Online Discussion 3: Bullying

Use the following question to write your post on.
Bullying is a serious problem in Canada and needs to be addressed as it is causing emotional, social, cognitive and behavioral problems for individuals. According to the Canadian Psychological Association research completed in 2016 75% of children in grades 6-10 reported being bullied at some point over a two month period. Individuals in this study reported that they were either bullied, bullied others or participated in both behaviors.
Before starting your post on bullying you need to acquire an understanding of the current issue of bullying. Please read through the information in your text relating to bullying and social competence. Once you have completed your reading in the text you can move onto the two attached journal articles entitled Psychology Works Fact sheet: bullying among children and youth and School leadership and counselors working together to address bullying. Once you have completed your readings you are ready to begin to write your online discussion post.
bullying.pdf
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PsychologyWorksFactSheet_BullyingChildren.pdf
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The school that you are currently working for has concerns relating to bullying and have approached you to write a 500 word proposal for the administration about implementing a bullying program. In this proposal you are to focus on the importance of developing this program and the multifaceted approach that is needed to implement the program.
Assignment Guidelines:
Students are expected to write a 400-500-word response (about ¾ to one typed page in length) to the question (using at least one empirical reference incorporated into their response) and submit it online. You are required to read and provide constructive comments for two random posts online. Comments must be constructive rather than destructive remember that ALL students are also being evaluated on the QUALITY of feedback that they provide to their peers – so make it count! Each post is worth 5% of your final grade. Students are graded out of 25 points and are evaluated based on the following criteria:
a) Was the paper written clearly and did the author make clear arguments that were backed up with facts (5 points)
b) Did the author use additional resources (minimum one) to support their arguments and was this done effectively (5 points)
c) Did the author answer the discussion/research question appropriately (5 points)
d) Overall impression (sentence structure, fluidity, grammar, spelling) (5 points)
e) Responses to other students posts minimum of two responses (5 points)

EXAMPLE
Hello faculty,
Some concerns have been raised about the increase of bullying at our school and I believe that it is time to implement some policies and programs in order to help reduce this problem. According to a study done by the Canadian Psychological Association (2016), around 75% of people ranging from grade 6 to 10 report being involved in bullying in the past two months – meaning they were either a bully, a victim, or a bystander. A study also found that, between 44 schools, bullying rates had decreased 20%-23% after anti-bullying programs were implemented. Being bullied can have serious long-term effects on kids such as depression, substance abuse, and, in extreme cases, suicide. Surprisingly, the bullies often experience long-term effects as well, such as: increased criminal behavior, aggression that can lead to date aggression, and a higher academic dropout rate. Additionally, it is not only the bully and the victim who are affected by bullying, but also others like the bystanders and the defenders. In an article by Austin et al (n.d.) it stated that bystanders can suffer from guilt for not helping the victim and, in most instances, the more bystanders around the longer the bullying continues. The defenders who try to intervene in the situation are also at risk as they can potentially get hurt, thereby making the situation worse and potentially turning the bully on them. In order for this program to be successful, all staff at our school should be trained in how to prevent and intervene in a bullying situation. This will help educate our staff on how to safely deescalate a situation and how to recognize the signs of someone who is potentially being bullied. Another important approach is to reach out to the parents and supply them with information on how to talk to their kids about bullying and give them tips on how to recognize if their kids are involved in bullying. Austin et al (n.d.) also stated that rewarding kids for non-aggressive or non-violent behavior can help reduce the number of kids who believe that violence is okay. For the students, by implementing an anonymous system where they can report bullying and seek counseling without their peers finding out will go a long way. Oftentimes, victims are scared to come forward as they do not want their bully to find out and potentially treat them worse than before. If we stress the importance of the impact of bullying on all children involved, including the bystanders and the defenders, it may help children realize that they are more impacted by the bullying around them than they originally believe. By educating the faculty, the parents, and the children in this program, there is a much better chance of lowering the rate of bullying and reducing the rate of children scared to come to school because of it.
Austin et al. (n.d.) School leadership and counselors working together to address bullying. Project Innovation Inc. (188-195)
Tang et al. (2016). “Psychology works” fact sheet: Bullying among children and youth. Canadian Psychological Association.

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