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As a teacher in the United States, I received training in a variety of programs designed to reduce violence and bullying in schools, and worked within a variety of whole school models based on the development appropriate social skills (Positive Schools: Positive Discipline, Developing Capable Children and Assertive Discipline) and ‘Zero Tolerance’. However, as a substitute teacher, I was excluded from training obtained through professional development activities, and in many cases, isolated in staffrooms and excluded from the school community.

The Lend a Hand. Take a Stand. Stop Bullying Now! Program endorsed by the United States Department of Health and Human Services - Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA, 2003) does not advocate ‘Zero Tolerance’. It is well structured and contains ongoing assessment criteria and addresses all stakeholders. In the program literature, HRSA cautions that care needs to be made when working with bullies while conducting conferences and counselling sessions.

HRSA recommends strategies to use both when bullying takes place and after the event. Their training literature states that conferences between the person who bullies and the individual who is bullied are not conducive to reducing or eliminating bullying. The position they take is that bullying is a power imbalance, and that inclusion of both parties in the event may in fact reinforce and strengthen the power base of the person who bullies. The

procedure in which the person who bullies must immediately apologize was discouraged, because it provided the person who bullies with the expectation that a consequence had been given, and that there was no cost factor in regards to loss of privileges, parental contact, or need to make restitution. The HRSA’s main concern is a possible outcome of conferences and counselling sessions in which the person who bullies becomes even more proficient at bullying.

The program uses a behavioural therapeutic model that focuses on the target of bullying. It recognises the needs of the person who is bullied, and focuses on restoring the balance of power between person who is bullied and person who bullies. It provides and recognises the need to be accountable for one’s actions, based on the Olweus program and other research into the field of bullying. It is reality based as it incorporates community values, not just the school community.

The relationship between program ownership, implementation, and the development of a definition of violence and bullying, correlates with the effective establishment of understandings of, and adherence to, school policy and procedures for reporting bullying and behaviour management incidents among substitute teachers in the United States. The society itself has rules and consequences, and children need to know that these rules and consequences exist, are in agreement, and reinforce each other. Furthermore, crime is deterred when the cost factor becomes apparent through litigation of schools that fail to protect victims.

Table 2.7 summarises the HRSA program recommendations, and provides guidelines based on the ABC (Action, Behaviour and Consequence) model, for utilising interventions when working with young people who bully.

Table 2.7

Take a Stand. Lend a Hand. Stop Bullying Now!

Individual Action Participants Outcomes

Public Health Worker (PHW)

Advocate Bully & PHW Raise the cost of bullying Hold

Accountable

Bully & PHW Help acknowledge behaviour; determine options; accept responsibility for actions

Support Parents, PHW

& Bully

Child responsible and parents don’t enable excuses or rationalise the behaviour

Help Bully & PHW Recognise the problem; set goals for change; track progress Family & Bully Recognise and affirm progress towards new behaviour: build

Positive ties with parents and adult mentors

Focus Bully & PHW Discover goals; find path-ways to reach goals; strategies and skills

Build Bully &PHW Genuine empathy; conscience

Intervening Adults (IA)

Take Action Bully & IA Stop bullying; Refer to school rules and behaviour; Impose immediate consequences

Support Victim & IA Provide time to gain self control and to feel supported and Safe Include Bystanders & IA Provide guidance on how to intervene and get help next time Follow-up Bully & IA Provide interventions; notify parents

Bully Process, vent and get support for bullies

Bully & IA Refer to PHW for services and help

Bystanders Talk privately and get more information; observe, supervise and offer incentives or positive consequences to helpful bystanders

WARNING Bully & Victim DO NOT REQUIRE THAT THEY MEET AND WORK

THINGS OUT

Bystanders Act Bystanders, Bully &

Victim

Say “Stop” if it is safe to do so; don’t bully Back; say kind things to the individual who is bullied and tell them to talk to someone; offer to go with them; if bystanders are joking or laughing, let them know they are not helping; tell an adult.

Source: United States HRSA- Health Resources and Services Administration (2003)

Combining the above Stop Bullying Now Program with the new link regarding the relationship between trust and bullying incidents (Smith & Birney, 2005) can provide a foundation on which to make a stronger and more viable home-school connection.