Bullying? No Way! National Week of action is on the way

The National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence has a new name, ‘Bullying No Way: National week of action’ and will occur between 12 to 16 August 2024 with the theme ‘Everyone belongs’. 

 

The initiative aims to emphasise the importance of embracing and respecting differences, with the understanding that if this were to occur, bullying would struggle to find a place in the world. 

 

The 2024 theme also emphasises the role that each individual plays in preventing bullying by speaking up and creating safe spaces, whether those are in work places, sporting teams, community settings, learning groups, and any other places where individuals spend time with one another. 

 

Ensuring that people feel supported and respected, and ensuring that all voices are heard and valued is a crucial part of preventing bullying. 

 

Bullying is a repeated and deliberate pattern of behaviour, which falls into one of three domains: 

 

• Physical bullying 
• Verbal bullying 
• Social bullying

 

Social bullying includes consistently excluding a person or sharing confidential information. These behaviours can occur in person or online, and there can be overlap between those spaces.

 

ACECQA recently prepared a reflection on bullying which has been summarised below. Find the original here. 

 

Example from the field

 

Belrose Community and Children’s Centre, an Excellent rated service, took proactive measures to address bias and discrimination amongst children in response to family concerns. 

 

Recognising the need to challenge their thinking and support social justice for all children and families, the service introduced an anti-bias approach that supported the understanding and challenge of bias.

 

One of the four goals decided upon for the service’s anti-bias approach included, ‘Each child and educator will demonstrate empowerment and the skills to act, with others or alone, against prejudice and/or discriminatory actions‘. 

 

To achieve this goal, the service eliminated gendered pronouns from the program to liberate children from traditional gender stereotypes, expand their emotional understanding, and support children’s free expression of all emotions.

 

An improved outcome from the program included children demonstrating awareness of existing stereotypes, such as gender-based social expectations. A noteworthy observation was children engaged in a thoughtful discussion about gender stereotypes relating to ballet dancing. Through a robust debate, the children concluded that boys could indeed be ballet dancers, demonstrating a change of bias.

 

Additionally, educators critically reflected on the children’s discussions by identifying their own bias regarding gendered language and pronoun usage in everyday interactions. This prompted a shift towards the use of more inclusive language that allowed all children to feel comfortable and included.

 

Advice from ACECQA 

 

ACECQA recently shared the following advice for services who wish to challenge and confront bias in their settings: 

 

It is important for educators to consider how their personal bias or other influential biases might impact the young developing minds of the children they work with.  

 

The approved learning frameworks state that ‘Educators engage in critical reflection, challenge practices that contribute to inequities or discrimination and make curriculum decisions that promote genuine participation and inclusion.’  

 

The following reflective questions can help services (including its staff, families and children) to challenge unjust bias and discrimination while promoting inclusive environments for all children. 

 

For educators:  

 

1. How can we challenge stereotypes and societal norms with children? 
2. How have personal biases influenced our education and care of children?
3. Are there aspects of our curriculum that may unintentionally reinforce stereotypes or biases? 
4. How can we modify or expand our curriculum to promote diversity and challenge social conditioning? 

 

For families: 

 

1. What does discrimination mean to you?
2. Think about your personal biases. How do you think they developed? Are they equitable and just?
3. Do you think your personal biases influence your children? What might the implications of this be?

 

For children: 

 

1. What does fair mean? 
2. Can you think of a time when you saw something that wasn’t fair? Tell me about it.
3. What does being ‘different’ mean?
4. Why do you include people in things? How can we do this at (Service)?

 

Advice and support

 

ACECQA recommends the following readings and resources to further discussions in this area: 

 

• Bullying No Way
• Student Wellbeing Hub 
• eSafety Commissioner 
• Be You 

 

This story first appeared on ACECQA’s website. Find the original here.