The U.S. Department of
Education has released a free, two-part training toolkit designed to
reduce incidents of bullying, for use by classroom teachers and
educators. The toolkit was developed
by the Safe and Supportive Schools Technical Assistance Center,
supported by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and
Healthy Students, in collaboration with the NEA and the American
Federation of Teachers.
Teachers care about bullying
in the classroom, but many don’t know how to effectively intervene and
prevent it, according to data collected by the National Education
Association (NEA). The
toolkit is designed to provide classroom teachers with the knowledge
and skills to intervene in bullying behavior and to de-escalate
threatening behaviors at school. It includes two modules: “Understanding
and Intervening in Bullying Behavior” and “Creating
a Supportive Classroom Climate.”
“Teachers play a critical
role in identifying, addressing, reporting and intervening in bullying
behavior in their classrooms,” David Esquith, director of the Office of
Safe and Healthy Students,
said. “These modules will certainly help those teachers who don’t know
what to do when these situations arise, and will strengthen the skills
of those who do.”
Find out more after the jump.
Find out more after the jump.
Module 1 consists of
step-by-step instructions, including a preparation guide and trainer’s
outline, for conducting workshops with teachers, educators and school
personnel who work with students
in a school environment. Materials for the workshop focus on:
Understanding what bullying behavior is and is not
Understanding what bullying behavior may look like in the classroom
Exploring ideas for responding to bullying behavior and
Becoming equipped with specific strategies for addressing and reporting bullying behavior.
Module 2 provides
state-of-the-art information on how to build a supportive classroom
climate. Research shows that classrooms that have strong relationships
and are respectful of diversity
have less bullying. Participants in the module will:
Consider what a supportive classroom climate looks like and how it can prevent bullying
Examine the role of teacher-to-student and student-to-student relationships in building a supportive classroom climate
Explore strategies for
preventing bullying in the classroom, including establishing a culture
of respect for differences among students
Consider how a web of positive support among students and other adults across the school community can help prevent bullying.
“Teachers often get
frustrated because they truly do care about their students and want to
help stop bullying in their classrooms, but they don’t know what to do,”
Deborah Temkin,
the Department’s bullying prevention coordinator, said. “These modules
are based on the best available research and practices to give teachers
effective tools to not only respond to bullying, but also to stop it
before it starts.”
The training modules build
upon the success of training materials previously released for school
bus drivers in June 2011. Since that time, the school bus training
materials have been used
to train more than 100,000 of the nation’s bus drivers. The classroom
teacher modules were developed as a result of feedback from attendees at
annual
Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention
summits the last three years. The summits were hosted by the U.S.
Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Healthy Students in
conjunction with the departments of Justice, Health and Human
Services, Defense, Agriculture, the Interior, the Federal Trade
Commission, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific
Islanders, and the National Council on Disability. Teachers, educators
and others from around the country attended the summits
that focused on stopping bullying in schools and communities.
More than 33 percent of
students who are bullied report it happening in classrooms, according to
research from the National Center for Education Statistics. And the NEA
reports that only 55
percent of teachers have received training on bullying policies at
their schools. The training toolkit will help enhance teachers’ existing
skills in building supportive classroom climates while sharpening the
skills of others who work with students in school
settings.
To access the free materials, click
here.