Bullying episodes often occur in the spaces and marginal times of the school, for this reason it is not always easy to intercept them. However, some interventions can help teachers and parents to recognize and intervene effectively in the face of phenomena of this type
The word “bullying” (as well as the expression “bullying at school“) It is quite recent coin but defines a set of behaviors that unfortunately are far from new. It is a set of actions oriented against one or more victims – choices almost always among the weakest or fragile subjects – which manifest themselves in the space of the school and which are characterized by the presence of one or more perpetrators (bullies) and often more observers.
But as Recognize bullying at school? What are the situations to pay attention to and what interventions?
How to recognize bullying at school
The episodes of bullying Often they occur in the spaces and marginal times of the school: bathrooms, changing rooms, moments of entry or exit from the building, intervals … in addition to physical bullyingcharacterized by barrels or threats, exists as a psychological bullyingindirect, aimed at humiliating or mortifying the victim through verbal insults or the spread of rumorsimages and videos. We must not make the mistake of thinking that these episodes affect only the age group of teenagers: in reality, the dimension of the mortification of the weak can be present already starting from primary schools.
So how to recognize bullying episodes when they are not evident? First of all it is necessary give a lot of credit to transversal communications Typical children – the drawings, songs, games – which may contain implicit messages of extreme importance. It is then necessary to be very sensitive to grasp their any signs of sadness, closure and depression, and also the sudden fear or anxiety of the child towards the school or the desire not to participate in lessons anymore.
Causes of bullying in schools
What are the causes of bullying? While risking to simplify the discussion, it is necessary to distinguish between remote or social causes and immediate or pedagogical causes.
As for the Remote causesif present, bullying phenomena are not invented by children or young people but are imitations of episodes of violence, humiliation and mortification they lived or seen with them protagonists adults. The social causes are instead to be found in the continuous exposure of the children to violence and the abuse of the fort on the weak, also and above all through the world of social networks.
If we are faced with immediate or pedagogical causes, Obviously, each case should be judged according to its specific details, but what is certain is that a class in which episodes of bullying is occurred by launching A message to the adult world And therefore the teachers and parents must place themselves in the perspective of listening, in order to identify which pedagogical work has missed up to that moment.
Bullying at school: what to do?
The approach to bullying in elementary school must first of all find a balance between theimmediate intervention to protect the victim and the ability not to rely only on punitive logic regarding the so -called “bolts”; Indeed, the bully that is punished can even make its punishment a kind of medal to be exhibited to strengthen its leadership.
Once the bullying is intercepted, it is necessary to act on three sides. First of all it is necessary protect the victim and take charge of his fear and the sense of guilt (Often the person who suffers violence is led to believe that he has “deserved” abuse because of his own weakness, fragility, of his physical appearance …). It is then necessary act on the bully without a punitive logicbut leading him to recognize the seriousness of his own action and a reparative gesture That it is not only to apologize but the attempt to reconstruct, on new bases, a relationship with the victim.
Finally, a fundamental job must be done with Observers and silent witnesses of the episodes of bullying, which must be accompanied to reflect on the fact that in the face of a situation of violence, a non-action is worth as much as theAction itself carried out by the bullies.
How to prevent bullying in schools?
How to prevent bullying? First of all, it is necessary to start from a consideration: if it is true that there is no class or group that can be al 100% immune to the phenomenon of bullyingit is also true that bullying is not necessarily written in the fate of every class or group. This is to say that the prevention of bullying is fundamental, and passes through the responsibility of children with respect to the well -being of their companions.
The creation of classes that are true learning communities, within which the welcome and enhancement of differences They are the basis of daily coexistence, and where the rules are always co-produced and shared by children and adults, they are fundamental elements of prevention.
It is not always necessary to appoint bullying for prevent this phenomenon; It is the daily life of the relationship between people, the positivity of the life experience side by side with the different, the mutual enrichment of growth in a welcome environment, the experience of the conflict experienced through its nonviolent elaboration, to remove oxygen from the culture of prevarication and violence that is the basis of bullying as any form of domination of the fort on the weakest.
