Recommendations

AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT RECOMMENDATIONS

Students with teacher and computer
The Australian Covert Bullying Prevalence Study, which was commissioned by the Australian Government and conducted by the Child Health Promotion Research Centre at Edith Cowan University, offers the following recommendations and strategies for schools and parents to utilise to prevent covert and cyber bullying:

  • Involve students, staff and parents in the development of a whole-school approach to understanding, preventing and dealing with bullying, including covert and cyber bullying.
  • Ensure the roles of parents, staff and students in preventing and dealing with covert and cyber bullying are understood and followed. Provide continual support to staff and parents in their roles through facilitating ongoing access to training.
  • As methods of bullying change with advances in technology, as is particularly the case with cyber bullying, prevention policies and procedures need to continually evolve. Regular communication with students will assist in understanding the prevalence of covert bullying, the forms it takes and the effect of changes to anti-bullying policies.
  • Address the root causes of bullying and associated behavioral issues. Educate and empower students with knowledge of the causes and implications of bullying and the role of the peer group in encouraging or preventing bullying behaviors.

ID-ologies supports the recommendations suggested in the study conducted by The Australian Government. The Project Hero program offers a viable solution to the issues of covert and cyber bullying with a preventative approach that includes customized policy development, student/teacher training, and ongoing support to reach all types of students, parents and teachers. Our program is engaging, interactive, with a format that utilises a wide variety of techniques, which communicate to the participants on many levels. The outcome is a more cohesive, compassionate school environment where students feel safe to express themselves and be themselves, which results in lower absenteeism, fewer student conduct issues, and higher academic achievement.

http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/rip/1-10/09.aspx