Transforming Schools from Bully-Havens to Safe Havens

Transforming Schools from Bully-Havens to Safe Havens

Given the importance of starting the new school off right, as well as making it a safe place for all children, we're running this issue of the Practical Teacher again for you to review so that your classroom and school can be a safe haven for all children.

Introduction

Bullies are opportunistic, preying upon students whom they perceive as weak. Bullying cannot take place, though, unless the bully has a setting or location in which he or she is able to exploit and hurt the victim. The far corner of a classroom, a deserted hallway, the bathroom: these are all locations in which bullying may happen. Places where bullying is common are frequently deserted or poorly supervised. The good news, though, is that when adults are present to supervise a particular setting, intervene quickly when they witness bullying behavior, and provide fair and appropriate consequences to the bully for his or her misbehavior, the rate of bullying in that setting will plummet.

The focus of this issue of NASET’s Practical Teacher is to show how teachers can work with other school staff to put locations off-limits to bullies by first identifying where bullying most often occurs in the school and then providing increased levels of trained adult supervision in those settings.

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