Strategies to Prevent Bullying in Elementary Schools Essay

Bullying is still in fact a major source of predicaments among many children, adolescents, and young adults; in the cases of schools in particular, “[o]ne out of every four students (22%) report[ed] being bullied during the school year” (US Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics, 2015, ¶ 1). Concomitantly, one must accept the fact that bullying is a constant problem that requires more solicitude and awareness from the general public in order to further aid in its prevention. Nonetheless, studies conducted by Hawkins, Pepler, and Craig (2001) have also revealed that more than half of

Teacher and parent awareness is one of main obstacles in preventing bullying prevention. Teachers and parents do not take bullying as being serious and underestimate the effects it has on children (Cohen, 2008). It is reported that 85% of teachers think they intervene to stop bullying, however only 35% of students feel that teachers do (Cohen, 2008). Many parents and teachers do not have the proper knowledge on what establishes bullying. They see bullying as only being violence and ignore the verbal assaults that are occurring (Cohen, 2008). They do not know the signs to look for and have not been properly trained on how to resolve the issue (Cohen, 2008).

Schools are the most well-known settings for bullying. This is the place where students learn and socialize for most of the day. A school is a place meant to feel safe, not afraid. However, studies have shown us this is not the case. More and more students are reluctant to come to school. Why? Their peers may criticize them and abuse of them both verbally and physically. Bullying is more serious than most think. Many people just think it’s a simple hoax that was taken too far but this simple joke can lead to indelible emotional and physical scar that could hunt students for life eventually lowering their self-esteems and even ruining their lives. Schools and teachers have failed tremendously at stopping this.

Bullying is such a dominant problem in schools that counselors must strive to discover effective strategies to address the issue. What intervention strategies are perceived by the counselors at a large diverse high school to be most effective in response to or in prevention of bullying? What is the

Bullying among school-aged children is regarded as a widespread problem in the United States and there is no one-size-fits-all solution to the problem. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), over one third of students in elementary and middle schools are impacted by bullying (Klein, 2012). Bullying is defined as “unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time” (Klein,2012). Studies show that the consequences of bullying not only include students who are bullied, but the effects extend to those who bully and

Bullying involves an observed or perceived power imbalance and is highly likely to be repeated behavior. A young person can be a perpetrator, a victim, or both (also known as a "bully/victim") (Cite). In order to study bullying in the United States, this paper will provide a thorough definition of bullying, which includes characteristics of bullies and those that are victims of bullying. This paper will also examine

School should be a place where students learn social and emotional skills as well as academics lessons but bullying has become a prominent issue in schools and it’s even occurring online. Bullying can be direct or indirect and it can affect every student in the school. Bullying undermine children’s safety, senses of belonging, feelings of value, and it also hamper their ability to learn. It can also create a climate of fear and disrespect that spreads throughout the school and even extends to the community. Bullying is different from conflict, fights, or disagreements. According to (Boston Public School), Bullying is a form of emotional or physical abuse that has three defining characteristics:

The results from the survey and interviews I conducted demonstrated the difference in perspectives of teachers compared to students. The teachers thought that their school was actively reducing bullying, while respondents to the survey thought their schools were not helping. This means that there is no common ground for bullying, and that could be why bullying is not changing overall. In the survey,

Bullying in the United States has become epidemic, but some schools are resistant to instill anti-bullying programs, because they fear the program will be ineffective. The article, Creating An Anti-Bullying Culture In Secondary Schools: Characterists to Consider When Constructing Appropriate Anti-Bullying Programs, researchers Joseph R. Jones, and Sharon Murphy Augustine address the issue of bullying head on. Research indicates that students who are from a low socioeconomic background, students who are racially diverse, students who have a learning disability, and student’s sexual orientation has the largest effect on bullying rates in the United States (Jones &Augustine, pp. 74-76). In a recent survey, twenty five percent of students reported that they are bullied on a daily basis and that cyber bullying is at an all time high (Jones &Augustine, p. 74). Due to the increased rates of bullying, there is an increase on teen suicide and school shootings. (Jones

Bullying has always been recognized as a normal part of growing up; therefore, most people in the past have not given bullying much thought. Bullying is often thought as “kids being kids” or a “rite of passage,” but it is much more of a problem than just being a kid (Maughan 2). According to the U.S. Deparment of Education, over 13 million students are bullied each year, and over 160,000 students avoid going to school because they are bullied (Maughan 1). Students who feel so threatened by bullying that they do not want to go to school demonstrates just how much bullying can change a child’s life. Bullying is a serious problem, and a child’s life could be dramatically changed by being terrorized at school. (Maughan, 1-2)

The information was then evaluated by experts, reliability and validity were both determined. From the results, it was determined that students want to see teachers take an active role in eliminating bullying behavior from the classrooms and the students feel that it is more helpful if teachers teach kids strategies on how to stop bullies from targeting them as well as, communication involving both parents of the bullies and victims (Crothers et al, 2006). Rigby's (2008) study found, in a later study, several ways to empower children in how to deal with bullies when the bully targets them. In a similar study, more recently, Espelage, Polin and Low (2014) had found that teachers' are more likely to intervene in a bullying situation when the student reported the bullying incidence to them (Espelage, Polin, & Low, 2014). In other words, students want to see teachers proactive in dealing with bullying, students also want to be empowered through training to deal with the bully, and they strongly find it helpful that some form of contact is made to the parents of the bully and their own

One of every five students is bullied each year (Bullying Basics,2017). Knowing that the problem of bullying is a large possibility in their classrooms, administrators’ and teachers’ main goal must be to offer a safe classroom and a positive, supportive learning environment to their students. If they work together to reach this goal, bullying can be

Often times in the human services career field or any other career field, when it comes to finding the reasoning behind an issue and or a prevention and intervention plan for major issues, such as bullying, that are affecting individuals and the society, it is important that theoretical frameworks are used. According to the 2010 statistics, with bullying becoming a rapidly growing issue and concern affecting both youth and adults, the crime of bullying will not be going away anytime soon. Bullying is performed in several different forms ranging from physically, verbally, and even cyber within our school systems, work places, and on college/ university campuses. Which in turns causes both short-term and long-term effects; there are about 160,000 children that miss school every day out of fear of being bullied (Info On Preventing Bullying, Harassment, Online/Social Bullying, and School Bullies, 2013). However, in the efforts to intervene and prevent bullying there are numerous amounts of theoretical frameworks that could be used.

School bullying and bullying as a whole has become a growing concern. The need for more intervention is more recognized, as incidents of bullying and inappropriate acts towards others occur in places outside of the classroom. This literature takes a closer look at bullying in schools. Olwesus (2013) states “the field of bullying research is to some extent plagued by problems, disagreements, and unresolved issues” (p.752). Whether if anyone will agree on the root of bullying, the fact remains that bullying has to be examined at its very core to remedy the matter before it becomes a bigger concern. There is a dire need for intervention based programs to be set in place to address the fact the act of bullying has lasting effects on the bully and the victim. When intervention programs are put into place to address bullying, the act of bullying decreases due to the gained understanding of the effects.

It is only in the recent years that attention has turned toward the widespread problem of bullying, especially in schools, and that bullying is identified as a serious problem that merits intervention and research (Coy). Therefore, relatively little effort has been made to overcome or address the problem, which still remains a widespread social vice. This paper purports to illustrate how, despite efforts made to rectify the situation, bullying still remains rampant, and is getting worse.