| Posted: May 05 2005,04:18 |
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PROGRESS: Has your organization seen
progress toward a culture of peace and nonviolence in your domain of
action and in your constituency during the first half of the Decade? |
As
regards tackling bullying, violence and harassment in schools, our
Centre has been very active during 2000 – 2004. As well as our
continued efforts around pre- and in-service training of teachers, a
successful whole-school programme for schools has been piloted in one
county of the country. We have made attempts to implement this
programme on a nationwide basis (see ‘Actions’ section below). Our
Centre has been active in various research partnerships and networks
(see relevant section below), and continues with its day-to-day
function as a research and resource centre for all those interested
within this field.
Research has been carried out and published
in the area of violence and aggression in the workplace, and expertise
brought to Ministerial level working parties as a result. In
addition workshops to train organisations in good working practice with
regards to bullying and other negative behaviours is ongoing
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OBSTACLES: What are the most important obstacles that have prevented progress?
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In
terms of the anti-bullying intervention programmes, particularly that
implemented on a nationwide basis, the main obstacle to progress has
been the lack of support forthcoming from the relevant central
government body (the Department of Education and Science). Funding,
too, is a perennial issue. In Norway, where similar institutions to our
own have implemented similar programmes, and have both governmental
support and adequate finance, great progress has been made.
In
terms of adult situations, it has been notable that both the Employers
and Workers Unions show a marked reluctance to back that which 99% of
all adults surveyed (both affected and non) requested, namely the
making of bullying/aggression in the workplace answerable to under the
law.
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ACTIONS: What actions have been
undertaken by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence during the first half of the Decade?
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I
established the Anti-Bullying Research and Resource Centre in the
Department of Education, Trinity College, Dublin in January, 1996. The
Centre provides training, investigatory and advisory services to those
concerned with the issues of schools-based and workplace bullying.
As
far as work on schools issues goes between 2000 and 2005, we have done
much to build upon a nationwide survey of bullying behaviour in schools
I undertook in 1993 – 1997, in which it was found that 31.3 % of
primary children and 15.6% of post-primary children reported being
bullied, and that bullying behaviour existed in every county in the
Republic of Ireland. The year 2000 saw the completion of the Donegal
Primary Schools Anti-Bullying Programme, which utilised the following
framework:
(i) the training of a network of professionals;
(ii)
the production of a teachers’ resource pack, and staff training by the
professional network;
(iii) the production of a parents’ information leaflet, and parents information
evenings;
(iv) a consultancy role for professional network members throughout the
duration of the programme.
The
staff and pupils of forty-two schools were involved. A network of
professionals (eleven teachers) was trained to co-ordinate the
anti-bullying programme in the schools, their subsequent activities
involving training teachers (a total of 197) and parents in three to
five schools each. Significant reductions were found in pupils’ reports
of having been victimised after the implementation of the programme
(19.6 per cent fewer were victimised within the last school term; 43.0
per cent fewer were victimised within the last five school days; 50.0
per cent fewer were frequently victimised within the last school term).
Significant reductions were also found in pupils’ reports of having
bullied others after the implementation of the programme (17.3 per cent
fewer had taken part in bullying others within the last school term;
51.8 per cent fewer had taken part in bullying others within the last
five school days; 69.2 per cent fewer had frequently bullied others
within the last school term).
It was decided to implement the
same model that had been successfully piloted in one region of the
country (Donegal) on a nationwide basis. In the current Nationwide
Intervention Programme, where possible, each of the twenty full-time
Education Centre regions in Ireland has a primary and post-primary
representative within the professional network. Trinity College Dublin
has developed a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Aggression Studies),
thus providing a means of accreditation for the professionals who have
successfully completed the training.
Between October 2003 and
March 2004, data packages and training materials were developed, and
the professional network was trained between April and October 2004.
During the past school year (September 2004 – June 2005, the
intervention programme has been implemented by the professional
network, and its success is to be evaluated over autumn / winter 2005 /
2006. Some of the materials that were prepared for the training of the
professional network were re-edited, and published as a training manual
by the UK publisher, Paul Chapman Publishing, entitled ‘Dealing with
Bullying in Schools: A Training Manual for Teachers, Parents and Other
Professionals’. Our chief problem is that we have not received even the
minimal level of expected support from our government’s Department of
Education and Science, and the implementation of the programme has
thereby been quite considerably compromised.
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ADVICE: What advice would you like to
give to the Secretary-General and the General Assembly to promote a
culture of peace and nonviolence during the second half of the Decade? |
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PARTNERSHIPS: What partnerships and
networks does your organization participate in, thus strengthening the
global movement for a culture of peace? |
Schools:
From 1998 – 2002, the EU implemented a series of ‘CONNECT’ initiatives,
six of which were designed to research the routes the reduction of
violent behaviour in schools. I was a partner in three of these: the UK
Initiative (‘Tackling Violence in Schools on a European wide basis’);
the Portugal Initiative (‘Developing a new culture in Europe of
Negotiation and Consensus in the face of violence in the school, the
family and the community’); the Italy Initiative (‘Creating a European
Partnership to pursue the investigation and prevention of violence in
schools’), and contributed to a fourth – the Finland Initiative
(‘Comprehensive Mental Health Promotion Approach’). I am presently a
partner within the VISTA (‘Violence in Schools Training and Action’)
project, a Comenius 2.1 initiative which developed from the CONNECT
projects, with colleagues in Belgium, Bulgaria, Norway, Spain and the
United Kingdom.
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PLANS: What new engagements are
planned by your organization to promote a culture of peace and
nonviolence in the second half of the Decade (2005-2010)? |
To be entered
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Postal address of organization
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Anti-Bullying Centre, TCD
Room 3133,
Education Department
Arts Building
Trinity College Dublin
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E-mail address of organization
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lmcguire@tcd.ie
momoore@tcd.ie
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Website address of organization
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www.abc.tcd.ie
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Highest priority action domain of a culture of peace
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Education for a culture of peace
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Second priority action domain of a culture of peace
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Understanding, tolerance, solidarity
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Highest priority country of action (or international)
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Ireland
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Second priority country of action (or international)
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Europe
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