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The Bullying Project: what South Australian children and young people have told us about bullying
Effective interventions to stop bullying need to involve children and young people and be grounded in a restorative approach. Through the direct involvement of children and young people in the development of solutions to prevent and respond to bullying, South Australia’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, Helen Connolly, has captured a variety of views and experiences that to date have not been systemically included in the development of a multifaceted anti-bullying strategy.
Specifically, CCYP consulted adult expert stakeholders; undertook desktop research on bullying; interviewed principals, schools and organisations involved in responding to bullying; and facilitated workshops with children and young people at schools or Flexible Learning Options (FLO) environments.
The report details the key findings that have policy implications for the development of a comprehensive whole of community anti-bullying strategy for South Australia:
- Whilst there must be consequences for bullying behaviour that impact on others, a focus on punishment alone can be ineffective and create more negative outcomes. Effective responses need to be situational, child specific and have a restorative focus.
- Community responses to bullying must include strategies to increase adults’ awareness of the impact of their behaviour on children’s bullying.
- Children and young people acknowledge that the roles of bully, victim and bystander are interchangeable and therefore responses to bullying should involve all children and young people.
- Children and young people require specialised assistance at school to learn the practical skills to challenge bullying behaviour amongst friends.
- Effective anti-bullying strategies should involve children and young people in the design and delivery of a range of peer led intervention programs.
- Strategies to address bullying need to take social contexts and cultural differences of children and young people into account to ensure appropriate and measured responses which are relevant to specific groups.
