Bullying And Its Effects On Bystanders

Bullying is defined as the ongoing misuse of power in relationships, through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behaviour that causes physical and/or psychological harm (Bullying NoWay, n.d). In a survey conducted of 20, 830 Australian students, aged between 8 and 14 years, one in four reported to have been bullied weekly (Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2014). Bullying is considered to be a harmful experience for students, as it often results in loss of interest regarding school activities, decreased attendance of school due to fearing bullies at school, increased feelings of sadness and loneliness. In severe cased frequent bulling, can results in developing depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. In the incident of bullying, teachers are often not present at the sight and it is often fellow peers/students who witness the scene. These people on the ‘sideline’ are what are classified as bystanders. A bystander is observes the bulling incidents and is present at the time (Active Bystander Program, 2004) and though most people would assume that bystanders are people who don’t intervene; there are in …show more content…
An action plan was put into place and three sessions were planned out, each with a different purpose. The first session consisted of two peer educators handed out a pre-survey which consisted of eleven multiple choice question and one scenario question in which students of the target group were to select what action they would display in that situation, to assess their pre-existing knowledge. The second session was a 70 minute lesson which focused on educating students and improving student’s attitudes and behaviours in regards to bullying and bystanders. The last session was asking the students to retake the survey to assess how successful the second session was and whether any improvement had been