NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND AWARENESS RAISING PROGRAMME FOR BULLYING IN SCHOOLS :YOUNG PEOPLE S VIEWS IN RELATION TO EVALUATIO

1. NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND AWARENESS RAISING PROGRAMME FOR BULLYING IN SCHOOLS:YOUNG PEOPLE� S VIEWS IN RELATION TO EVALUATION ISSUES AND BEST SCHOOL PRACTICES

2. ISPA 2007 COLLOQUIUM IOANNA BIBOU-NAKOU, ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI & ASSOCIATION FOR THE PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS, GREECE

3. Theoretical background The study is informed by theoretical developments in the sociology of childhood, which emphasize children as social actors and as active in the negotiation and construction of social reality (James, Prout, Qvortrup). It is also prompted by developments in social policy, including a focus on children�s rights and the need to consult children and young people about issues of concern to them, principles embedded in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

4. Why to address students as main informants? This is significant because: Young people�s perceptions of their worlds are needed, since actions are dependent not so much on what outsiders see as an objective reality, but more on how children understand and interpret their social worlds.

5. Adults tend to underestimate children�s knowledge and experiences. In looking at their ideas regarding ways to deal with bullies, practitioners can generate intervention models adequate enough to tackle the issue

6. Children�s views are intrinsically valuable since they reveal how do they explain, experience and manage bullying, as social actors.

7. The tendency of adults to dismiss bullying as a phase of growing up common to childhood makes it doubly difficult for a child to gain recognition as a victim (Deakin, 2006).

8. Process Access to four schools (one was in a disadvantaged area in the western areas of the city, one in the eastern area of the city and two in the center) was gained from the national and local authority education department, followed by the head teachers of individual schools.

9. FOCUS GROUPS: are distinguishable from group interview by the explicit use of group interactions. Instead of asking question of each person in turn, focus group researchers encourage participants to talk to one another.

10. We did not focus on bullying, since we argue that what constitutes a problem and therefore what constitutes a legitimate issue for which help can be sought, is constantly negotiated and renegotiated by the stakeholders themselves. We did not want to create and impose our definitions of the situation and �discover� the social problem of bullying on young people; we would rather expect from young people to define what problems are legitimate, and in consequence, problems for which society would expect them to seek help (Murray, 2006).

11. Focus groups interview How do they form their social relationships at school, with whom, how do they feel, What about their relationships with adults at school, Who are friends or not, what are they like, what feelings do they evoke, ways of cultivating, testing and maintaining friendships, and developing a social identity Issues of disputes and conflict in peer relations, How are conflicts important in their daily activities and peer cultures, issues on cooperation and competition, Sources of support, Incidence of bad experiences in terms of their social relationships at school How social distance and separation toward peers' unfriendly behavior are managed.

12. If the narrative of bullying emerges, the interview protocol with children needs to assess the following Nature of bullying Impact of living with bullying Adverse impact on relationships and children's welfare Coping strategies Responses of helping agencies Long-term impact

13. Fourteen focus groups were run from 4 high-schools, each comprising from 5-8 children (91 young people). Twelve of these were mixed, whereas two were only girls/boys. Innovative Three focus groups were peer led by the young people themselves without an adult facilitator.

14. Why in high school children? There is evidence to suggest that ages 12-14 represent the peak of children�s experiences of harassment, physical assault and sexual victimization (Deakin, 2006. Aye Maung, 1995). This evidence may reflect an increase in exposure to new and potentially victimizing situations and a decrease in the level of adult supervision as children experience more independence.

15. Preliminary findings from the focus groups with children Schools� policy regarding bullying In general, there was an absence of policy. Whilst warnings about �stranger danger� posed by adults and �use of drugs� are offered to pupils, schools don�t offer sensitive, low-key advice to students about bullying !!!!!

16. In respect of the extent of bullying stories in the 14 focus group interviews, in seven out of the 14 focus groups, young people recounted one or more incidents of bullying of them or their peers, often in considerable detail. The prominence of bullying stories in the interviews is indicative that young people perceive bullying to have legitimacy.

17. Friendships constructed as learning morality in peer groups Revealing intimate information leads to awareness of two moral issues: the issue of norms of �true� friendship and the issue of dilemma between conforming to group norms and asserting personal opinions. The theme of �hiding one�s feeling� was eminent. Young people would prefer to keep personal matters secret, because �once known, they will lead to teasing� �We can�t trust people nowadays, they would laugh at us, they tease us, there is no trust�.

18. Co-constructing identities and social images Different ways in which young people are negotiating the pressure to conform to and to differentiate themselves from peer norms. We need to look into them carefully (preliminary thematic units)

19. Help-seeking behaviour Adults trivialize, dismiss and ignore young people�s problems and this was particularly evident in respect of children�s relationship difficulties, which were not often taken seriously by adults, both parents and educational staff.

20. Preliminary thematic units Some young people would struggle for words in negotiating victims� experiences, especially boys Some would talk little about the consequences of bullying for victims; rather they would concentrate on adequate ways of dealing with it.

21. Preliminary thematic units Bullying was framed as �fight playing� among boys. Some young people would adopt bullying in order to fit in with the peer group. Some children express little sympathy for victims, arguing that they �should stand up for themselves� and that bullying �toughens up� a weak child who tends to be passive.

22. Preliminary thematic units Some would exhibit nervousness by laughing aloud at seemingly inappropriate times, or underestimating the act itself. Mainly, these were boys and being bullied severely during the previous school years or had witnessed severe domestic abuse.

23. Preliminary thematic units Fear of doing badly at school or in examinations, whilst apparently being unrelated to victimization, causes serious concern for the majority of children.

24. Preliminary thematic units Fear of the imbalance of power on behalf of the head-teacher and some educators. Young people would acknowledge events of victimization and racial discrimination on behalf of some of the educational staff and would feel helpless (prominent in one of the four schools).

25. Preliminary thematic units The children�s rights are not acknowledged in the school setting. An event of school exclusion that occurred during the data collection emerged as a central issue in the children�s accounts regarding school and home relations (1st school). Lack of negotiation.

26. Gender issues Girls tend to have a smaller group of friends than boys do. They expect and receive more commitment, loyalty and empathic understanding from their best friends than boys do, and they are more likely to have intimate, self-disclosing relationships.

27. Gender issues Boys and girls tend to use different means to settle disputes. Girls would use more compromising behaviour and a lot of talk, whereas boys employed more direct, physical forms of aggression as a means of solving their disputes.

28. Gender issues Girls struggle verbally with the complexities of peer relationships, and they talk at length about their situation at school. Discussion and compromise appeared to play a vital role. Boys, in contrast, answer in short bursts, typically referring to a very specific event in their interpersonal issues or brief and clear statements that they don�t understand the issue under discussion.

29. Gender issues Boys and girls are at risk of different types of victimization, with boys experiencing more physical assaults and girls being more vulnerable to other forms of harassment Boys spoke of engaging in bully-like behaviour, but did not define it as bullying.

30. Coping strategies on behalf of the children Dead end: when a young person is offered no resolution to their problem �I told teacher [..] she said that I should not be so sensitive�. Backfiring: �I told my mum but she started shouting at me�. If I tell my teacher, he would send me to the head-teacher�s Circuitous: �I told Ms Helen, she said it�s nothing, then I had to talk to my parents�

31. Coping strategies on behalf of the children Via an intermediary: A girl came over and asked me how she could help her friend Shaped: �I want you to come at school but talk to the head-teacher and not Ms X� Direct: �I went to the head-teacher�s office and he sorted it out�.

32. DISCUSSION Research which seeks the views of children and young people themselves reveals that the majority of young people seem satisfied with their lives; a small but significant proportion report serious unhappiness revolving around problems with friends, tensions with and between parents, and problems with school and personal appearance. Bullying between them emerges as a significant issue for many children. There are important differences between them in terms of their worries and willingness to express these; girls tend to report more worries than boys while older children tend to report more worries than younger children (1st and 3rd grade).

33. DISCUSSION Children�s /young people's help-seeking behaviour is determined by the subjective meaning which they give to events and this is often at variance with what adults might expect. It is not always the originating problem which causes the 'worst experience' but the secrets and difficulties associated with it (Butler and Williamson, 1994, 1996). A lack of information or explanation and a sense of helplessness can create as much, if not more, distress than the original problem itself.

34. DISCUSSION We believe that by listening to the meaning imputed to such experiences by the young people concerned can those seeking to support and help them secure a measure of understanding of how these experiences are affecting them and what they want done about it. Professionals grossly underestimate the meanings imputed to the experiences by the key actors, particularly the children and young people themselves