What Can You Do?

LGBTQ youth who have at least one teacher they can talk to about difficulties are significantly less likely to attempt suicide. You can be that someone for a student in multiple ways. Make your school a No Place For Hate community – a program sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League.

Or support students in organizing an Ally Week. Sponsored by GLSEN, this is a week for students to organize events showing their support for their LGBTQ peers. Download Educators’ Guide to Ally Week – helps educators get involved in this student effort.

Sometimes students just need you to intervene. Bullying involves an imbalance of power, making it more difficult for victims to stand up for themselves.

To make your school a bully-free zone, start by determining the extent of bullying going on. You can create your own school bullying survey, or use surveys made available for free online. Understand the extent, type(s) and areas where bullying occurs in your school, and tailor interventions that fit the needs of your particular school. Then assemble a team of parents, staff and students to implement and evaluate a bullying intervention program. Create a clear and decisive policy that incorporates cyberbullying. Be fair and smart with discipline. Suspending or expelling school bullies has been found to backfire according to the APA Task Force on Zero Tolerance (2008). Students are more likely to abide by the rules in their school when the expectations for behavior are made clear and consequences for misbehavior are consistent and fair. Spend time emphasizing appropriate behavior and raising awareness of inappropriate behavior. Promote tolerance and acceptance during all school activities. And finally, establish confidential reporting methods. Schools have found success in locked boxes or hotlines.

Teachers hold the most influence in reducing bullying in schools. Because students are required by law to attend, it is only fair to maintain a safe environment. Statistics consistently show bullying as a real problem. However, educators don’t always recognize it or know how to intervene.

Appropriate responses to bullying do not fall into a “one size fits all” model. Intervention approaches will depend in part on the age of the students, type of bullying that is occurring, number of students involved and the circumstances surrounding the incident. Schools should collect information on bullying experiences and then use this data to design effective interventions to fit the needs of their students/school.