the same physical, psychological and intellectual strength. Furthermore, children who are perceived as having less physical or psychological strength than their peers can still abuse their power over them. Duncan (1999) describes to a popular girl who was overweight, black and disabled, yet she wielded such power. This highlights how fluid power can be in relationships, providing a multitude of opportunities for power to be wielded. In ‘The Complexity of School Bullying... and what to do about it,’ bullying is constructed as a slippery concept which is multi-layered, nuanced and interpreted differently by individuals rather than as specific aggression identified by the traditional approach.

Children experience bullying in more complex and subtle ways than traditional approaches allow. Consider the following issues: when children are calling each other names are they ‘having a laugh’ or does something more serious lie beneath it? Three friends are arguing and they both say they are being bullied by each other. You have noticed they seem to be arguing a lot, almost on a daily basis. However, when you see them the next day they are playing together. Who is bullying whom, or is this nothing to worry about? A group of boys are playing a game where they whip others with sticks – is this bullying, violence or just a game (Nassem 2015)? Evidently, in certain cases, it is difficult to clearly establish whether children are being bullied. Morita (1996) points out that teasing may add ‘lightness to the day’ and be considered as humorous, but there are also cases where children have committed suicide because of it. Instead of objectively aiming to distinguish bullying from other forms of aggression, then, why don’t we examine how children perceive the maltreatment they endure? Arguably, teasing becomes bullying when individuals becomes distressed by it. It is important, therefore, for children to develop empathy, so that they understand the effect their behavior has on others – and when that behavior is causing distress. However, teasing which appears playful could still be bullying. Some children who feel distressed by teasing may conceal their hurt feelings such as laughing when they are taunted and saying that they do not feel bullied. To help you deal with these complexities, the ‘empathetic understanding’ approach explained in this book will help you investigate beyond the surface of what children are saying about the maltreatment they might be experiencing. This will help you learn how more about the extent to which children are being bullied so you can address it more effectively.

Although there are likely to be some commonalities in how individuals experience bullying, each case of bullying is unique, and often involves a multitude of ambiguities and nuances. To understand the diverse ways that individuals experience school bullying, consider what behaviors children are experiencing which might be bullying such as being called unpleasant names, being teased and/or experiencing physical violence. These behaviors are considered as characteristics of school bullying which are on a spectrum that ranges from mild to severe bullying and includes ‘grey’ areas. Please see Appendix A for a list of characteristics of school bullying which includes examples of behaviors and experiences associated with bullying. This list is not exhaustive but will help provide a framework to help clarify your understanding. These characteristics developed from reviewing the literature on bullying and speaking with children about what bullying consists of. You can extend your knowledge of what the characteristics of bullying are by asking which behaviors they consider as bullying. Both covert (for example, subtly participating in ostracizing others) and overt maltreatment (for example physical violence which clearly caused distress to others) is considered as bullying. Aggression which is repeated, intentional and involves a clear imbalance in power is considered as clearly bullying. By developing a criterion of characteristics associated with bullying you will develop a more flexible and nuanced understanding. Appendix B provides a definition of school bullying developed from the research in this book, and Appendix C provides a multi-faceted diagram of school bullying to represent how bullying is constructed in this book.

Bullying between Pupils and School Practioners

Unlike most other books on bullying ‘The Teacher's Guide to Resolving School Bullying’ examines the nuanced positioning of school practitioners in tackling bullying. School practitioners can feel pressured to ensure all students achieve the educational standards expected of them which can contribute to tensions with pupils who are not achieving those standards. Subsequently, these children can feel ‘picked on’ by teachers which can contribute to them being hostile and, in some cases aggressive towards their teachers. I found this was particularly pertinent in working-class males who had learning difficulties. This book, unlike most others on school bullying, also examines how teachers can be bullied by pupils. Techniques to support you if you feel victimized or are perceived as ‘picking on’ pupils are outlined. The strategy ‘empowering practitioners’ is provided to strengthen your resources and support network to deal with bullying authoritatively. The ‘healthy relationships,’ approach also aims to encourage pupils, and pupils and staff to interact with each other more respectfully.

Systemic Bullying

Although most other books only focus on maltreatment which involves a clear imbalance of power between individuals (Olweus 1993), my book examines how power inherent in bullying is more fluid and nuanced by drawing on the work of Foucault (1979, 1980). For Foucault, power exists in all relationships and involves power struggles. Although no-one holds complete power, there are hierarchies and inequalities in school and society such as in social class where certain individuals and groups are dominated. The multi-faceted model presented in this book primarily examines bullying between pupils, pupils and teachers, and systemic bullying. The concept of systemic bullying situates bullying within an institutional and societal context rather than just focusing on individuals. Systemic bullying comprises institutional structures of school (such as punitive disciplinary methods) and societal inequalities (such as in social class and gender) which can target certain children, marginalize them, cause them distress and be perceived as bullying (Nassem 2012, Nassem 2017). An example of systemic bullying is when children in the lowest class are distressed because they feel ‘thick’. Although systemic bullying operates beyond the individual level of pupils and staff, it is entangled with these interactions, for example, when pupils upset those who are in the lowest sets because they call them ‘thick’ or if a child with dyslexia who is embarrassed about their reading difficulties is excluded for by their teacher for not reading out in class. Strategies to deal with the multi-faceted nature of bullying are included in this book Power is examined through concepts of normalization and surveillance (Foucault 1979, 1980). Normalization and surveillance are significant forms of disciplinary power which have replaced the sovereign central power of the King. Disciplinary power operates covertly through systems of social control by rules, procedures and regulation (Foucault 1979). Disciplinary power influences how individuals behave, and perceive themselves and others. It is institutionalized through coercion and acceptance.

Normalization creates divisions between normality and difference through establishing hierarchies which rank individuals, for example, through assessment results. Pupils who are constructed as ‘different’ can be perceived as aberrant as they develop awareness of what standards are expected. This can marginalize those who do not achieve the standards expected of them and creates an abnormal, shameful class (Foucault 1979). If this process causes children distress it can be construed as systemic bullying.  Although all individuals are observed by others, those who do not conform to social and educational norms experience surveillance which increases their visibility and experience of being judged. Through surveillance and normalization, individuals can become targeted by pupils and school staff, marginalized and subject to increasing punishment and pressure to conform when they are perceived as not achieving the social and/or educational norms expected of them (Foucault 1979). My book examines how traditional ways of identifying ‘bullies’ can be used to target and punish working-class males with learning difficulties who are already marginalized. Often anti-bullying practices in schools focus on punishing pupils who are overtly aggressive such as excluding those identified as ‘bullies’ before investigating what contributed to the aggressive response in the first place. Such a crude and punitive approach perpetuates bullying (Nassem 2012, Nassem 2017). Recommendations are provided of how you can encourage children to resist power which is exercised over them and exercise their agency in terms of how they respond to bullying. A ‘take responsibility’ approach is described in this book to support children to make informed decisions about their behavior and realize the impact it has on others. Interventions are recommended to help you to protect children who are vulnerable to bullying and improve how it is dealt with in school, through approaches such as the ‘mentoring for “bullies”’ program. Resources to help you overcome systemic bullying, and deal with the underlying issues which contribute to bullying, have yet to be covered in a comprehensive text on children’s experiences of bullying.

Evidence-Base

The original knowledge base underpinning this book is from qualitative research and evidence-based interventions with pupils which have been successfully implemented by the author. The substantial emphasis on the child’s voice contrasts to the traditional approach which tends to reduce children’s experiences to statistics. Data is drawn from observations, focus groups, and individual interviews with children aged nine to sixteen from different education establishments such as Primary and Secondary State Schools, a Private School and a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU). The first part of this book presents data draws from my research into children’s perceptions and experiences of bullying. The second part of this book (chapters six to eight) focuses specifically on data from my most recent pupil-led evidence-based approaches. Some children in this book such were interviewed more than once to develop greater insight into their responses. In Carfield Primary Academy children were interviewed four times to develop and evaluate a pupil-led intervention based on their experiences of bullying. Resources to help you implement these interventions and support the professional development of your colleagues are provided. <.p>

Traditional and New Approaches to Combat Bullying

Interventions to combat bullying have had only modest success which indicates there is much to learn about making interventions more successful (Smith 2011, DfE 2017). Established interventions used to tackle bullying include: the shared concern approach by Pikas (1989), restorative justice and KiVa which was developed by Christina Salmivalli. The shared concern approach (Pikas 1989) involves a teacher having conversations the victim, bully, and other pupils involved in the bullying. The teacher follows a structured script with each pupil leading to a mutual agreement that the bullied pupil is unhappy with the situation and concluding by each pupil agreeing to help improve the situation. However, schools that have used this method have found that some older primary age pupils cannot suggest ways to improve the situation. They need adults to take a more directive role (Thompson, Arora and Sharp 2002). The ‘pupil-led approaches’ in this book will help you provide sufficient support to pupils.

Restorative justice aims to repair the harm caused by a particular offence or incident. Through structured communication, victims and perpetrators can discuss with each other how they were affected by the incident and explore what they will do to repair the harm caused (Youth Justice Board 2004). However, Littlechild (2003) found that it was difficult for those individuals involved to seek agreement of how to move forwards and resolve the issues concerned with bullying. KiVa is a particularly rigid approach which has universal actions that are applied in all cases, at both class and school level, and structured actions are used to address confirmed cases of bullying. Training, resources, class lessons, online activities, and parental advice and support are provided. In specific cases of bullying a member of the KiVa team first meets the victim to gain understanding of the situation and offer support. The team then meets individually with the ‘bully’/’bullies’. In this meeting the ‘bully’ is asked to commit to actions to help the victim (Hutchings and Clarkson 2017). However, this approach is asking for a significant change in their behavior from being abusive to suddenly being supportive. Furthermore, ‘grey’ areas and complex cases of bullying which you are probably confronted with on daily basis, such as when bullying involves a large group and there is not a clearly identified perpetrator, are not adequately addressed through KiVa.‘The Teacher's Guide to Resolving School Bullying' contains original and evidence-based strategies which you can easily adapt to understanding and dealing with bullying in your school. This contrasts to the more commonly used interventions such as the method of shared concern, restorative justice and KiVa which can be quite generalized and restricted. Consequently, they may not be sufficiently adaptable enough to deal with the specific issues of bullying in your school. Furthermore, they tend to focus on bullying which has already escalated. This book will help you deal with a broad spectrum of cases, including those which are mild and ambiguous, which traditional interventions tend to overlook The original strategies used to tackle bullying in this book will now be outlined. These approaches will help your understanding the underlying issues which contribute to bullying whilst also paying particular attention to the child’s voice. Such approaches will help you manage the institutional, social and interpersonal issues which contribute to bullying rather than just focusing on specific reported cases of bullying which most interventions primarily focus on.

Summary of Strategies

‘Mentoring for “bullies”’

An in-depth program of support for pupils who persistently engage in bullying to reflect upon their behavior and learn how to behave more respectfully. Mentoring focuses on understanding the underlying reasons children engage in bullying. It supports individuals to exercise their agency and make informed decisions about their behavior.

‘Take responsibility’

A method which encourages children to realize the impact their behavior has on their peers and school practitioners. Through staff supporting pupils to become more mindful of how their behavior can inadvertently hurt others it can help prevent an over reliance on overt punishment. ‘Take responsibility’ aims to encourage pupils and practitioners to work both individually and collaboratively to reduce bullying. It has been successfully used to support those who persistently engaged in bullying to transform their behavior.

‘Pupil-led approaches’

A strategy which consist of pupils have a leading role in enhancing understanding of their lived experiences of bullying and developing strategies to tackle it. Pupils contribute to the design, implementation and evaluation of anti-bullying initiatives. They are supported to become positive role-models who challenge bullying, interact more respectfully with pupils and staff, and help those who are victimized.

‘Empathetic understanding’

The ‘empathetic understanding’ strategy is for pupils, and pupils and staff to enhance their knowledge of one another’s perspective and learn about the underlying reasons which are contributing to their behavior. It involves pupils, and pupils and staff having open and reflective dialogue with one another. Conversations focus on why individuals are behaving in ways that can be perceived as hurtful and how this is making individuals feel. This approach can help those involved in bullying to fully understand each other’s perspective where they listen to and respond to the views of others. The open and reflective dialogue can be used to enhance the voice of pupils. It can also support practitioners to more thoroughly investigate children’s experiences of bullying which are usually overlooked and provide bespoke interventions to deal with their specific issues with bullying. Through engaging in reflective dialogue with pupils and colleagues, the ‘empathetic understanding’ approach can be used to support school practitioners to protect vulnerable groups from bullying, such as working-class males with learning difficulties.

‘Healthy relationships’

The ‘healthy relationships’ strategy focuses on improving the social interactions between pupils, and pupils and school practitioners. Interventions are recommended for schools to embed learning about respectful relationships into the curriculum, support pupils to have a positive outlet if they have negative feelings and resolve conflict between pupils, and pupils and staff peacefully. It can encourage pupils to develop respectful social interactions and challenge normalized practices in school which enable bullying. ‘Healthy relationships’ can be used to help resolve conflicts in the earliest stages before they escalate into severe bullying.

‘Empowering practitioners’

‘Empowering practitioners’ aims to enhance understanding of the complex positioning of school practitioners and strengthen their resources to deal with bullying authoritatively. Recommendations are provided to help school practitioners to enhance their knowledge, skills and support network to deal with bullying effectively.

Outline of Proceeding Chapter

Chapter Two, focuses on helping you understand pupils’ perceptions of bullying and resolve their complex experiences of it. You will learn about the underlying reasons why children engage in bullying and develop effective strategies to deal with it. ‘Empathetic understanding’ is introduced to help you learn more about children’s experiences of bullying in your school and investigate it. My original doctoral research finding is discussed which discovered that none of the children in my study identified themselves as ‘bullies (Nassem 2012, Nassem 2017). To support pupils to realize the effect their maltreatment has on others new interventions such as ‘take responsibility’ are presented. My research finding that pupils felt bullying was commonplace and enmeshed within their everyday experience of school is discussed. The ‘healthy relationships’ strategy is outlined to encourage pupils to develop respectful social interactions with each other and challenge normalized practices which enable bullying.

Chapter Three examines how to empower school practitioners to effectively resolve bullying. The complex positioning of how school practitioners are situated to respond to bullying is considered. The ‘empowering practitioners’ approach is explained which will help you enhance your knowledge and support network to deal authoritatively with bullying. The ‘healthy relationships’ method is outlined to include ways pupils and practitioners can perceive each other more positively and interact more respectfully. The ‘empathetic understanding’ approach is expanded here to encourage pupils and practitioners to enhance their understanding of one another’s position and perspective. Advice on how bullying between pupils and practitioners can be addressed in anti-bullying policies are also provided.

Chapter Four will help you understand systemic bullying and collaborate with colleagues and pupils to combat it. This chapter will discuss the institutional and societal factors inherent in school which contribute to bullying and explain how these problems can be overcome. How the institutional context of school can perpetuate bullying is examined, for example, overt forms of punishment can contribute to bullying escalating, and the restricted voice of pupils is strongly associated with bullying. Societal inequalities inherent in school which are associated with bullying such as social class and gender are also analyzed. This chapter will help you resolve some of the issues of bullying which are associated with social class, intellectual ability and gender. Strategies for schools to challenge inequalities pupils may experience are outlined. This includes how the voice of pupils can be enhanced to resolve bullying and reduce overt forms of punishment through establishing a ‘system of dialogue.’ How ‘mentoring for “bullies”’ can support individuals who are involved in a vicious cycle of bullying to learn how to behave more respectfully is discussed.

Chapter Five provides resources for the professional development of school practitioners to deal with children’s complex cases of bullying based on the author’s research, and anti-bullying strategies. This chapter will be useful for practitioners who wish to share good practice with colleagues and/or provide professional development in how to understand and deal with complex issues of bullying between pupils, teachers and pupils, and systemic bullying. Examples of materials to use in training presentations, case studies and scenarios are included.

Chapter Six presents a case study in a Secondary School of one of my first in-depth projects where I worked with pupils to resolve bullying in their school. The first ‘mentoring for “bullies”’ program which is used for those who persistently engage in bullying to transform their behavior is discussed. A pupil-led anti-bullying campaign was developed for children who had engaged in bullying who wanted to transform their behavior and become positive role-model. Recommendations for schools to draw upon different expertise to reduce overt forms of punishment are provided. Details of the benefits and obstacles that were encountered will be explained. Further recommendations to develop this project are specified towards the end of this chapter. In chapter seven the implementation of a pupil-led approach in a Primary School is discussed where children had a central role in designing and delivering interventions to tackle their experiences of school bullying. This intervention has also been informed through consultations with school practitioners. In chapter eight this pupil-led intervention is evaluated by pupils and school practitioners, and advice is provided of how you can adapt this intervention to the specific issues of bullying in your school. The conclusion in chapter nine draws together the key themes and strategies for dealing with bullying that emerged from the book as a whole. Finally, the appendices include additional resources that have been derived and implemented for you to deal more effectively with bullying such as a presentation to train colleagues; questions to ask children about their experiences of bullying; and examples of sessions you can provide to implement the mentoring and pupil-led anti-bullying program.