Overall reported helpfulness of peer actions
Spent time with me
2.3
Talked to me
2.1
Helped me get away
1.8
Gave me advice
1.7
Called me
1.5
Listened to me
1.5
Helped me tell
1.3
Distracted them
1.1
Told an adult
0.9
Confronted them
0.6
Asked them to stop
0.6
Ignored it
0.2
Made fun of me
0.2
Blamed me
0.2
Davis, S. & Nixon, C. (2010). The Youth Voice Project. Retrieved on 22
September 2010 from http://www.youthvoiceproject.com/YVPMarch2010.pdf
One possible approach
High
Harm
Low
Harm
Harm Minimisation – steps to move young
people in the right direction.
Cyber bullying helpful actions
Bullying via your mobile phone
Question – Do the messages break any laws?
Yes – contact the Police
No – the below suggestions may help
• download and print the messages, and / or
• take a digital photo of the message, including details regarding the
sender
Take Note:
Messages need to fulfill at least one of the following criteria before service
provider will take action.
•Three or more unwelcome calls over a 48 to 120 hour period
•Unwelcome calls made at consistent and/or regular intervals (e.g., 2am
every Wednesday)
•Ten or more unwelcome calls over a 24 hour period
Cyber bullying helpful actions
Bullying via the internet
1. Save the evidence
2. If the content is illegal contact the Police
3. Inappropriate content, which falls into the categories below, may be
reported to the ACMA (Broadcasting Services Act 1992):
Content classified as RC or X 18+ (includes child pornography, violence or
drug use) OR Content classified R 18+ or MA 15+ and not subject to a
restricted access system
Note: ACMA does not investigate complaints about content
contained in email, instant messages, SMS or MMS, unless it is
provided as part of an adult chat service, or a service that
specialises in the provision of prohibited or potentially prohibited
content. Additionally defamatory content is not investigated.
4. Report through the website reporting function (ie. in Facebook etc)
The move to online counseling
Services available include: telephone, email, and
web (real-time) counselling.
The online medium attracts 93% of young people
wanting counseling and support
Telephone supports accounts for only 47% of all
sessions
Counsellors spent an average of:
22 minutes in telephone counselling sessions
57 minutes in web counselling sessions
Kids Helpline (2010). Kids Helpline 2009 Overview. Retrieved on 22
September 2010 from http://www.kidshelp.com.au/upload/22862.pdf
Are your students disconnecting?
More than 56,000 of the 438 474 young people who called Kids
disconnected during the mandatory privacy wait message, this
represents almost 13% of all callers.
Does your school:
• Ask students how they want to make contact with you?
• Provide safe places for young people to access support?
• Know if local public phones are in good working order?
• Promote a variety of support avenues?
• Offer a mobile phone number for students to text to should
they wish to report a concern?
• Have an online reporting function within the school portal?
Kids Helpline (2010). Kids Helpline 2009 Overview. Retrieved on 22
September 2010 from http://www.kidshelp.com.au/upload/22862.pdf
Possible first steps…
Strong leadership/ethos
Clarity among school community about the school’s
stance and action on this issue
Survey
Assess level/type, age groups etc of cyber bullying at
home and at school e.g. focus groups, class meetings,
surveys
Focus on transitions especially to high school
Collaborate with other schools to provide consistent cyber
bullying prevention information eg similar cyber policies
Other possible school responses
School expected behaviour policies
- Behaviours associated with cyber bullying / define
- Multiple reporting methods, e.g. online or via email
- Consequences for behaviour occurring outside the
school if has adverse effect on student safety and
wellbeing at school
- Establish a committee involving students
- Part of school induction, presented in lay terms
Other possible school responses
• Family education, e.g. family
evenings, newsletters
– Conducted by students
– Information about how to prevent,
detect and intervene
– Encourage families to discuss
internet and adverse
consequences e.g. school policy
consequences; legal issues; social
issues.
– School wide family agreement
Other possible school responses
Information and communicative technology
(ICT) use policy addressing
– Access to inappropriate material
– Unacceptable communication and communication
safety
– Unlawful and inappropriate activities
– Protection of student personal information
– Reporting of cyber bullying
– Student / family agreement
Year 8
Cyber Friendly Schools curriculum
Module One: What’s This All About?
Module Two: In the Know: The Stats on Bullying
Module Three: Flaming: Just Jokes
Module Four: Your Voice Your Choice
Module Five: Being a Good Mate (BFF)
Module Six: Playing Judge and Jury
Module Seven: In or Out
Module Eight: Reflection
Year 9
Cyber Friendly Schools curriculum
Module One: My Online Status
Module Two: Connect, Extend, Challenge
Module Three: Helping me, helping you
Module Four: Cyberships (managing relationships)
Module Five: Reality bites
Module Six: Loading plz wait
Module Seven: Standing by
Module Eight: Who me? Couldn’t be…
Other possible school responses
Encourage students to report bullying
- Teachers respond positively and consistently to
reports
- Variety of methods available including
online/email methods to report bullying
- Teachers and parents skilled such that
students/children believe they can help
Evidence-based Approach
The
Screening
Tool
1.
Building capacity for action – committed
leadership and organisational support
2.
Proactive policies, plans and practices to
prevent and manage bullying behaviours
3.
Supportive school culture
4.
Staff, student and family key
understandings and competencies
5.
Protective physical environment
6.
Collaborative school-family-community
partnerships
Whole School Indicators
to reduce bullying
1. Building capacity for action
•
•
•
•
Committed leadership
Resource mobilisation (staff, time, funding, materials)
Organisational support
Compatible school actions with school community
needs
Whole School Indicators
to reduce bullying
2. Proactive policies, plans and procedures
•
•
•
•
Proactive policy development and implementation
Positive behaviour management approaches
Integrated approach to orientation and transition
Targeted student and family support
Whole School Indicators
to reduce bullying
3. Supportive school culture
•
•
•
Effective classroom management
Positive whole school ethos
Positive peer group influence
Whole School Indicators to
reduce bullying
4. Staff, student and family key understandings and
competencies
•
•
•
Staff professional learning
Explicit student learning through the curriculum
Effective parent communication
Whole School Indicators
to reduce bullying
5. Protective physical environment
•
•
•
Physical attributes of the school
Supportive school facilities and activities
Competent student supervision
Whole School Indicators to
reduce bullying
6. Collaborative school-family-community partnerships
•
•
Strengthening family links
Working collaboratively with the wider community and
health, education and community service providers
The 7 Step Plan
Members of the whole school community witnesses or is involved in bullying
Step 1.
Identify
There is common understanding as to what bullying is and
understanding about the range of bullying behaviours so that staff,
students, parents and school community members can identify
bullying incidents
Step 2.
Report
There are clear procedures and a variety of methods for staff,
students, parents and school community members to report bullying
behaviour
School Staff or Case Management Team
Step 3.
Assess
Individual incidents are assessed for the severity and impact of the
situation to determine what level of intervention is required.
Step 4.
Record
There are clear procedures to record bullying behaviour through a
whole school data base of student behaviours
Step.5
Inform
Relevant staff, student services and parents are contacted and sent
information from the Incident Report Form regarding the bullying
incident and subsequent actions
Step 6.
Step 7.
Resolve
All students directly engaged in the bullying situation: the bullied
students, the students engaging in bullying and the bystanders to the
bullying situation are involved in the resolution response.
Monitor
There is monitoring of the effectiveness of a response strategy after
each incident and follow up session with those involved that are
recorded and tracked as part of the school data base.
TAFN... that’s all for now ;-)
k.hadwen@ecu.edu.au