Anti-Bullying:
THE NO BLAME APPROACH
When bullying has been observed or reported then the following steps can be taken:
Step one: - Interview
with the victim.
When the teacher finds out that bullying has
happened she starts by talking to the victim about his feelings. She
does not question him about the incidents but she does need to know
who was involved.Step two: – convene
a meeting with the people involved.
The teacher arranges to meet with the group of
pupils involved. This will include some bystanders or colluders who
joined in but did not initiate any bullying. We find that a group of
six to eight young people works well.
Step three: – explain the problem.
She tells them about the way the victim is
feeling and might use a poem, a piece of writing or a drawing to
emphasise his distress. At no time does she discuss the details of
the indents or allocate blame to the group.
Step four: – share responsibility.
The teacher does not attribute blame but states
that she knows that the group are responsible and can do something
about it.Step five: – ask the group
for their ideas.
Each member of the group is encouraged to suggest
a way in which the victim could be helped to feel happier. The
teacher gives some positive responses but she does not go on to
extract a promise of improved behaviour.
Step six: – leave it up to them.
The teacher ends the meeting by passing over the
responsibility to the group to solve the problem. She arranges to
meet with them again to see how things are going.
Step seven: – meet them again.
About a week later the teacher discusses with
each student, including the victim, how things have been going. This
allows the teacher to monitor the bullying and keeps the young
people involved in the process.