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McGuinty Government Launches Innovative Bullying Prevention Strategy
TORONTO, Nov. 16 /CNW/ - The government's new bullying prevention
strategy will help to prevent bullying and tackle its causes, Education
Minister Gerard Kennedy said today.
"Bullying is an underestimated and pervasive problem," said Kennedy. "It
is a proven precursor to violent behaviour and is never acceptable in
Ontario's schools or communities."
As part of a comprehensive bullying prevention strategy, the government
is investing $23 million over three years to reduce incidents and
fundamentally change attitudes toward the phenomenon of bullying.
A 2003 provincial survey of Grade 7 to 12 students, conducted by the
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, found that one in three students
reported being bullied at school. Bullying may include verbal, physical or
social forms of bullying in varying degrees.
"The province will dramatically step-up the fight against bullying by
providing schools with the Action Plans, training and resources to implement
effective bullying prevention programs," said MPP Liz Sandals, Parliamentary
Assistant to Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services Monte
Kwinter and Safe Schools Action Team Lead.
The strategy also includes:
- An ongoing $1 million partnership with Kids Help Phone to expand the
24-hour hotline's ability to respond and counsel anonymously to calls
and online questions from students about bullying
- A new provincial registry of effective bullying prevention programs
recommended and meeting criteria of the Safe Schools Action Team.
Some components of the programs will include awareness campaigns,
in-school anonymous reporting mechanisms and safe peer intervention
techniques
- Mandatory bullying prevention programs in every school in Ontario.
Funding of $1,500 to $2,000 per school for staff training and
resources to create an in-house safe schools team, composed of
students, teachers, principal and parents, to establish an approved
bullying prevention program that meets the individual needs of the
school according to their school culture
- A $1 million High Challenge grant, available by application for
schools with identified additional challenges
Today's announcement responds to the recommendations of a bullying
prevention report prepared by the Safe Schools Action Team released today. The
team's report was developed following province-wide consultations. Other
members of the Action Team include leading safe schools experts, Dr. Debra
Pepler, Stu Auty and Ray Hughes.
"This partnership with the Ontario Government will enhance our ability to
provide immediate, confidential support to students and help curb the effects
of bullying at school and in our communities," said Graham Lute, VP, Marketing
and Fund Development, National Office, Kids Help Phone. "The funding will also
allow us to hire additional counsellors, provide increased training and
improve the response times on our online counselling service."
"The effectiveness of bullying prevention programs relies, in part, on
the ability to empower students to lead the charge of changing attitudes in
their schools," said Kennedy. "Students need to be freed of the fear of
bullying to create the best possible environment for student learning and
achievement. The hotline and the new programs are giving students a place to
turn for help."
Studies show that when peers intervene positively, they are effective in
stopping the bullying within 10 seconds, 57 per cent of the time.
Disponible en français.
www.edu.gov.on.ca
www.resultsontario.gov.on.ca
Backgrounder
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Provincial Bullying Prevention Strategy
Bullying is an underestimated and pervasive problem in Ontario schools
and communities. For the first time, the Ontario government is launching a
provincial bullying prevention strategy as part of its Safe Schools Action
Plan to dramatically step-up the fight against bullying.
What is bullying and why is it such a serious problem?
Bullying is a dynamic of unhealthy interaction. It is a form of repeated
aggression used from a position of power. It can be physical, verbal or
social.
Facts About Bullying:
- According to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, of the
nearly two million students attending 4,700 schools in Ontario,
approximately one in three students in Grades 7 to 12 reports having
been bullied at school
- According to a recent Canadian Initiative for the Prevention of
Bullying study:
- One in five children who are bullied suffer in silence rather that
seek help
- Twenty per cent of children who are bullied endure the bullying
for two or more years
- Eighty-five per cent of bullying episodes are observed on school
playgrounds and peers are part of the problem three-quarters of
the time
- Bystanders spend 53 per cent of the time passively watching and
22 per cent of the time helping the bully
- When peers intervene, 57 per cent of the time bullying stops
within 10 seconds
What is the government doing?
As part of its comprehensive bullying prevention strategy, the government
is investing $23 million over three years to reduce incidents of bullying and
change attitudes around the phenomenon of bullying.
Bullying Prevention Strategy Components
Partnership with Kids Help Phone
An ongoing $1 million partnership with Kids Help Phone will expand the 24-
hour hotline's ability to respond and counsel anonymously to calls and online
questions from students about bullying. The funding will also allow Kids Help
Phone to hire additional counsellors, provide increased training and improve
the response times on the online counselling service.
Kids Help Phone is Canada's only toll-free, 24-hour, bilingual and
anonymous phone and web counselling, referral and information service for
children and youth. Every day, professional counsellors provide immediate,
caring support to young people in urban and rural communities across the
country. Last year, counsellors helped more than 122,000 children in 682
Ontario communities. Children and teens phone or post online questions about
issues including physical, sexual and emotional abuse, bullying, drugs and
suicide.
Bullying Prevention Programs
To ensure there is an effective bullying prevention program in every
publicly funded Ontario school, the government will:
- Provide funding of $1,500 to $2,000 per school for training and
resources and to create an in-house safe schools team, composed of
students, teachers, principal and parents, to establish a bullying
prevention program that meets the individual needs of their school
culture
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Sample Programs identified by the Safe School Action Team:
Roots of Empathy
The Roots of Empathy is a classroom-based parenting program designed for
elementary school students. The program features a monthly classroom
visit by an infant and parent. The goals of Roots of Empathy are to
increase levels of empathy in children by developing an appreciation and
understanding of human development.
Steps to Respect
Classroom teachers deliver the skill lessons and literature units to
Grades 3-5 or 4-6. Children learn and practice bullying prevention
skills, including how to recognize, refuse, and report bullying, and how
to make friends. In the primary grades, classroom teachers deliver an
introductory lesson on bullying.
Imagine a School without Bullying
Each school that participates in Imagine will develop its own bullying
prevention action plan, tailored to meet its needs, according to its own
school culture. Imagine is a comprehensive elementary school program.
The Fourth R
Fourth R initiatives use best practice approaches to target multiple
forms of violence, including bullying, dating violence, peer violence,
and group violence.
Cool Heads in the Zone
This interactive CD-ROM features live action video depicting six bullying
scenarios, a variety of positive interventions, and teacher-friendly
resources and assessment tools.
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What makes a bullying prevention program effective?
A good bullying program:
- Defines bullying
- Identifies different forms of bullying
- Addresses specific issues identified in schools
- Focuses on healthy relationships, and explains the bullying dynamic
- Includes training materials and guides for educators, students,
parents, and school staff on the issue of bullying and bullying
prevention strategies
- Takes a multi-faceted approach: school-wide education (targets the
whole school community and is embedded in the curriculum); routine
interventions (specifies strategies for students involved in bullying
and victims of bullying); and intensive interventions (identifies
supports for students involved in repeated bullying and
victimization, with possible recourse to community/social service
resources)
- Is systemic (with parents, peers, classes, staff, and the wider
community) and ongoing (integrated into daily classroom activities in
reading, art, and other curriculum elements)
- Includes interventions and supports for students who are bullied and
those who bully
- Has safe intervention programs for bystanders
- Helps to develop protocols for safe reporting of bullying incidents
- Has an evaluation component
Safe Schools Action Teams
Every school will establish a Safe Schools Action Team that will be
composed of a majority of students and a teacher, principal and parent
representative. The Team will be instrumental in choosing the bullying
prevention program their school will use based on the unique needs of their
school culture. The Team's co-ordinator will work with the school board and
ministry Safe Schools Co-ordinator to help set up the bullying prevention
program and training.
Online Bullying Prevention Program Registry
The government will establish a centralized registry of programs
recommended by the Safe Schools Action Team. Schools and school boards from
across the province will be able to access effective bullying prevention
programs. School boards and other safe schools organizations will be able to
apply to have their program listed on the site. Some components of the
programs will include awareness campaigns, in-school anonymous reporting
mechanisms, safe peer intervention techniques and evaluation processes.
Safe Schools Implementation Co-ordinator
The government will appoint a ministry Safe Schools Implementation
Co-ordinator to help schools and boards share best practices. The co-ordinator
will provide a centralized service for school boards by providing ongoing
support, resources, and expertise on bullying prevention and intervention
strategies.
Meeting Additional Needs
The government will provide a $1 million High Challenge Grant that
schools with identified additional challenges can apply for.
Collaborative Action
The Safe Schools Action Team identified that a collaborative approach
across ministries is essential for successful prevention initiatives. The
government's plan is designed to ensure that students, teachers, staff,
principals, parents and the larger community are motivated to keep their
schools safe - and that they have the tools necessary. The Ministry of
Children and Youth Services provided $25 million in 2004-05, which grew to
$38 million in 2005-06 to expand existing programs and create new mental
health programs for at-risk children. These community based programs deliver
help to children in distress.
Safe Schools Action Plan and Team
On December 14, 2004, the McGuinty government launched a comprehensive
prevention-based plan to deal with known safety issues in our schools. An
Action Team of safe schools leading experts was appointed to advise on the
implementation of new measures to protect students.
Liz Sandals, Parliamentary Assistant to Minister of Community Safety and
Correctional Services Monte Kwinter, is leading the team of experts including:
Dr. Debra Pepler - Professor of Psychology at York University, a
psychologist at the Hospital for Sick Children and holds a Senior Research
Fellowship from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation. She leads the Canadian
Initiative for the Prevention of Bullying, funded by the National Crime
Prevention Strategy.
Stu Auty - Former chair of the Ontario Safe School Task Force and
founding President of the Canadian Safe school Network and has worked in the
education field as a teacher, counsellor and school administrator for more
than 30 years.
Ray Hughes - National Education Coordinator, Centre For Prevention
Science with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. He is the past
Learning Coordinator for Violence Prevention with the Thames Valley District
School Board where he coordinated the implementation of violence prevention
programs for 190 schools and 80,000 students.
Safe Schools Action Team Bullying Prevention Report
The Action Team held nine consultations across Ontario to consult
educators, police, parents, students, student advocates, youth and children's
services workers, health care professionals, existing bullying prevention
groups and others. The information from the consultation was used to create
Shaping Safer Schools: A bullying prevention action plan report. The report
includes recommendations to make Ontario's schools safer through a
comprehensive, province-wide bullying prevention program.
The Safe Schools Action plan also includes the recently announced
elementary school safe welcome program including security access devices and
school safety audits.
Next Steps in the Safe Schools Action Plan
Safe Schools Act Review
The government is launching a complete review of the Safe Schools Act.
The review will include public consultations starting November 21, 2005. These
consultations will help the ministry better understand how the act could be
improved.
A Review of Justice Sydney Robins' Recommendations
The government is moving forward on a more thorough review of Justice
Sydney Robins' recommendations on the prevention of sexual misconduct in
Ontario schools.
Disponible en français
www.edu.gov.on.ca
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For further information: Contacts: Amanda Alvaro, Minister's Office, (416) 325-2632, (416) 509-5696 (cell); Wilma Davis, Communications Branch, (416) 325-6730; Public Inquiries: (416) 325-2929 or 1-800-387-5514, TTY: 1-800-263-2892
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