Future Action Against Bullying

Today I will finish discussing the academic journal article, “The causes and nature of bullying and social exclusion in schools” by Maria el Mar Badia Martin. Badia Martin states that “existing research gives a number of pointers as to how to improve intervention effectiveness [against bullying] in the future.” As a result, on this occasion I will discuss the future of school bullying, including topics that, according to Badia Martin, should be focused on when creating strategies against school bullying.

Badia Martin states that presently “anti-bullying materials often emphasize the more obvious physical and direct verbal forms [of bullying].” As a result, Badia Martin believes that more attention should be paid to “girls bullying, […rumor]-spreading, and social exclusion.” In my opinion, focusing on indirect forms of bullying, such as rumor spreading, will continue to increase in importance. As technology advances, this type of bullying is becoming more prevalent and increasingly easier to commit. Thus bullying committed through technology and social media is bound to increase. As a result, I believe researchers should work on creating strategies that aim to prevent bullying committed through the use of technology and social media, before it becomes a huge problem.

In a previous blog, I expressed my belief that researchers should focus on creating anti-bullying strategies aimed at transforming “Neutral Outsiders” into “Defenders”. Badia Martin seems to share this belief because she expresses that “peer support schemes can aim to turn ‘bystanders’ into ‘defenders’.” Badia Martin also states that “since roles take time to get established, starting anti-bullying work early, including, for example, awareness raising and assertiveness training in infant and junior schools, may be important.” In other words, Badia Martin believes that anti-bullying strategies should be implemented at an early age. This statement seems to support a claim I made  in a previous blog in which I stated that the way to stop a problem, such as bullying, is to prevent it from ever developing and occurring.

The text notes that although “teachers have good knowledge about some aspects of bullying [, they…] do not feel fully equipped to tackle it." In fact, the text states that “since 1996, several successful legal actions have been taken by pupils or their parents against schools in which they were persistently bullied.” As a result, I believe that strategies aimed at reducing school bullying should focus on ensuring that teachers are equipped with adequate strategies and methods for addressing school bullying. Badia Martin seems to share my opinion because she states that a challenge “is to ensure that school policies form a sound base for further action, informed by the continuing research on the issue.” The text states that although “some schools now have an anti-bullying policy; […] there is no clear evidence that the quality or content of [the] anti-bullying policies, in themselves, predict [victimization] rates."

Badia Martin acknowledges that “schools have a vital role in reducing bullying.” However, Badia Martin also notes that “wider society; parenting skills and [behaviors]; portrayals of violence in the mass media; and attitudes to aggression, bullying, and violence in society, the workplace (including among teachers), and the local community,” also have an influence in reducing bullying.  In my opinion, this is an important idea to keep in mind. As previously stated, in another blog, there is no “clear cut solution” or “one-size-fits-all solution” that will be able to get rid of school bullying in its entirety because each school has its own unique context. As a result, each school  will need to create its own unique strategy that works at effectively diminishing school bullying. Keeping Badia Martin's aforementioned characteristics in mind will ultimately help researchers develop effective strategies for reducing school bullying.