The first steps for educators is to work together to define bullying and establish meaningful consequences for bullying. Find out from students their thoughts on bullying in their school. Discover where students think the safe and unsafe areas of the school are. Have regular dialogue between teachers about what types of behavior they are seeing among students identified as possible bullies. Include all staff in training about bullying since playgrounds, lunchrooms or other areas are often bully zones.
School psychologist Jim Wright recommends that it is important for teachers to act immediately when they witness an act of bullying, to intervene and stop it. Report the act to the administration as well. Often it is wise to contact the family of the bully to address this behavior. Always respond to reported bullying in order to send a message to both victims and bullies that bullying is taken seriously and never ignored. Whenever possible, confront a bully in private.
Be especially careful to watch over students who are likely targets of bullying, such as children of smaller stature, those who are different from the majority of students, and those who have weaker social skills or few or no friends. Set up a safe room that is always staffed or monitored by adults. Help victims or potential victims have social connections by involving them in group or paired activities with students who are socially well-adjusted and empathetic adolescents. Have the victim paired up with an adult mentor to build a child's confidence and social skills. Teach children assertiveness skills and practice role play activities.
Bullying involves a bully, a victim and more than likely, an audience. These onlookers can play a key role in stopping bullying behaviors. Onlookers are not always innocent bystanders. Many times they actually encourage or even assist bullies. To change this troubling behavior, train students to understand their role in bullying and how preventing bullying benefits the entire student body. Teach them how to stand up to bullies on victims' behalf and that, if they do nothing or worse -- laugh or otherwise encourage bullying -- they are participating in bullying themselves.
Perhaps the biggest area where students can feel like they are passive about bullying is with cyberbullying. Using posts or emails or other social media techniques, students may hide their identity while taunting, teasing or slandering other children. Teach children about responsible use of electronic media in social contexts and the consequences of cyberbullying.