Abstract
Bullying has received a great deal of attention in the
schools, in part due to the increased occurrence and visibility of school shootings
since the 1990s. This presentation will discuss an ongoing research project to
examine college students’ perceptions of how their high schools responded to
bullying and school violence. Emphasis will be placed on perceived effectiveness
of school prevention, intervention, and enforcement.
Are Current School
Policies Effective?
Policies Effective?
Kenneth Trump says anti-bullying legislation has created a
false sense of hope and resolution of a complex problem. The laws require
schools to have anti-bullying policies, but school policies already address
those behaviors which would constitute bullying: Harassment, intimidation,
extortion, assaults, threats, menacing, sexual assaults, etc. The anti-bullying
laws are typically unfunded mandates requiring educators to spend more time
doing paperwork to say they have anti-bullying practices instead of being in
the hallways and cafeterias preventing bullying.
Predicting Teacher
Interventions in Bullying Situations
Emerging evidence indicates that individual teacher
responses to bullying may be an important area to be included in investigations
of student’s bullying and victimization experiences. There is a great deal of
variability among teachers in terms of their attitudes toward and perceptions
of bullying
PA Bullying Law
HOUSE BILL No. 1067 Session of 2007
SECTION 1. SECTION 111(B) AND (C.1) OF THE ACT OF
MARCH 10, 1949 (P.L.30, NO.14), KNOWN AS THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CODE OF 1949,
AMENDED DECEMBER 19, 1990 (P.L.1362, NO.211) AND JULY 20, 2007…
(C) IN ADDITION TO THE POWERS AND DUTIES SET FORTH UNDER SUBSECTION
(A), THE OFFICE IS AUTHORIZED TO MAKE TARGETED GRANTS TO SCHOOLS TO FUND
PROGRAMS WHICH ADDRESS SCHOOL VIOLENCE, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
THE FOLLOWING PROGRAMS:
(1) CONFLICT RESOLUTION OR DISPUTE MANAGEMENT.
(2) PEER HELPERS PROGRAMS.
(3) RISK ASSESSMENT, SAFETY-RELATED OR VIOLENCE
PREVENTION CURRICULA.
(4) CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT.
(5) STUDENT CODES OF CONDUCT.
(6) TRAINING TO UNDERTAKE A DISTRICTWIDE ASSESSMENT OF
RISK FACTORS THAT INCREASE THE LIKELIHOOD OF PROBLEM BEHAVIORS
AMONG STUDENTS.
(7) DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF RESEARCH-BASED
VIOLENCE PREVENTION PROGRAMS THAT ADDRESS RISK FACTORS TO REDUCE
INCIDENTS OF PROBLEM BEHAVIORS AMONG STUDENTS INCLUDING, BUT
NOT LIMITED TO, BULLYING.
(8) COMPREHENSIVE, DISTRICTWIDE SCHOOL SAFETY AND
VIOLENCE PREVENTION PLANS.
(9) SECURITY PLANNING, PURCHASE OF SECURITY-RELATED
TECHNOLOGY
(10) INSTITUTION OF STUDENT, STAFF AND VISITOR
IDENTIFICATION SYSTEMS.
(11) ESTABLISHMENT OR ENHANCEMENT OF SCHOOL
SECURITY PERSONNEL
(12) PROVISION OF SPECIALIZED STAFF AND STUDENT
TRAINING PROGRAMS
(13) ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION PROGRAMS PROVIDED FOR IN
ARTICLE XIX-C.
(14) COUNSELING SERVICES FOR STUDENTS ENROLLED IN
ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION PROGRAMS.
Teacher’s
Understanding of Bullying
Such factors include individual characteristics, social
interactions, and cultural and ecological conditions. It follows, according to
this ecological systemic framework, that bullying does not reside solely with
the child who bullies or who is victimized. Rather, bullying unfolds in the
social context of the peer group, the classroom, the school, the family and the
larger community. A comprehensive framework therefore, becomes essential to
investigate the various elements influencing bullying.
It was found that most of the teachers considered physical
assaults and threats to be bullying; however, a significant proportion did not
view behaviors such as exclusion or name-calling bullying.
There had been large differences between one study in which
the teachers had thought they responded to bulling 85% of the time, but when
children were asked this same question they answered that only 35%percent of
the time they felt the teachers handled it and in a great deal of circumstance,
the teachers were the bullies
My Hypothesis
My hypothesis is that the current anti-bullying and
anti-violence programs in schools are not enough to effectively deal with what
students are actually going through in regard to bullying and violence. There
needs to be more done in regard to protecting our children.
My Study
In this study I surveyed 64 college students in order to
gain information on their feelings concerning their past experiences with
bullying during their time in high school and anti-bullying policies
implemented by their schools. Results are expected to enhance the
understanding of the perceived effectiveness of school anti-bullying programs
and procedures.
Methodology
Purpose/Problem to be investigated: Are current
anti-bullying/anti-violence laws truly effective in their approaches and
punishments of the offender to create safer schools.
Experimental Design: In the implementation of the surveys
that will be given to the students of Gwynedd, I hope to gain an insight into
how the student felt bullying/violence was dealt with in their high school and
did the students think it was an appropriate measure.
Subject Recruitment: By asking professors of Gwynedd to
allow me access into their classroom for a specific time period to ask for
student volunteers to participate in my study.
Teachers Examples
New Jersey Teacher Caught Bullying Special Needs Student
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfOqA6PtRaw
Teachers caught on tape bullying special-needs girl Parents
sent her to school wearing hidden recording device: ‘We were shocked’
What I found
During my study and in compiling my surveys I truly thought
I would learn more about what individuals had thought about bullying. But what
I had found out primarily was that the numbers were scattered and the same
statements were being repeated, mainly that bullying is a big issue and they
feel as though it will never go away and they do not know how it could.
What I Think
If we look at bullying as a problem just like that of any
other unwanted issue, than I think it would be much easier to deal with. Just
as Kenneth Trump had said, we need to remove all of the unnecessary paperwork
that keeps these teachers from doing the job that they were hired to do, that
was to take care of our children, not to write in a piece of paper how they
plan on doing it.
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