How to fight bullying at school - types and prevention of school bullying

It is impossible to imagine a person’s life in society without problematic situations. In recent years, the media have increasingly talked about forms of bullying such as bullying and mobbing. Despite the fact that they have existed for quite a long time, this problem was given wide publicity relatively recently.

To successfully combat any manifestations of bullying, you need to understand in what cases it occurs, who most often becomes its victim, and what actions need to be taken if necessary. Our article will help you figure this out.

What is bullying at school

In modern days, the concept of “bullying” has become widely known. In this age of permissive parenting, many people have lost the ability to control their children. If a couple of decades ago the parent and class teacher at school had control over the child, now children are protected by government organizations, where the child can independently appeal with a complaint about cruel treatment by an adult. This has given rise to permissiveness among some difficult children who allow themselves to insult their classmates, which is why many parents have thought about the concept of bullying at school and how to combat this phenomenon.

The word bullying itself comes from the English bully, meaning hooligans and bullies. Nowadays, in a school, in a particular class, there is a certain leader, an authority. Other “brave” guys gather around him, and they all take up arms against the victim. The latter is a modest student who is distinguished by his appearance, social status, and the presence of complexes, in which the “leader” and his minions find a reason for cruel jokes, provocations, humiliation, and often assault.

It is noteworthy that the victim is afraid of once again being in the sight of the leader, trying to hide the fact of bullying from teachers and parents, even if his money is taken away, his things are stolen, and he is beaten. It is often easier for a victim of bullying to lie than to admit that he is being bullied. As children, especially those experiencing adolescence, leaders and victims of bullying are not able to fully understand the consequences that bullying can lead to. Experience tells of cases where victims of bullying from classmates decided to either commit suicide or kill the offender.

The child prefers to survive the bullying himself rather than confess to his parents

Bullying, mobbing, trolling: one for all - all for one?

Olga Panfilova | May 16, 2019

Social reporter

Bullying, mobbing, trolling... After reading this simple “series”, at first I don’t understand what it’s about. Then awareness comes. All this is bullying in different forms, under different “masks”. I know firsthand. In elementary school, I was bullied too - that was the case. Now it’s in the past, but the memories of those years still make me feel uneasy...

When you are being hunted, you feel like a hunted animal with a pack of hunting dogs running after it. Scary? Certainly. One against many, individual against group - these are very unequal forces. Those who bully are a cruel, inhumane crowd, the one being bullied is a victim, one for all.

Or is it not? What if we simply don’t see people who want to help the downtrodden, or don’t feel that the “pack” is primarily its leaders? Then, perhaps, the established point of view that bullying is “one against all and all against one” will be called into question.

Films and books teach us from childhood how to relate to the “strong” who offend the “weak” and destroy his human dignity. The main thing is to forgive, to be “smarter” than your enemies. And how nice it is for some “victims” to feel like romantic heroes, misunderstood by everyone, but undefeated in their souls! For example, imagine yourself in the role of Lena Bessoltseva from the story by V. Zheleznikov and the film of the same name by R. Bykov. This story is an example of classic mobbing. The class rallied around the innocent new girl, simply because she is not so good-natured, unlike the “kids from the cage.” Usually the reader pays attention only to this side of the conflict between the girl and her classmates. At the same time, we forget that the situation should have been influenced from the very beginning, but, unfortunately, “external” forces—adults—did not have the slightest influence. Neither the children's class teacher Margarita Ivanovna, nor the mother of one of the sixth-graders, nor Lena's grandfather Nikolai Nikolaevich for a long time noticed what drama was happening before their eyes. Because of this inattention, the main character was eventually left alone with her offenders, and everything that happened that fall became a deep emotional trauma for her.

And if Lena Bessoltseva had not been so kind, capable of forgiving people a lot - what then? Would she become a “lone fighter” in opposition with gestures to a collective, always ready to humiliate the victims? After all, many modern teenagers, faced with bullying, mobbing and trolling, decide that cruelty can only be responded to with greater cruelty. This began after the mass shooting of teachers and students at the American Columbine School. According to one version, in 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold decided in this way to take revenge on their classmates and acquaintances for bullying and humiliation. The young people became famous, and they immediately found “followers”, those who also did not see any way to resolve the conflict other than violence. And not only in the United States, but throughout the world, “bloody revenge” in schools is not uncommon. So, in 2021, in the town of Ivanteevka near Moscow, Mikhail Pivnev, a boy from a prosperous family, scattered smoke bombs in a computer science classroom, ordered the children to sit on the floor and shot at the teacher with the words: “I came to die!” It was a miracle that no one died that day. But what prompted the ninth grader to commit murder? "Yes. He did this because he had saved up for three years. His classmates, mine too, hurt him, it irritated him,” Mikhail’s sister later said. It turns out that the motive of the Columbine fan from the Moscow region is reprisal against bullying by peers. And what’s frightening in this situation is precisely that the young man did not find any other means to stand up for himself other than violence. Why didn’t teachers, school psychologists, or parents pay attention to this? Dont clear.

It takes courage to face your enemies. The “weak” one gives in during boycotts, mass gossip and rumors, and the “strong” one looks for ways to get out of this “captivity”. It’s fashionable to find allies, or you can wait for the time when “justice will prevail.” Each person ultimately chooses the model of behavior that seems convenient to him. If it seems to him that his interests and the interests of the team diverge, he can act not as everyone else, but as he wants. Become someone similar to Olga Petrovna from “Office Romance” - write letters to your loved one, the new boss Samokhvalov, despite the fact that the entire office condemns this act. After all, in fact, none of the colleagues should be interested in the personal life of a friend of a friend - that is, everything that is not related to the activities of a statistical institution. But in this case, the rule of “Soviet” morality worked. Ryzhova’s unusual act does not correspond to the established foundations - and therefore it should be condemned and ridiculed “at the organizational level.” However, speaking about the plot of the comedy, it is important to remember: this heroine still found support. The main character, Anatoly Efremovich Novoseltsev, took her side. Why did he, “quiet” and emphatically modest for a long time, make such a “strange” decision? That's the thing, it's not strange! He acted as a friend, not as part of the “crowd.” In the end, “truth triumphed” anyway: the beloved was left with a well-deserved slap in the face, Ryzhova was left with honor, and the team was left with an unexpectedly “victorious” “victim.” And the mobbing, which was so “unbecoming” for the ordinary Soviet production team, stopped.

It happens that a person does not choose whether to be “different” or not. People who are sick from birth cannot “get well,” no matter how much they and their loved ones want it. This is especially hard for children, such as young August Pullman in Stephen Chbosky’s film “Miracle.” It seems that he lives like an ordinary boy his age - he goes to friends' birthday parties, loves Star Wars and dreams of becoming an astronaut. But classmates from the new high school do not consider the hero to be their equal due to a severe illness that deformed his face. The “leaders” of the class begin to bully the strange newcomer and humiliate him because of his “ugliness.” Finding a victim who cannot respond in any way is a “win-win” option for a bully. But despite this, August’s story did not turn into a tragedy: in addition to his enemies, the boy found true friends at school, who saw in him not only the “external” side, but also the “internal” side. And if a person who has been bullied feels supported by loved ones, the offenders become less scary for him. People are usually bullied for certain qualities, forgetting that any personality has many traits, both “weak” and “strong”. The bully is often a person with internal inferiority. He is looking for an “easy” path to self-affirmation - and finds it in bullying those who seem to him not to be vulnerable. But it’s important to fight back, like in “Miracle.” What, other than the harsh answer “You can’t do that!” will teach a person who has allowed himself too much.

In the 21st century, another type of bullying has emerged - cyberbullying, or trolling. On the Internet, no one is protected from abusers and stalkers - even deleted data does not disappear anywhere, accounts on social networks are easily hacked, and anonymity allows you to disseminate any information about a person without his consent. The instigator of bullying is now harder to find. It may turn out to be a bot, or it may hide under another “fake” and fake IP address. That’s why everyone is being trolled now, from ordinary people to celebrities. Recently, for example, after the loss of the Finnish national team in the quarterfinals of the Junior World Hockey Championship, numerous angry comments began to appear on Instagram of the Canadian captain Maxime Comtois, including some very humiliating words. The young man had to close comments under posts on his account. It is not known what the fans’ statements could lead to, because the main danger of trolling is that the Internet is a threat that can become real. And if ordinary bullying stops when the “victim” leaves the team and becomes uninteresting to him, then trolling is not limited by either time or place. A person will be humiliated online until they completely forget or find a more interesting object for bullying.

What should a person who has encountered bullying, mobbing or trolling do? It is believed that there is already help for such people: psychologists, and teachers in schools. But when we say that there is already help for victims of bullying, we do not see the statistics: this means of salvation, which seems so universally applicable, is not always actually available. “A terrible thing has happened: between one and a half to two thousand children need a psychologist,” said Minister of Education and Science Olga Vasilyeva in 2021.

Psychological services in schools cannot cope with this burden, and as a result, many Russian teenagers find themselves without help during one of the most difficult periods of their lives. If there is no psychologist, educational institutions solve the problem in a simple way - they appoint part-time teachers and class teachers to this position. And when should teachers, busy with their main work, conduct psychological trainings and other events? Those who, like Vladivostok English teacher Ksenia Melenchuk, are “inside the system,” say: “In one of the educational institutions where I worked, there was a psychologist, but she did not do her job, she had other organizational functions. In my other schools there was no psychologist at all. A class teacher who notices that Vasya, Petya or someone else is being bullied by the whole class often simply does not know how to solve this problem. Or he doesn't have the strength to do it. This also happens, there is no need to demonize teachers.” That is, it turns out that in many cases the government’s promised assistance to victims of bullying is simply nowhere to be found! And the “weak” remains “forgotten”, and therefore defenseless.

No one will argue that the deliberate humiliation of one person by other people is an abnormal situation. But it is also abnormal to treat this as a phenomenon in which “one for all - all for one”! To cope with humiliation, in many situations it is important for the “victim” to see that she is not alone, that there is someone nearby who is ready to help. But at the same time, this should not be a personal story of a person’s resistance to bullying, mobbing or trolling. This is a problem that must be solved by society.

+2

0

+2

0

Comments (1)

Ilya Lobov May 16

Olga, good thoughts!
And the topic raised is important. 11th grade ends. During all this time, I saw the psychologist only a couple of times when she conducted a survey with us: and the results of the survey probably go to the table. Of course, there are problems, but for psychologists everything is simple: if the problem is not stated, I don’t burden myself with work) Login Registration

Causes

Fear of the dark - what is this phobia called, why does fear arise and how to fight it

The reasons for the occurrence of bullying and mobbing are varied, and some contradict each other. There are three main ones:

1. The first reason is permissiveness. More often, the leaders of bullying become children, who are encouraged to behave freely, without prohibitions. Such individuals allow themselves to make caustic remarks to others, despite their age, they can hit one of the family members and not receive punishment, the concepts of equality, generosity, etc. are alien to them;
2. The second reason is lack of attention. Those who initiate bullying lack parental attention. Having gone through attempts to be a good student, to show their best sides, to be able to help their parents in certain matters, they do not receive due approval. The child chooses a different path, turning resentment into anger and pouring it out on the victim of bullying;
3. The third reason is copying parents. Family relationships between bully parents can paint pictures of inequality. For example, one of the parents allows himself to insult other family members and also treat guests rudely. The child copies the behavior of an authoritative parent, expecting that he too will be indulged in everything.

It is not without reason that they say that the behavior of children playing on the playground is an approximate picture of what is happening at home. The above list of reasons for bullying is united by the fact that parents may not be aware of the child’s aggressive behavior, since in their presence he behaves adequately.

Children raised without inhibitions

How to protect yourself from mobbing at work?

A thorough analysis of the current situation and mental playback of possible scenarios will help you avoid stupid mistakes. You should evaluate how your boss feels about mobbing at work. If he is characterized by patience, goodwill, and respect for people, then it is better to immediately turn to him with a request to sort out the situation.

Mobbing in a team is nipped in the bud. If this does not help, then you should try to ignore the negativity addressed to you and not notice the attacks of the offenders. They expect at least some kind of reaction. If she is not there, the “hunters” get bored and look for another “prey”. Personnel mobbing is a changeable phenomenon.

Types of bullying

Methods for resolving conflicts - what options exist, ways to prevent them

Bullying is divided into the following types:

1. Verbal. On the one hand, this is the most harmless type of bullying, that is, in words. However, the abuser, through insults, can affect the family, personal qualities and some important things of the victim. In addition to verbal insults, there are humiliations and threats that can hurt the child victim so much that he withdraws into himself;
2. Physical. The manifestation of aggression moves from words to actions, the leader of the mockers allows himself to push the victim, trip him, hit, tear clothes, etc.;
3. Social. The problem with this type of bullying is that a group of classmates deliberately ignores the victim, and also does not allow him to take part in social activities, be it a group game on the street, completing an assignment in class, or being expelled from the common table while eating in the school cafeteria. ;
4. Cyberbullying (cyber - Internet). The most common phenomenon of cyberbullying begins with the concept of trolling - provocation through messages on the Internet. Thus, the offender can not only personally insult the victim, but also mock her online in every possible way, including through modified as well as real unsuccessful photographs, offensive quotes, and the dissemination of false information among a large number of users.

Signs

Relationships with colleagues usually do not in any way affect the risk of psychological pressure, since such phenomena are not only consequences of conflicts, but can also arise in trusting relationships between employees.

Below are the main signs by which one can determine the presence of mobbing or bullying in a team:

1. Purposeful exclusion from the active life of the team, which may consist in the absence of invitations to significant meetings or special belated communication of important information.
2. Lack of greetings and maintaining communication with a specific employee, excluding him from various informal meetings
3. Spreading deliberately false rumors and gossip with the aim of denigrating a person.
4. Frequent and unreasonable raising of voice, verbal insults.
5. No bonus payments for special achievements, salary increases, or even words of gratitude for a job well done. Typically, this symptom is characteristic of situations where management takes part in psychological violence.
6. There are attempts to interfere with the performance of work duties; these manifestations may include deleting important files on the computer, purposefully disabling work equipment, disposing of necessary documents, and other minor sabotage.

Often, a number of colleagues may maintain such psychological pressure due to the fact that they are afraid to express sympathy for the victim of violence, since they do not want to find themselves in a similar position. In some situations, the victim is not an individual employee, but an entire group of people or a structural unit.

Preventing bullying in a school environment

Every educational institution should implement bullying prevention. The most effective way to close access to the idea of ​​bullying is to regularly talk about it from an early age. Thus, organizing regular educational events for primary schools, for example, a homeroom, will help prevent bullying. Prevention of bullying in a school environment is carried out through role-playing games, where students can experience both sides of the conflict: the bully and the victim. Before the age of 12, children are just developing moral principles, so showing them the full negative form of bullying will not be difficult.

Bullying prevention should be carried out

During adolescence, a new stage of life is overcome, and the child’s behavior program is strengthened. In this case, you should contact a professional psychologist, since he will be able to choose the right words that will be able to influence the consciousness of both bullies and their victims. Another option for eliminating bullying is to conduct training on the topic of bullying and methods of its prevention with an authoritative person, whose opinion potential bullies will listen to.

Identity of the mobbing victim

Anyone can be the target of psychological bullying; the likelihood of becoming a victim of mobbing depends to a small extent on personal characteristics.

Often the victims of bullying are loners, those who are weaker than others, or those who stand out. Hostility can be caused by both overly self-confident and arrogant people, and weak, constantly whining and complaining people.

The victim could be a competent employee who is a dangerous competitor, the boss's favorite, a workaholic, or someone who causes envy.

How to deal with the phenomenon

The right approach to combating bullying will help reduce it to a minimum and eradicate it in the early stages. It is important that the class teacher himself knows the difference between children's pranks and targeted bullying. Nevertheless, conversations should be held with the child, excluding distant topics and hints. They talk about bullying in a straightforward manner, noting that it does not affect one or two people, but the class as a whole. In order to consolidate the result, it would not be superfluous to show the process of bullying with an example, and children should play both roles in order to feel the emotions of the bully and the victim.

If the bullies in the class already occupy some kind of position of authority, then it is proposed to give them responsibility for the class. The bully, who must keep order among his peers, may well reconsider his position. In other words, the bullying leader is given what he so lacks: attention and even recognition, but not for his dirty tricks, but for his good achievements. To consolidate the positive result, it is worth inviting a psychologist to talk with students on the topic of how to stop bullying, how to stop children’s bullying. He will be able to understand how efforts to reduce bullying have affected children.

What is mobbing

In psychology, the term “mobbing” appeared thanks to Hanz Leiman in the early 80s. XX century. Mobbing is the psychological terror of several people against another.

Complex, conflictual relationships in a team, high emotional tension often provoke a search for someone to blame. Psychological violence can be caused by any reason. Mobbers use a variety of methods: from spreading rumors to gross provocations. All this negatively affects the work and psychological state of the victim.

How to avoid becoming a victim of mobbing?

Mobbing is a common phenomenon if managers are tolerant of intrigues at work, the workload is unevenly distributed among employees, and some employees suffer from idleness and engage in bullying for fun.

Psychological violence can have a hidden form. The victim is not informed about important events and meetings, information necessary to complete the job is not given, and gossip is spread. The employee loses personal belongings, work documents and files from the computer. They treat the victim with prejudice and make unfounded remarks.

Participants in bullying usually deny the existence of a conflict, claim that the problem is far-fetched, and that the person being pressured is too impressionable and touchy. This situation can last for a very long time. A person under pressure begins to doubt his professional abilities.

In open conflict, the victim is often bullied and rudely humiliated. In some cases, persecutors do not limit themselves to psychological terror. Bullying is often associated with damage to property, especially if the victim is financially responsible for it.

Bullying teachers

The concept of bullying (bullying at school) applies not only to students, but also to teachers. Pedagogical bullying can poison the work of teachers in the faces of students and teachers. Bullying of teachers is divided into several types:

Teachers are bullied too

1. Hidden and open. Open bullying is damage to things and assault. Hidden - discussion of the appearance, behavior of the teacher in his presence as if he were not there. Often hidden bullying is so painful that the teacher leaves the profession;
2. Conflict. A pronounced struggle of interests, manifested at the interpersonal level;
3. Unpopularity. There are also groups among teachers, for example, the establishment of a department at the institute. Within the department there may be an “outcast” teacher - a newcomer or an adherent of different ideas than his colleagues. For example, a person has the most effective training plan, which makes his work high-quality, but his relationships with colleagues suffer;
4. An attempt to disgrace, shaming. There is a story when a class found photos on the Internet from the personal life of a teacher: a woman posted photos in a swimsuit because she was on vacation. At first, this caused a huge scandal, during which the teacher was removed from his position. However, later it was decided to reinstate the teacher, since the accusations were groundless - everyone has the right to privacy;
5. Pressure. Teachers often suffer from the fact that someone senior in rank exerts pressure due to their status, as well as the lack of the proper level of trust.

Mobbing at work - should I leave or stay?

The last sad scenario: leaving a job you hate. The problem of mobbing in a team makes you lose moral and physical strength. Nervous exhaustion can reach the point where the victim is frightened by every rustle, suffers from insomnia, and fears for his life. Therefore, it is better to change jobs than to try to change your attitude towards yourself, where it is useless.

But at the same time, you need to take into account previous mistakes and think through the course of action in advance. If the “victim” continues to struggle with unfair treatment, but “things are still there,” mobbing can result in prolonged depression and suicide. The problem of how to resist mobbing, in this case, is no longer solved in this world.

Responsibility and punishment for participation

Nowadays, parents of schoolchildren are discussing the problem of how to stop bullying and other manifestations of bullying. Considering that this phenomenon is gaining momentum with each generation, bullying has become a criminal offense in many countries. Depending on the age of the bully, as well as on the method of bullying: insult, bodily harm, damage to property, a fine may be levied, both from the parents and from the administration of the educational institution.

For your information. The easiest way to stop children from bullying each other at school is for teachers. If they notice such behavior, it is worth shaming the aggressor and forcing him to apologize for his attempts at bullying. This must be done with extreme caution, as the child may become more angry and resort to hidden methods of bullying. Then parents and a psychologist come into play and must work with children on their behavior.

Sometimes you should consult a psychologist

Methods of confrontation

There are various ways to counter psychological violence in the workplace; the most effective is the comprehensive adoption of measures by both the organization’s management and the victim, who is systematically subjected to pressure. All necessary actions are described in more detail below.

Actions by management:

1. Eliminating knowledge gaps related to team management, as well as obtaining complete and objective information about the psychological climate in the organization and existing problems among employees.
2. Awareness of the fact that absolutely any employee of the organization can become a victim of pressure, regardless of his experience, qualifications and other factors.
3. Adding a professional psychologist to the organization’s staff, who will not only provide timely assistance to victims of such terror, but will also minimize the likelihood of new manifestations of mobbing or bullying.
4. Transferring existing victims to other positions or to other structural units.
5. Continued exercise of attentiveness and vigilance to promptly recognize new attempts to exert psychological pressure on other employees.
6. Creation of a company code that will help formulate and instill in all team members an organizational policy based on mutual respect for each other.

How to help your child

An important point is how to help a child suffering from bullying at school. Firstly, parents should be very attentive to a child who has become a victim of the aggressive behavior of other children. If he suffers from verbal attacks and insults, parents are better than anyone else in finding the right words to convince their child that he is an important person, and also that there are people around who sincerely love and respect this child.

It is important to teach your child not to take on the role of a victim. Knowing that there are potential bullies at school, you should not scold your child if suddenly his phone, money or something else is taken away. Parents are advised to file a complaint first with the school administration, and if they fail to act, with law enforcement agencies. It is not advisable to contact the bully’s parents, since the bully can copy their behavior, or he has maximum encouragement in his family. You need to give your child maximum support and care, giving him self-confidence. A self-confident child will soon cease to be a target of bullying, because the bully will no longer be interested in harassing such a victim.

During the process of studying at school, a child develops important communication skills; bullying can undermine the sense of trust in others, as well as cause psychological trauma. It is very important to monitor the behavior of children, teach them mutual respect from an early age, and stop attempts at bullying. Over time, bullying has become so relevant and dangerous that its manifestations are beginning to be punished, in particular, by law. Bullying is a serious problem in modern society, but by tackling the solution from the very first manifestations, it can be eradicated.

Phases of development of mobbing in a team

If a newcomer does something objectionable against the “leader,” mobbing gradually gains strength. At first, these are cautious attempts (it is unknown how else the “outcast” will respond). If there is no resistance or it is too weak, the aggression of the members of the “herd” gains momentum. The sequence of phases of development of mobbing in a team looks something like this:

1. Laughs and gossip behind your back.
2. Cautious notes.
3. Angry, aggressive criticism (the more employees are involved in this “show,” the more productive results mobbing produces).
4. Physical harassment (beating up when returning home in the evening, tripping someone up, burning them with a hot drink, etc.).

Consequences of mobbing

In many countries, mobbing is a crime. Psychological terror often has the most severe consequences: suicide, accidents, harm to health, murder. Long-term bullying often results in psychological trauma, insomnia, nervous disorders and other diseases.

In complex conflict situations, the instigators of bullying try to subject the victim to social isolation, using such means as boycott, slander, denunciations, bullying, and gross provocations. Bullying for such people is a constant activity.

Hooliganism may be associated with other related crimes: intentional harm to health, physical violence, beatings. In a difficult situation, you should seek advice from a psychologist or lawyer.