Case Study: Tackling Bullying in a School - Desklib

Case Study
Introduction
The case study report is based on the initiatives taken by the principal and teachers of a school,
ABC, to tackle the problem of bullying reported in the school premises. The school did not have
any specific policy against bullying and the principal was caught off-guard with the complaint.
In a parents-teachers’ meeting, one of the parents reported the case of an older boy bullying her
young son after school. She and the other parents demanded that the school look into the matter
and take some action. The principal intervened in the meeting to get all facts about the incident.
The principal and the teachers formed a committee consisting of three senior teachers, two
parents, the principal and a school board member to start looking into the matter. They
acknowledged that the first mistake by the school had been to not be ready for such an incident
and not have any policies or procedures in place regarding bullying. The short-term changes
were made about investigating the matter at hand about the reported incident while the long-term
plan included drafting a strict anti-bullying policy, setting up counselling facilities, training the
students and teachers on bullying, and developing a network for students to report such incidents,
if and when they occurred. The change program started with acceptance of the prevalence of
bullying, and included confiding in the parents, reaching out to the students, analyzing the school
policy on such issues, and agreeing to invest in a program to control bullying in the campus.
The issue of bullying on school campuses, while being a horrible experience for the victims and
witnesses, is unfortunately not uncommon (Smith & Brain, 2000). The principal realized that
ABC had been lucky enough to not have too many incidents of such nature in the past but it
definitely needed to be ready to face such a challenge in the future. Bullying has been defined as
“aggressive, intentional acts carried out by a group or an individual repeatedly and over time
against a victim who cannot easily defend himself or herself” (Menesini & Salmivalli, 2017;
Olewus, 1993, p.48). Bullying is thus a deviant act carried out with an overt intent to harm the
target. The intent behind perpetrating bullying could stem from a variety of reasons such as
aggressive personalities of bullies, low self-esteem, need to assert power, and other such
psychological traits or stress of studies, problems with parents, problems at home and other such
contextual factors (Gini, Pozzoli, & Hymel, 2014; Slattery, George, & Kern, 2019). Bullying
has been found to have adverse effects on the mental and physical health of the targets and

witnesses, and even the bullies. It also has a spiraling effect where the victims may turn to
becoming bullies themselves with a misplaced sense of revenge (Wolke & Lereya, 2011). The
principal rightly identified this as one of the most crucial issues facing the students and wanted to
take every measure to ensure the problem is nipped at the bud.
Context
Social and Psychological context
The initial complaint suggested that a boy of 11 years of age had accosted a 7-year-old boy after
the school and demanded him to give him all his money. When the younger boy refused, the
older boy threatened to hit him. The younger boy got scared and handed over the money. When
the same thing happened three times in a row, the parents intervened to know where their kid’s
money was being spent. The principal had called both the students to his office and demanded
an explanation. He realized that the younger boy did not speak clearly out of fear of reprimand
from the principal as well as the bully. The perpetrator had troubles at home, with his parents in
the middle of a divorce, and he had taken to resorting to scaring others to feel powerful. The
socio-cognitive theory, when applied to designing an intervention to address bullying (Swearer,
Wang, Berry, & Myers, 2014) demonstrates that the relationship between the bully and his/her
social environment is a very important dynamic. The theory suggests that a person learns from
observing others in his/her social circle and if such a person is exposed to aggressive behavior,
he/she may become susceptible to perpetrating such a behavior as well (Osher, Cantor, Berg,
Steyer, & Rose, 2018). In the context of the school, the principal found that the family situation
of the boy created an impression that anger, aggression, and fear were acceptable emotions when
dealing with other people (Horton, 2019).
The anti-bullying campaign hence started with tackling this issue at hand. The newly designed
policy addressed explaining what constitutes as bullying behavior, the acceptable norms of
respect and code of conduct for students and staff in the school, and the strict measures that
would be taken to address if any complaints were raised. The school also appointed a counsellor
to be made available to students to discuss any issues they had in their personal life or in their
studies. The principal and the school board thought availing the counselling facilities would help
keeping in check any impulsive behaviors as well as create a safe space for students to express
their concerns and seek help.

Political and moral context
The teachers were enlisted to be major stakeholders in the change intervention. They were made
to attend a training program explaining the consequences of bullying on al parties involved. The
external trainers also spoke in detail about how situational factors such as peer pressure, pressure
of performance, remarks by teachers, need for competition enforced by school ranking systems,
pressure to get into good colleges can all contribute to creating emotional and mental pressure on
the students. These could act as triggers for engaging in deviant behaviors (Peeters, Cillessen, &
Scholte, 2010). It was the responsibility of the teachers to ensure that they remain civil to the
students and treat them with care and respect. It was also stressed upon that the teachers report
any warning signs of behavior that they may notice in the students. This could be signs relating
to perpetrators or victims. The program also covered the resistance or fear that victims may feel
in coming out to voice their concerns. The counsellor and the grievance redressal committee had
to be responsible in ensuring that there is no fear of reprimand, and complaints get addressed in a
fair and timely manner. They would also have to ensure that students do not make incorrect
complaints, and both the victim and the accused get their chance to explain the situation.
Legal context
Laws against harassment have become prominent in workplaces. Educational institutions are
also working towards penalizing acts of deviance such as bullying, harassment and violence of
any kind. The principal wanted to cover cyber-bullying in the scope of the policy as well since
that was relevant in the context of the time (Brewer & Kerslake, 2015; Volk, Veenstra, &
Espelage, 2017). The change intervention also reached out to parents to being actively involved
in the policy making process. This was done with an intent to assure them about the school’s
intentions to handle the problems as well as educate them on identifying behavioral patterns in
their own children. The children need to be able to trust their parents to let them know that it is
okay to tell them about being bullied. Children should also be able to seek peace in their home
and with their parents so that they don’t act as behavioral triggers. The schools’ anti-bullying
policy ensured that all students understood that perpetrators would be heavily penalized and that
should act as a deterrent for those being tempted to behave in deviant manner (Aldridge,
McChesney, & Afari, 2018; Salmivalli, 2014).