Policy Paper - School Bullying

ABSTRACT

This paper discussed bullying and its effects on the children who have been bullied, who
is bully and children who witness bullying situations. It also discussed how the school, parents
and guardians deal if their children are caught are up in different bullying situations. The paper
highlighted the issues of school bullying in the Philippines and its serious psychological
consequences for victims that includes low psychological wellbeing, poor social adjustment,
psychological distress and physical illness. Bullies are not necessarily the typical ignorant louts
with low self-esteem that they have been portrayed to be. Bullying is done by children who are
self-aware, are otherwise good students and are know-how in the ways of electronic
communication.

INTRODUCTION
Bullying in school is a worldwide problem that can have negative consequences for the
general school climate and for a safe environment without fear. Bullying can also have negative
lifelong consequences – both for students who bully, for the victims and to the persons who have
witnessed bullying situations.

Although the phenomenon of bullying in schools have been always present but it is
increasing day after the other and that’s why the government is paying more attention to the
social life. School bullying is always related in some way to the acts of violence and that’s why
Education department is stressing on the idea behind making schools free of violence and urging
student, their parents and teachers to act on fighting any act of violence that appears in any
school, and they are also stressing on the idea that schools should be a place free from any
threats for the children

Bullying is particular form of aggressive behavior. Bullying is defined legislative as non-

verbal threatening facial gesture (e.g. “the look” or “mean noggin” or other sign) , electronic
communication form sending threatening communication via nasty note, text messaging,
emails, websites (cyber bullying), and or written, verbal, physical or sexual that will:

 Harm student physically or mentally;

 Damage a student’s property;
 Place a student in fear of personal harm or damage property, or
 Insult a student or group of students causing substantial disruption in school operation.

The three key components of bullying behavior are:

1.) the behavior is intended to harm.

2.) the behavior occurs repeatedly over time, and

3.) there is imbalance of power (Olweus, 1993; Nansel at al., 2001)

DESCRIPTION OF BULLYING
There are various types of bullying behavior, which need to be spelled out so that they are
clearly recognizable. Central to any prevention of bullying knows where the draw the line
between what is acceptable and what is not, especially in relation to behaviors such as
 horseplay, schoolboy joking or teasing. The following serve as examples of typical bullying
behaviors:

a. Physical Bullying:

This could push around, hitting, kicking, talking or damaging someone else’s property;
acting either one-on-one or else as a group against an individual.

b. Verbal Bullying:

This could include name-calling, insults or taunts aimed at belittling or humiliating the
victim, including homophobic, allusions and constant teasing. Verbal bullying could also take
the form of a threat. This also includes constantly picking on someone, either in class, or during
free time.

c. Psychological Bullying:

This could include rejection by a group of an individual, rumors spreading, intimidation

that is not physical. Psychological bullying could also take the form of constant threatening looks
or aggressive posturing.

d. Social Media Bullying:

This could include the use of messaging and other social network platforms to belittle,
threaten or humiliate the victim.

REPUBLIC ACT R.A. 10627 “ANTI-BULLYING ACT”

Last December 23, 2013, the RA 10627 was implemented to collectively address the
problems on bullying. This covers elementary and secondary schools and this also covers
physical, social, verbal and cyber bullying.

As requirements, the school must come up with policies defining and prohibiting bullying
inside and outside school premises including retaliation against person who reports bullying
incident or bullies. The school should also come up with admin procedures and disciplinary
actions, rehabilitation program for bullies, and strategies and procedures for recording system,
reporting and investigation, and filtering of false reports and disciplinary action for students
making false reports. In addition, the school should have strategies and procedures for safety
and security of the students of the students support services such as counseling for victims,
privacy students involve, and education for parents and students on bullying dynamics.

EFFECTS OF BULLYING
The effects of school bullying are pervasive and far-reaching. From mental point of
view, a child’s self-esteem can be severely impacted even years after bullying has stopped. The
victims of bullying may suffer from depression, particularly if the bullying has occurred over a
long period of time (Lancaux, 2010). It should be recognized that this mental effect do not stop
at the bullied, they also extended to the bullies. According to Omoteso (2010) studies have
shown that those involved in prolonged and serious bullying of others experience wide range of
mental health, academic and social problems. He also pointed out that studies point to the
connection between bullying and sexual harassment and violence in later years.
 Bullying can affect everyone – those who are bullied, those who bully and those who
witness bullying. Bullying is link to many negative outcomes including impacts on mental
health substance use in suicide.

 Effects on Kids are being Bullied

Bullying can make kids don’t want play outside and go to school. It makes the child think
that school is one of the scary places to go to. School bullying affects the relationship
between the bullied and his or her parents or guardians. The relationship between a parent
and the child who is being bullied may be strained because the child’s hostility towards
school. For instance, a child may blame his or her parents for forcing him to go to that
school (Lancaux, 2010). For victims repeated bullying can cause psychological distress and
many other allied problems.

Kids who are bullied can experience negative physical, school and mental issues. Kids
who are bullied are more likely to experience:

 Depression and anxiety, increased feeling of sadness and loneliness, changes in sleep and
eating patterns and loss of activities they used to enjoy.
 Health complaints
 Decreased academic achievement – GPA and standardized test scores – and school
participation that are more likely to miss, skip or drop out of school.

According to Wikipedia (2010) victims of bullying can suffer from long-term emotional
and behavioral problems. Bullying can cause loneliness, depression, anxiety, lead to low
self-esteem and increased susceptibility to illness.

 Effects on Kids Who Bully Others

To the bully, the act of bullying gives pleasures and occupies most of his time.
The time and energy that should be used in studies is now directed to mischief, hence,
poor academic performance. In a bullying situation there is always fear and tension for
victims. This tense atmosphere creates no room for peace. Learning can never take place
effectively in a not peaceful environment.

Furthermore, for bullies, aggression may persist into adulthood in the form of
criminality, marital violence, child abuse and sexual harassment.

Kids who bully others can also engage in violent and other risky behaviors into
adulthood. Kids who bully are more likely to:

 Abuse and other drugs in adolescence and as adults

 Get into fights, vandalize property, and drop out of school
 Engage in early sexual activity
 Have criminal convictions and traffic citations as adults
 Be abusive toward their romantic partners, spouses, or children as adults.

 Effects on Kids Who Witness Bullying

Kids who witness bullying are more likely to:
o Have increased use of tobacco, alcohol or other drugs
o Have increased mental health problems, including depression and anxiety
o Miss or skip school
 Bullying has a very detrimental effect on children especially on the victim who
can become school-phobic (Martin Umch and Ndubuaku (ed) in Nnachi and Ezch,
2003).

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE PARENTS AND GUARDIANS:

 Be supportive of the child and encourage him/ her to describe who was involved and how
and where the bullying happened. Do not encourage the child to fight back. This may
make the problem worse.
 Ask the child specific questions about his/ her friendships. Be aware of signs of bullying,
even if the child doesn’t call it that. Children with disabilities do not always realize they
are being bullied.
 Talk with the child’s teacher immediately to see whether he or she can help to resolve the
problem.
 Put your concerns in writing and contact the principal if the bullying or harassment is
severe or the teacher doesn’t fix the problem. Explain what happened in detail and ask
for a prompt response.
 Investigate whether the child may also be bullying other younger, weaker students at
school.
 Be persistent. Talk regularly with the child and with school staff to see whether the
behavior has stopped.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

As per study and experience, bullying in the Philippines schools in other parts of the
world is a trend that has serious psychological consequences. Understanding why bullying
happens in schools will make it easy for the parents and guardians to help their children from
being victims and ensure that their children do not become bullies themselves. In line the
conclusions above, below are the following recommendations for the solutions to the
problem of school bullying:

1. Schools must have peer clubs that concerns ant- bullying matters.

2. Anti- bullying policies and lectures on handling them must be given to the parents
during their regular PTA meetings.

3. Hotlines should be available on the school premises posted on the conspicuous areas
for the easy access in times of bullying situations is concern. These will also warning to that
student who wants to bully someone;

4. School administrators, teachers and parents as well should realize the danger of the
media. They should discourage children and students of watching violence, murders, rape,
and robberies, etc.

5. Students who are being bullied and children who have witnessed bullying should be
able to make reports to school officials and have confidence that these reports will be taken
seriously and investigated.

6. Teachers who witness bullying should be required to make a report to administrators

with the hope that the report is confidential and will be taken seriously and investigated.
 7. Administrators who become aware of specific instances of bullying should be required
to investigate such claims and make a disposition according to an agreed- upon action plan
spelled out in an intervention plan specifically developed for school bullying

8. Everyone in the school should be trained to recognize bullying and to intervene when it
is necessary to do so.

REFERENCES
Beaty, L.A. and Alexeyev, E.B. The problem of school bullies: what the research tells us.

Olweus, D. O. Bullying at school. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.

Stopbullying.com, Bullying and Children and Youth with Disabilities and Special Health
Needs, Retrieved March 25, 2015, from http://www.stopbullying.gov/at-risk/groups/special-
needs/BullyingTipsSheet.pdf

Katherine K. Dahisgaard, Phd., philly.com, ( September 16, 2013), Do bullied children

experience more healthproblems?, Retrieved March 25, 2015, from

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthy_kids/Do-bullied-children-experience-more-
health-problems.html
 SCHOOL
BULLYING
POLICY PAPER

Submitted by:
PINKY ROSE V. JORDAN
Mlang- MAED

Submitted to:
Dr. Gloria B. Gamalinda