The Problem . . The Challenge . . The Tools . . The Solution . . !

The Challenge: Have you ever wished you could contribute to reducing bullying in your school? Where would you begin? There is a lot of information available as to the nature of bullying, where, why and how it takes place, the damage it does and the urgency of preventing it. Bullied students and their parents are always, and rightly advised to report bullying to teachers. However, there has been a scarcity of both training and ready-made, easy-to-use practical tools that busy teachers in secondary schools (age 12-18) can use to minimise bullying and to deal with incidents when they arise.

The Tools: We are offering secondary teachers ready-made downloadable anti-bullying tools for each year-group in their schools and an easy-to-follow school-wide framework in which to use them. We have been developing or adapting them since 2004 in Coláiste Éanna, Ballyroan Rd., Dublin 16, Ireland (a school in the Edmund Rice Schools Trust - formerly C.B.S.). We have been guided in our efforts by the wisdom of such well-known writers and researchers in this field as Dr. Mona O'Moore (Ireland), Dr. Dan Olweus (Norway) and Dr. Ken Rigby (Australia). This development is ongoing. We offer what we have to colleagues, encouraged by the fact that by using them in our school both the number of students bullied and the intensity of bullying incidents were significantly reduced. We offer them free of charge because we believe that student welfare, safety and happiness are rights that should not have a price-tag. Indeed, we hope that any other teachers who have useful anti-bullying tools/resources will share these with us, and through this website with colleagues in other schools, on the same basis - a kind of teachers' anti-bullying co-operative. Then students can benefit even more.

The Solution: Using these tools bullying can be minimised and students who bully can be reformed, bystanders can become more vigilant and supportive of targeted students and the lives of targeted students can be made a lot happier. There will probably always be some bullying in schools, as elsewhere, but using these tools a culture of the Three "R"s can be developed in schools, a culture where bullying is Recognised, Rejected and Reported. These tools can then help teachers respond effectively to such reports. But these tools are not a "quick-fix" solution to bullying. They depend for their effectiveness on the willingness of teachers to use them. There is work involved but the tools we offer are ready-made to facilitate this "front line" work with minimum time lost by teachers on planning and preparation. We believe that no work teachers do is more important than this.