Be Well and Prosper

What Bullying Is and Is Not

Bullying is defined as follows:

The repeated actions or threats of action directed toward a person by one or more people who have or are perceived to have more power or status than their target in order to cause fear, distress or harm. Bullying can be physical, verbal, psychological or any combination of these three.

Here’s a definition to use for younger, primary age children:

When a person or a group behaves in ways—on purpose and over and over—that make someone feel hurt, afraid or embarrassed.

It is important to distinguish bullying from other unkind, mean and harmful behaviour. Calling someone a name or pushing someone once, being rude or having an argument with someone is not bullying. Of course, these behaviours should be addressed but may have different consequences and interventions, which is why the distinction is critical. To be defined as bullying, all three components must be present: (1) repeated actions or threats, (2) a power imbalance and (3) intention to cause harm. If bullying is identified correctly, there are various ways to address it.

Identity-based bullying

Many bullying incidents can be described as “identity-based,” which is any form of bullying related to characteristics that are part of a person’s identity or perceived identity group, such as race, religion, disability, immigration status, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical appearance, etc. Because identity-based bullying targets who the student is—a core part of their identity—it can be especially harmful. It impacts not only the individual student but everyone else around them who identifies in the same way and who worries that they may be the next target. In discussing identity-based bullying with young people, it’s important to make the point that bullying happens because of an aggressor’s bias, not because of the target's identity.

Ally behaviour

Because a great deal of bullying takes place when and where adults aren't around and because young people increasingly (as they get older) don’t report bullying to adults, it is especially important to help young people learn how to be an ally which includes: supporting targets, not participating, telling aggressors to stop, informing a trusted adult, not judging people and getting to know them and being an ally online.

Age 7 and up

Questions to start the conversation

• Do you know what bullying is? How is it different than mean behaviour?
• Is someone engaging in bullying just because they are mean to you?
• Have you ever experienced mean behaviour? What about bullying? Can you tell me more about it?
• Have you ever been mean to someone else? Do you think you have bullied someone before? Please explain.
• What do students do when they see bullying take place in school? What do you do?

From:

https://www.adl.org/education/resources/tools-and-strategies/table-talk/what-bullying-is-and-is-not

Mr Ben Lawless

Researcher