ED 4238 Question 3 Bullying the problem

Bullying is a problem in many schools and classes. describe how you would use the Restorative justice model to deal with an incident in class where a student is being pushed, name called and excluded from the group.

"Bullying No Way"

The Definition for Restorative Justice is a broad term which encompasses a growing social movement to institutionalise peaceful approaches to harm, problem solving and violations of legal and human rights.

"The only person whose behaviour we can CONTROL is our own". William Glasser Choice Theory

Restorative justice methods for addressing social problems include the method of shared concern, the no blame approach, restitution, community conferencing and the formal apology.

Restorative justice approaches are designed to use the incident of misbehaviour as an educative opportunity for repairing the harm and fostering more socially responsible relationships and behaviours that take others' perspectives and feelings into account. This occurs through carefully structured opportunities for individuals to understand the impact of their actions, recognise their social responsibilities and make amends to those who have been affected by their actions. The student is assisted and supported to reintegrate, successfully into the school community. The most common form of restorative justice is community conferencing and thats why it is so important to engage the students in their management and decisions affecting their community the Class. For Restorative justice to achieve results there must exist a wider school policy, a culture of care, love, respect where all parties feel they belong. As I said to a child once that was picking on another because of a disability " everyone has a gift and a right to express their gift , we all have something to offer each other even you , at our school we are not like that with each other, it is the reason we call each other by our first names" within 2 hours the two boys were shooting baskets together and within two terms the class nominated the boy who was being pick on as their representative on the school council to represent them. I am not saying my comments changed the culture of a student or the class, is was the culture of the school community,that helped those students make responsible choices and empower their feelings as a group.

The key principles of these methods are:

• Bullying and harassment occur in the context of group behaviour.
• The aim is to develop empathy and concern for others.
• The dynamics that sustain bullying and harassment can be shifted by working with the perpetrators, and often their family and/or peer group.
• A shift in behaviour can be achieved by developing a sense of shared concern for the bullied or harassed persons.
• Punitive measures model and reinforce the abuse of power to meet individual needs, place the target at greater risk of revenge and may send the bullying underground.

Restorative justice approaches require these factors to be in place first:

• the support of the victimised person who needs to have identified that he/she is being bullied and is confident that the approach advocated will work
• preliminary investigation to clearly understand the issues before the process is implemented
• staff guidelines and professional development to build understanding, skills and confidence in using the strategies
• support within the school community for the approach
• agreement that the goal is to solve the problem rather than to interrogate, punish, blame or label individuals
• respectful facilitation of the process by trained people
• follow up monitoring of the agreement.

In dealing with the student who is being pushed, called manes and excluded from the group, firstly is the support of the victim, identify how they feel about whats happening reassure them they are safe and secure and can speak freely. allow the child to get burden of what's been happening out in the open. together we would discuss the options and arrange further meetings.
Next I would take the matter to the class guardian ,and our disciplinary teacher and perhapes the college of teachers. we would meet with the victim, agree with the victim on the process that we feel with assist the student to feel safe and secure .
Next would be a series of meetings modeled on the the no blame theory. Consultation with the teachers who know the peer group well to establish a balanced group consisting of the main perpetrator and supporters, friends of the victimised person, and two assertive peers who have not attempted to prevent the bullying or harassment. Convene a structured meeting of this group (without the targeted student present) to develop shared responsibility without blaming, to elicit suggestions for solving the problem, to encourage shared action and to establish a subsequent meeting (possibly in a week) to discuss progress. (Note: The victimised person does not attend this group meeting.). What happens next is the student feels even more supported because more teachers are involved and the meetings generate feelings of support from class mates. The guardian Teachers and Students discuss and conference ideas that can help the class came together. The teachers continue observation, relationship development and support of the victim and the whole class, monitoring how our students are developing ways to make responsible choices about their communication, actions and needs. this may be done by just shooting baskets or kicking a ball, discussing a movie or an event.

Examples of Restorative methods include :

• No blame approach
• Method of shared concern
• Formal apology
• Community conference
• Restitution.
  

No blame approach

The no blame approach provides teachers with a way of encouraging empathy and dealing with individual bullying or harassment behaviours. The teacher acts both as facilitator and intermediary between the parties. Here is the no blame approach sequence:

1. Meet the victimised person to provide support, explain the proposed process and collect material on the impact of the bullying or harassment.
2. Consult with teachers who know the peer group well to establish a balanced group consisting of the main perpetrator and supporters, friends of the victimised person, and two assertive peers who have not attempted to prevent the bullying or harassment.
3. Convene a structured meeting of this group (without the targeted student present) to develop shared responsibility without blaming, to elicit suggestions for solving the problem, to encourage shared action and to establish a subsequent meeting (possibly in a week) to discuss progress. (Note: The victimised person does not attend this group meeting.)
4. Support the victimised person through daily meetings to check progress.

• Examples

Method of shared concern

This method (developed by Pikas, 1989) enables the trained teacher or counsellor to establish shared concerns and encourage shared solutions to the problem. The method includes initial individual meetings with perpetrators as well as a final meeting of all parties. This is the method of shared concern sequence:

1. Gather preliminary to understand the problem.
2. Meet each of the perpetrators individually to encourage acknowledgment of the situation and to develop constructive responses and a plan to change the behaviour.
3. Meet the person being bullied or harassed.
4. Meet perpetrators individually to review progress of their agreement.
5. Following positive signs of change, hold a meeting of all perpetrators to reinforce the changes made and prepare for the next meeting.
6. Hold a final combined meeting of all involved as a public demonstration that the behaviours have ceased.

Instead of 'bullying the bullies', both of these strategies establish shared concerns and shared solutions to reconcile differences and encourage more equitable behaviour.

The Sheffield Project in the UK was able to achieve a 75% success rate with the method of shared concern. However it was found that multiple strategies are needed for those students who persistently bully others. The strategy has also been used effectively in British, other European and Australian schools.