INTRODUCTION

School bullying is a serious issue across multiple countries. Bulling is observed in several sections of society across gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status. Bullying in schools is prevalent in every grade. Bullying is considered as the systemic abuse which is done with the intension to put the victim in the distress. A survey conducted among 40 counties has found that Australian primary schools were having the highest reported incidence of bullying in the world (CESE., 2017). Several factors describe the risk of a child developing bully or victim characteristics. Children exhibiting bully nature have the influence of their parents and the family environment resulting in their reflected behavior. This essay aims at discussing the key charterers of bully and victims with evident signs of the bullying at schools. The essay also discusses the appropriate interventions required to empower all children to address bullying.

How is bullying evident in the school context?

 Bullying can be seen in schools as a distinct interpersonal conflict. This can be observed as the extreme form of peer conflict or teasing which can cause both physical and psychosocial harm to the victim. The act of bullying can be understood in the school scenario as the form of physical fighting, name-calling, social exclusion, spreading rumors, gossips and disturbing messages (Thomas et al., 2017). It can be seen also in form encounters through words, written texts, notes, digital media, social media which is a form of cyberbullying. Cyberbullying involves using technology such as phones and internet to harass the victim. This may include mean messages use, email, hurtful pictures circulation or sexting (Jadambaa et al., 2019). The internet and mobile phones are fast becoming one of the major tools of bullying which might require different interventional steps than conventional physical bullying occurring in the school premises. In Australia, almost 10-20 % of children or young adults have been cyberbullied (Jadambaa et al., 2019). Bullying is also related to the negative school climate. Schools that are usually perceived by the students as unpleasant, unfair and unwelcoming have higher chances of bullying incidences in school. 

Describe the bully victim - profile

Being a victim is related to the social vulnerabilities which include lower social status, peer avoidance, having varied orientations, appearance and marginalization. Victims are the one who are having certain mental problems like low self-esteem and anxiety (Kozasa, et al., 2017). They can have multiple interpersonal difficulties which include peer rejection, no friends, lower or no peer acceptance. Victim of social bullying usually has a low prosocial profile. Victim is shy and anxious due to physical debility or weakness. They are usually disked by their peers. Children who are having an insecure personality and inhibits passive, submissive ad anxious attitude are bullied more in schools. The victims are often perceived as the different individuals, children with special needs or learning difficulties are often bullied. They might have different culture, ethnicity religious belief or race. Victim are the one who is different from the crowd in school either physically or mentally (Shetgiri, 2013). 

They might have a physical or mental disorder which makes them stand out in the crowd. Sometimes bullied child is smart, intelligent or have special talent than the rest of the kids. Many researchers have also found that the victim of bullying is different in physical appearance than their counterparts in the school kids who are believed to be larger, taller, smaller or obese from the standard appearance of children in school. There might be several other visible physical appearances in the profile. The kid could wear a glass, braces or hearing aid. It is also observed that children with overprotective, overfriendly parents are frequently bullied. Victims are already having social vulnerabilities hence prefer hiding the act of bully from the authorities or teachers in fear of bully taking the revenge back. Low self-esteem, negative perception from peers and lower social support are some of the predictors of victimizations (Markkanen, Välimaa & Kannas, 2019).

Describe the bully- profile 

Bullies are described as having an aggressive personality pattern. They have attitude and cognitions which reflects aggression and lack of empathy. Bullies may have a lack of social skills, deficiencies in social information processing and other issues related to adjustments. The kids who bully in the school are known to have a current ongoing or history of abuse or have experienced a traumatic event. These kids have anger management issues and might get aggressive and troubled easily, they believe in the philosophy of controlling rather than leading (Leiner et al., 2014). Bullies are prone to get annoyed, triggered and frustrated easily. They lack any feeling or sympathy towards others or their needs and desires. Bullies usually tend to blame the victim for being bullied. For example, a bully will justify by saying “if he did not look so stupid, I would have not punched him.” 

They are the one who usually enjoys violence or consider it positively. For some bullies, the act of bully is a form of entertainment.  Physically these children who bully others in school are stronger, taller, and perceived famous as compared to others in their surroundings for amongst peers. Bullies have little respect for people around them, they usually do not follow rules, care lesser about teachers and do not believe in authorities. Sometimes bullying may be the result of underlying medical issues like anxiety or behavior disorders (Leiner et al., 2014). Children who bully are likely to have a family environment which has lesser cohesion, expressiveness, control, organization and social orientations. Bullying is destructive and persistent. In some cases, bullying in school is subtle to get unnoticed by the teachers (Koche et al., 2015).

Explain the parental influences that contribute to bullying behavior

The family is the eminent social system in which a child interacts and grows. Parenting approaches, quality of relationships and family functioning play a crucial role in the likelihood of a child bullying in school. Children learn from the observation and role modelling. Multiple factors place the child at the risk of bullying others in the schools. Researchers have shown that family and parents play a major role in developing characteristics among children who bully in comparisons to others who are non-bullying. Lack of parent warmth and involvement have been known to predispose a child toward being a bully due to lack of attention they receive from the parents (Rajendran, Kruszewski & Halperin, 2016). Parents who are apathetic or takes little or no interest on their child's activity can influence the child. Lack of parental surveillance and monitoring and poor child-parent communication is another factor responsible for bullying tendency. Involvement of parents in the academic activities is related to the lower level of aggression in children (Murphy, Laible & Augustine, 2017).

 If parents exhibit hateful or anger behavior toward them and child perceive that parents hold a negative attitude towards him the tendency for bullying increases. Children who have parents continuously rejecting their needs are prone to exhibit antisocial behavior. Lack of affection, care, sensitivity and support from patents increase the tendency for the bully. Bully children perceive their family less concerned and less connected (Ingram et al., 2020). 

Factors like parent’s stress, parent’s divorce and maltreatment increase the aggression in children. Children living in an environment where parents exhibit violent behavior either toward each or them displays greater aggressive and violent bullying behavior. The use of physical corporeal punishment from parents and psychosocial control over child especially boys are known to trigger the bully behavior. Exposure of domestic violence or child abuse within the family is also associated with the increased risk of children bullying their peers (Cadely, Mrug, & Windle,2019).

Identify and describe the intervention strategies required to empower all children to address bullying

In the case of school bullying, the teachers and parents are the ones who play an important role. They should notice the early signs including behavioral change, lack of concentration, low self-esteem etc. Through the analysis of the data extracted from multiple studies researchers advocate developing and adopting interventional programs which help to mitigate bullying and its harmful effect through substantial education (Rose et al., 2015). The interventional program should promote pro-social behavior where the key areas of focus for the school is to reduce the incidences of bullying. The interventions can be done at four levels of interaction of bully and victim. This includes school climate, gender and sexuality, peers and cyberspace (Modecki et al., 2014 p. 602). Anti-bullying interventional programs adopted by schools should take a holistic whole school approach.

 It should also provide support and professional development of the teachers to maintain the positive school climate. The program must have educational content that supports the students to develop social and emotional competencies and also ways to respond to the bullying behavior (Ayers et al., 2014). The interventional program should be thoroughly evaluated and monitored. The strategies for counteracting over bullying can be preventive and responsive. The preventive strategy aims at stopping the incidence of bully occurring in the school whereas the responsive strategy deals with steps once the bully has occurred in the school premises (Espelage et al., 2015).

Interventional strategies

Promoting bully reporting culture:

Promoting culture of bully reporting is crucial in preventing bullying behavior in the school. However convincing students to report the bullying incidence is a challenge for the school's authority or teachers (Rigby, 2017).  Developing a mechanism for reporting bully is also crucial in tracking the seriousness of the act by the authorities and policy makers. This should include multiple reporting system with one centralised recording system in the school that are based on no stigmatisation, non-exposing feature and identifying the student’s vulnerabilities so that they can get additional support from peers and teachers.

Anti-bully content display

Inclusion of anti-bullying content in the classrooms allow students to learn and get educated regarding the social and emotional competencies and ways to respond to bully. In multiple studies this strategy is known to have a positive effect (Ng, Chua, & Shorey, 2020). The teachers and students have found this strategy useful in stopping bullying. This can be done through showcasing content appropriate to age which includes literature, audio-visuals and videos, play dramas and role plays. Other activities like debate and music fest, workshops, group work and games can be organised to create awareness. This approach should be considered as the part of multidimensional framework to prevent bullying (Cantone et al., 2015).

Teacher and professional development

Providing effective professional support and development for teachers and school staff can be effective anti-bullying strategy. A bully training among teachers can significantly affect the way of teacher’s response toward bullying. This strategy also enables the school staff to enhance the capabilities and competencies of staff for implementing other interventions. Training also allow teachers and staff to distinguish between the act of conflict and pure bullying which might look similar superficially (De Luca, Nocentini & Menesini.,2019).

Shared concern/ pikas method

This strategy is used by many countries including Spain, Sweden, England and Australia is a non-punitive approach to seek help for the group of students involved in bullying and empower students to negotiate a solution through multiple interviews and series of meetings (Rigby,2017).

Construct a diagram using Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System Theory that links your previous writing. It should be A4 Portrait size and may be drawn in freehand

CONCLUSION

Bullying in school premises is a known significant problem worldwide and is considered as one of the commonest antisocial behaviour children in schools. Bullying has been identified to be associated with prolonged negative outcomes and reported emotional distress experienced by the victim. Appropriate methods of interventions are needed to prevent and address the act of bully. These interventions should be reasonable, holistic and recognised to be widely accepted and applied. Researches have indicated bullying as a difficult issue to address at the school premises but if effectively dealt with suitable intervention it can reduce the incidences and prevalence with successful reduction in bullying behaviour.