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TITLE OF GOOD PRACTICE:

Bullying Prevention for Schools

KEYWORDS:

Step-by Step Guide to implementing a successful anti-bullying program.

GOOD PRACTICE TYPOLOGY:

Step by Step by Step Anti-bullying Guide

TARGET GROUPS:

Head Teachers, teachers, all school Support Staff, parents

WORKING GROUP COORDINATING THE INITIATIVE:

Allan L. Beane, PH.D.

COUNTRY WHERE IT TOOK PLACE:

USA

LANGUAGE OF THE REVIEW:

English

DEFINITION OF TARGET GROUP:

Parents, Policy Makers, Teachers, School Directors.

DESCRIPTION OF THE GOOD PRACTICE:

This Good Practice is in fact a step by step guide on how to implement a 'Bully Free Program' in schools. The program includes not only policies and procedures but also prevention and intervetion strategies that are administrative and teacher centred as well as curriculum related. The guide comes in the form of a book writen by Allan L Beane PHD called 'Bullying Prevention for Schools', an internationally recognised expert and author on the subject of bullying with more than 34 years experience in education.

The program consists of 19 steps which cover everything in great detail from 'Step 1 - Establish and Train the Bully Free program Team and Develop the Program Time Line' (including how to select team members) to Step 19 'Celebrate success and plan for next year'!

In between Dr Beane covers how to:

1) Implement Training for school personnel and colunteers and
awareness sessions for students, parents and the community

2) Establish policies, rules, behavioural expectations, discipline
rubrics, and response plans

3) Prepare intervention and prevention strategies

4) Develop a plan to actively include, involve and empower
students, parents and the community

Also provided are checklists for each step to track progress and extensive appendices with many handouts and fact sheets (e.g. How are boys and girls different in their bullying), model survey questionnaires for all age groups, a sample anti-bullying policy, bully free discipline rubricsStatement sheets for victims, the accused, witnesses etc.

RESULTS:

Since 1999, teachers and other professionals have reported the educational effectiveness of materials included in the Bully Free Program. The effectiveness of the Bully Free Program has been reported in School Violence and Primary Prevention (Miller, 2008). Visit www.bullyfree.com for an example of the effectiveness data.

Rick Spurling (2006) tested the effectiveness of the Bully Free Program in five western North Carolina middle schools (grades 5 to 8). Fifty-four participants (administrators, teachers, and parents) were involved in this study with in-depth interviews. The following summary of his findings in the five schools reflects the variety of areas that can be affected by the Bully Free Program:

•Improved the dynamics of interpersonal relationships in the school community (student-student, student-teacher, teacher-teacher, parent-teacher, parent-parent, and school-community)
•Improved lines of communication among all stakeholders
•Significantly decreased incidences of aggressive and violent behavior
•Improved school attendance
•Improved state test scores
•Created trust among personnel working on the program
•Increased interactions between teachers and students during non-class times
•Increased awareness of the need for and importance of adults modeling positive interactions, as well as made adults more conscious of their behavior • Increased students’ understanding of their role in preventing and stopping bullying
•Increased the comfort level and confidence of personnel in their ability to deal with bullying
•Dramatically decreased fighting among boys
•Changed how discipline was administered
•Increased a sense of security
•Increased school attendance and involvement of students in after-school events
•Dramatic decrease in vandalism

The program was also tested on a two-year period in a middle school with the following results:

Attendance:
•Baseline data - 90.8%
•After First Year - 97.8%
•After Second Year - 95.7

Students who feel bullies exist at the school:
•Baseline data - 74.6%
•After First Year - 38.9%
•After Second Year - 49.7%

Students who have been bullied in school:
•Baseline data - 44.8%
•After First Year - 20.2%
•After Second Year - 24.67%

Students who believe they have avenues to report bullying at shcool:
•Baseline data - 24.6%
•After First Year - 78.6%
•After Second Year - 86.7%

INDICATORS:

Definition of bullying or cyberbullying, Detection protocol, Intervention protocol, Parent training/meetings, Playground supervision, Disciplinary methods, Classroom management, Teacher training, Classroom rules, Whole-school anti-bullying policy, School conferences, Information for parents, Cooperative group work, Peer support.

EVALUATION:

Our evaluation is that this is a very comprehensive and successful anti-bullying program. The author of the book on which this review is based goes to great lengths to cover every aspect of an anti-bullying program and providing a wealth of clear resources for use in all schools.

The program gives not only a framework, policies, and procedures but also gives proactive prevention strategies and intervention strategies that are administrative, teacher centered, student centered, and parent centered, as well as an age-appropriate curriculum (lesson plans, materials, and resources for each grade level) with an appropriate scope and sequence. This eliminates the need for schools to take the time to determine what must be taught at each grade level.

Some of the program is designed specifically for children who are bullied and children who bully others, while other strategies are designed for all students in a school. Parents, law enforcement officers, and community representatives who also play a role in the program. System-wide, school-wide, classroom, and individual components interrelate well throughout the program.

Our only criticism is that we have been unable to identify any European countries of individual European schools which have adopted / tested the program. pages

COMMENT:

Further resources and information is available from the bullyfree web site:

www.bullyfree.com

REFERENCES TO OTHER EVALUATION:

Other evaluations come in the form of testimonials on the web site such as:

'I recommend this book and the Bully Free Program without reservation. District administrators, school principals, counselors and teachers will find this informative and resource packed book extremely helpful in develeoping a school or district wide anti-bullying program' - Cathy Barnard, principal, Anchorage Public School, Anchorage, Kentucky

'This book is the most complete and comprehensive step-by-step guide for schools to use to implement an anti-bullying program. It provides administrators, teachers, parents and students with a tremendous bank of clear and practical strategies, activities and resources for working together to identify, prevent and stop bullying' - Sharon Morgan, co-ordinator of staff and professional development, Constellation Schools, Parma, Ohio

NAME OF COMPILER:

Roger Murfin

NAME OF INSTITUTION:

Wilsthorpe Community School

ROLE:

Business Manager

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