INTRODUCTION to the Box and Interview method

Before any anti-bullying system is seriously considered in a school, the Principal should consider inviting in an expert to give a talk to staff, a talk to students and a talk to parents on the general question of the existence of bullying in schools. It is highly improbable that there is any school in existence anywhere in which some form of bullying does not go completely undetected. The person who in my opinion is most expert in this domain in Ireland is Dr Brendan Byrne, if you can get a hold of him. His illustrated talks are convincing and easy to listen to.

However, talks and consciousness raising, seminars and books, however good, will not stop the bullying that is happening right now.  I have listened to several radio interviews and have heard the question asked somewhere in the middle of the programme:  What can be done to stop it?  The answers to this question are not good.

When I was asked to devise a system for my own school I read the experts' opinions and came up with a number of recommendations, e.g. an anti-bullying week, an anti-bullying poster competition (with posters later displayed in classrooms), role play and drama, talks by Principal and individual teachers, one day seminar with invited speaker, use of vido and tapes, night talks for parents. I named all of these to three neighbours' children who, I knew,  were being bullied in three different schools and they stayed silent.  When I made the last recommendation - the Box and Interview method as described here, all three of them came to life and said "That's the one!"  The Box and Interview method comprised for me and for them as near as one could get to a watertight, fail-safe system.

Two things necessary

In schools, it is absolutely necessary (1) to be aware that  the bullying exists and  (2) to have a tool available to stop it in its tracks. To have one of these two elements covered without the other is a waste of time and may even do more damage than good.

(1)In spite of the statistics for Ireland, many school Principals and staff are unaware that there is a problem in their own schools. How often do you hear in a staffroom: "One thing I'll say about this school is that we're blessed we don't have a bullying problem!".  The sad thing is that it is easy to be unaware of the problem but difficult to find out. The use of the Box, as described here, if faithfully and conscientiously followed, will uncover the bullying situation.

(2)How often, as in the Radio programmes mentioned above, do you hear the question asked "But how do you stop it?"   My answer is the Interview described here and the follow-up interviews also described here.  Again, if the method is followed (and it has been tried out) it should work.

The first year or two will be the most difficult.  After all, the problem is an age-old one which has not been faced up to, because of the enormity of the task. It is not easy to turn back what has been accepted as normal for centuries. In a way, it is like attempting to turn back the sea.

At least, that is true at the beginning, and if everyone were not prepared to work at it. I mean by everyone the school principal, the vice-principal, all assistant principals, staff (teaching and other), parents and a healthy majority of the student body.

The amazing thing about the student body is this: If you talk to any class about the unfairness of bullying, mention a recorded incident of a child going home night after night and crying himself or herself to sleep, ask them do they agree with you that this is unfair, that this should not be allowed to happen, you will find very few in disagreement. My own experience has been that 27 out of 30 will shoot a hand up enthusiastically and three stragglers will put up a hand reluctantly, only because everyone else does. These three may or may not be bullies themselves. There may be among them someone who is being bullied and who is afraid to respond positively. Or they may be slow at responding to any question at all.

This brings me to the most amazing finding that I have made over the years with regard to bullying. It's far too easy to make a mistake in identifying who is at fault. The most personable of your students, the ones who offer to go on errands for you, the most popular in the class, the best sportspeople etc may turn out to be the most sinister of bullies. This is a disappointing discovery when you make it; but it is a most important one. You will also be surprised to find that students who are often named in dispatches to the Head as "troublemakers" are, in fact, undergoing the most severe forms of bullying from a peer, undetected. You cannot begin any bullying system with built-in prejudices. The important starting point for any new system to counter bullying behaviour is to start with a completely clean sheet. In the Box and Interview method, you will build up a very definite picture of the state of bullying within your school within one school year period. Over the same period, you will have done a lot to turn back the tide. The first year is therefore crucial

The method I am about to describe is not original in all its details but may be if taken in its entirety. If you want a quick summary of it before you read it in detail, it can be found in the Anti-Bullying Code in Appendix 1 which was written by me for one particular school and which itself forms an essential part of the Box and Interview Method.

(Important note concerning the Principal and management: The following system was devised by me at the request of management, who also happened to be the Principal of the school for which the programme was put in place.

The system is described as it was at first devised and later modified and updated. The Principal set the process in motion by giving me a four month period to devise a method and agreed with the role allotted to himself within the system and in particular to the late stage at which he was to be informed. Other Principals may well prefer to be informed at an earlier stage. The advantage of the late entry of the Principal in the following system was that it helped to distinguish between discipline on the one hand and an anti-bullying system on the other hand. In the latter, the total emphasis was on the protection of the victim by bringing an end to the bullying behaviour, and there was never a question of sanctions or punishment within the system itself.)

After three years in operation, the system was endorsed unanimously by staff at a one-day seminar on bullying within the school

The Anti-Bullying Code was also given the highest praise, from a legal standpoint, by the legal representative of the ASTI when he reviewed the school rules which included the Code.

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