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Learn how to recognize, prevent and respond to signs of bullying in school.
English
French-language content for this topic on Alberta.ca is currently being developed. Information will remain available on the Alberta Education website until this is complete.
Français
La page correspondante en français est en cours de préparation sur le site Web Alberta.ca. Pendant cette période de transition, l'information qu'elle contient demeure disponible sur le site Web du ministère de l'Éducation.
Call the 24 hour Bullying Prevention Helpline at 1-888-456-2323 (toll-free in Alberta) for advice and strategies on bullying prevention and building healthy relationships.
Bullying is a repeated and hostile or demeaning behaviour intended to cause harm, fear or distress, including psychological harm or harm to a person's reputation. It often involves an imbalance of social or physical power.
Bullying behaviours are a form of aggression and can be:
Below are some warning signs to help identify if a person may be engaging in bullying behaviour:
Bullying is the misuse of power intended to harm or humiliate someone else. People of all ages may engage in bullying behaviours.
Bullying behaviour is not the same as hurting someone's feelings if there is no misuse of power or a deliberate intent to cause harm. It is important to support individuals to understand the difference between these behaviours as part of learning how to build healthy relationships.
Bullying behaviour is sometimes confused with conflict. Conflict is a disagreement about different beliefs, ideas, feelings or actions. It is a normal part of healthy relationships. For example, friends may disagree over which movie to see or what game to play. Learning skills to resolve conflict appropriately is very important for building and maintaining positive relationships.
Homophobic Bullying: Tip Sheet for Youth
Homophobic Bullying: Tip Sheet for Parents/Guardians
Respect in School is an online training program to help prevent abuse, bullying, harassment and discrimination in schools. It educates participants on their legal duty of care and supports our goal of creating safe and respectful learning environments for all students.
Training is available in English and French for:
Contact your local school authority to access training.
Government will give grant funding of $1.2 million over 4 years to Respect Group Inc. to make this program available.
People don’t always speak up when they’re being bullied. They may feel embarrassed, afraid or at risk of being isolated. Children and youth who are the target of bullying behaviour often lack healthy relationships with peers and/or adults.
Warning signs may include:
Bullying can cause serious harm. Individuals may experience physical symptoms, social isolation or increased difficulty with school achievement.
When bullying behaviour leads to toxic stress, it can negatively impact a child’s developing brain and result in behavioural and social-emotional difficulties.
Widespread bullying behaviour creates an environment of fear and hostility that negatively impacts the feelings, social experience and learning of all students.
Bullying behaviours are learned and should not be considered a ‘normal part of growing up.’ Without intervention, bullying behaviours tend to remain constant or escalate rather than improve as individuals get older. The type of bullying behaviour changes as children grow older and can differ between boys and girls.
Bullying behaviour is very much a group phenomenon – 85% of bullying takes place in the presence of others. By providing students with the skills and confidence to intervene, either in the moment or afterwards, schools can take a significant step toward stopping bullying behaviour.
Intervening in a bullying incident generally stops the behaviour and sends a message that it is not acceptable. When intervening:
Bullying prevention is an ongoing, collaborative, problem-solving process that is an essential part of creating welcoming, caring, respectful and safe learning environments. It requires a comprehensive approach — there are no single solutions.
Healthy relationships and bullying is everyone’s business and it takes an ongoing community effort to create safe and supportive learning environments. Adult leadership is the foundation for creating proactive and responsive bullying prevention strategies and modelling healthy relationships.
Building a common understanding will make everyone aware of the importance of healthy relationships and how to nurture them, what bullying behaviour looks like, how it effects people and how to respond to and prevent it.
Surveys and interviews can provide helpful data for tailoring a plan and serving as a baseline for future information gathering.
Notice when a student is bullied or left out and incorporate ways of changing attitudes and behaviours into daily life. Bullying tends to thrive in locations where adults are not present. Schools need to be strategic about using adult supervision to decrease bullying behaviour.
Students need clear instruction related to social-emotional competencies. They also need to know how to prevent, stand up to and stop bullying behaviour and have the confidence to effectively respond to bullying behaviour in different contexts.
Promoting healthy relationships and implementing bullying prevention strategies should be ongoing. Strategies should be reviewed, evaluated for effectiveness and adjusted regularly.
Before developing specific plans or activities, it is important to find out how much and what type of bullying behaviour is currently happening. It may also be helpful to gather information on skills and attitudes related to healthy relationships. Schools can use surveys, class discussions, interviews, discussions with school staff and structured observations to gather data.
Bullying behaviour can continue when students leave the school grounds. It can happen in all environments and parents/caregivers are an important adult presence. Parents/caregivers are also their children’s primary teachers about healthy relationships. It is important to involve parents and provide them with resources to help recognize and prevent bullying behaviour and promote healthy relationships.
Although students should never be left to solve their own problems with bullying behaviour, it is important that they actively participate in counteracting bullying in schools. It is crucial that they understand that the purpose and importance of these strategies is to create a welcoming, caring, respectful and safe learning environment for all.
A statement creates a shared understanding among staff, parents/caregivers and students and communicates a unified vision and commitment to a welcoming, caring, respectful and safe learning environment.
Use the collected data from students, staff and parents to create actions for:
For example, increase the adult presence in key areas or adopt active supervision techniques.
An effective intervention and response plan has 4 goals:
A response plan can include guidelines and strategies for:
Continue to collect and analyze relevant data to inform decisions about what is working, what is not and successes that can be celebrated.
These websites provide information on different types of bullying, helplines, events and initiatives.
Alberta Family Wellness Initiative
Alberta's Plan for Promoting Healthy Relationships and Preventing Bullying
PolicyWise for Children and Families: Supporting Every Student Learning Series
PREVNet: Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network
The Society for Safe and Caring Schools & Communities
Plans for bullying prevention will look different at different schools, depending on the needs of students and the resources and priorities of the school community.
The importance of healthy relationships is mentioned in the school mission statement and is reinforced in the school’s code of conduct. The code of conduct is displayed throughout the school and key aspects are highlighted at monthly assemblies. Teachers work together across grade levels to include specific social emotional competencies in the Kindergarten to Grade 9 Health and Life Skills Program of Studies, revisiting key skills at each grade level.
All students in Kindergarten to Grade 3 are introduced to basic strategies for:
Grades 4 to 6 focus on leadership skills, including:
School staff spend time before the start of the school year to plan for more active supervision throughout the year. A group of teachers review data from year-end student surveys and office referrals data. They identify ‘hot spots’ in and around the school where bullying behaviour is most likely to occur and when it is most likely to occur. They develop strategies to increase adult presence and maximize supervision.
All staff participate in a two-hour interactive workshop discussing, practicing and reflecting on specific supervision strategies including:
A module on respectful communication is included in the Kindergarten to Grade 9 Health and Life Skills Program of Studies. An overview of the learning objectives, content and strategies are shared at a staff meeting. In addition, the Student Council commits to organizing three school-wide events to promote healthy relationships and bullying prevention. Staff members commit to reinforcing respectful communication across environments and throughout the year.
This year’s student advisory focuses on attributes of healthy relationships and how they contribute to the prevention of bullying behaviour. This is reinforced by structured in-class discussions. A core group of staff develop sample activities and reflection questions for teachers to use.
Coaches and extra-curricular advisors work together to model and reinforce positive interactions throughout all student activities. They also provide orientation sessions for student representatives from each club, team and activity.
These student leaders are involved in helping:
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