Education
What plans does her department have to root out bullying at schools?
The WCED regards “bullying” as unacceptable and as a form of abuse which may lead to more serious forms of abuse in later life.
The WCED therefore, has developed a multi-tiered system for dealing with “bullying” in our schools, namely:
- Systemic Intervention
Education White Paper No.6, entitled “Special Needs Education – Building an Inclusive Education and Training System”, recognises that “all children can learn and that all children need support”. Furthermore, it recognises that “psycho-social disturbances” and “particular life experiences” may well result in barriers to learning and development for some children.
The Department of Basic Education has a pamphlet on their web-site entitled, “Bullying at School – Tips for parents and schools”, which contains information on what schools can do, what parents can do and warning signs of children being bullied.
The WCED has a link on the web-site to a practical guide for schools, entitled: “Learner Discipline and School Management”. Within this guide is a section relating to “bullying”, outlining specific information on: types of bullying; consequences of and prevention of bullying.
All schools must develop and adopt a Code of Conduct, developed by all role players in the school, to ensure that the School Management Team, School Governing Body and Learners agree on the standards of conduct and behaviour expected at their sch
The Life Orientation curriculum addresses behaviour and issues such as the expression of feelings as early as the Foundation Phase. This is an important psychological step for any learners who are being bullied as they need to disclose the bullying to a caring adult for any intervention to be implemented. Later modules cover critical life skills areas such as : building a positive self-esteem ; promotion of a healthy lifestyle ; decision-making ; conflict resolution ; peer pressure ; safety strategies etc.
- Preventative Programmes
The WCED regards “bullying” as a form of abuse and this is addressed in the 2014 edition of the “Abuse No MoreProtocol”, which provides schools with guidelines on how to deal effectively with all forms of child abuse, physical abuse, emotional and psychological abuse, deliberate neglect as well as sexual offences against children. This was circulated to all schools as Circular 0031/2014 in July 20
The Safe Schools Programme within the Directorate: Institutional Management and Governance Planning is very involved in trying to modify the behaviour of aggressive and violent learners in order to secure safer school environments for all learners. Learners who are being bullied at school can phone the Safe Schools’ Call Centre on the toll-free number: 0800 45 46 47 for assistance.
- School-level intervention
Psychologists and Counsellors from the Directorate : Inclusive and Specialised Education Support are based at the District Offices and provide training for Educators in a variety of programmes, such as : understanding behaviour ; the Circle of Courage ; managing misbehaviour in the classroom ; ‘connecting’ with troubled learners ; leadership training ; and adopting “restorative” codes of conduct. They also provide training programmes for Learners covering areas such as : anti-violence programmes ; specific training in anti-bullying strategies ; anger management strategies; ‘diversion’ programmes for learners at-risk of suspension or expulsion etc.
In addition, the Psychologists and Counsellors as well as School Social Workers provide individual and/or group counselling and therapeutic support to learners who report that they are being bullied.
Safe Schools have been training educators as Master trainers in the Addressing Bullying in Schools programme. The training for educators is conducted by a multi-functional district team which includes SLES, Safe Schools, IMG and CTM. This training programme forms part of the National School Safety Framework. Safe Schools have also been training learners in Anti-bullying programmes as part of the WCED’s after- school and holiday programmes.
All schools are encouraged to develop effective School-Based Support Teams [SBST] in order to provide an avenue of support for Educators who have to deal with learners who are experiencing or manifesting barriers to learning in their classrooms.
- Parent training
Staff from the Specialised Learners and Educator Support [SLES] component in the districts regularly conducts parenting skills training workshops at schools as well as providing information on effective child-rearing pract
- Partnerships
Bullying is not an issue which WCED schools can address in isolation without collaboration with other role-players in society. Partnerships have thus been developed at district-level with other Government Departments as well as a number of NGOs and CBOs.
In conclusion, the WCED strives to foster values such as respect and tolerance in order to buid a new society based on the values enshrined in the Constitution. Thus in all our actions, the WCED tries to ensure that our learners acquire the necessary knowledge, skills and values which they need to contribute to society, through life skills training, and by encouraging our schools to adopt an ethos that respects human dignity at all times. Through the various programmes which have been introduced, the WCED engages school management, curriculum development, school psychological support, school social work support, school governance structures and school safety structures to ensure that learners are encouraged toward a positive discipline that promotes a caring culture within all school communities.
