How to select a bullying prevention programme

Whāia te pae tawhiti kia tata – Explore beyond the distant horizon and draw it near!

Addressing bullying behaviour is all about developing a culture of kindness and respect that prioritises empathy for others and healthy social relationships.

To prevent and respond to bullying, schools in Aotearoa NZ need to work actively with whānau and others in their community to create a culture of care that develops students’ empathy, positive self-image, and ability to contribute to the oranga and wellbeing of others and the wider community.

Schools use a mixture of programmes, interventions, and approaches to nurture the overall wellbeing of their learners. This tool is designed to help you think about the most appropriate and comprehensive ways to ensure your students can safely pursue their journeys to knowledge and wellbeing.

How to use this tool

• when you have located a programme, intervention or approach that matches the make-up and needs of your school community; for example, year levels, gender, and areas of concern
• to examine and judge how suitable and feasible this programme, intervention or approach is likely to be in your context.

The tool has three areas of focus, each area includes three quality criteria and descriptions for investigation and discussion. Use the focus areas to examine your selected programme, intervention, or approach and ensure that it:

 

 

Māramatanga, Understanding is culturally grounded uses evidence-based approaches develops capabilities.
Aroha, Culture of care resonates with your school community’s vision and values is mana enhancing and inclusive engages students, whānau and community as partners.
Mahi, Practice is sustainable in your context builds professional capability has effective processes for using data and evaluation.

 

Key questions

• Do you have a team to support you in this work? Review Step 1 Prepare and plan
• Has your team agreed on what bullying is and isn’t? Review What is bullying?
• Has your team reviewed the core elements of a successful whole-school approach? Visit the core elements of a successful whole-school approach
• Has your team collected data, assessed needs, and agreed on your purpose? Review Step 2 Gather evidence

Initial task

Do you know how well you are progressing with a whole-school approach?

Map the strengths of your current activities and areas for development against the nine core elements of a whole-school approach.  

Use one of the files below to record your views. You will use your copy of this file again at the end of this tool.

Strengths of our whole-school approach(external link) – Google sheet

Strengths of our whole-school approach - Excel spreadsheet [XLSX, 73 KB]

Get started

You are ready to begin using this tool, when you have:

• organised and prepared your team
• clearly identified your school community’s needs and purpose
• gathered together all the information you have about the programme, intervention or approach you are considering.

We recommend you work through the focus areas in the sequence we present them here, but you can move back and forward between them as you need to.

• Māramatanga, Understanding(external link)
• Aroha, Culture of care(external link)
• Mahi, Practice(external link)

Downloadable file If you prefer, you can use the file below rather than the pages on this website. Record your questions and discussion points. Selecting programmes – downloadable discussion document [Microsoft Word] [DOCX, 983 KB]

Māramatanga, Understanding

Mā te rongo ka mōhio. Mā te mōhio ka mārama. Mā te mārama, ka mātau. Mā te mātau, ka ora.

With discussion comes knowledge. With knowledge comes light and understanding. With light and understanding comes wisdom. With wisdom comes wellness.

 

Purpose

In this focus area you will be examining your selected programme, intervention, or approach to ensure that it:

• is culturally grounded
• uses evidence-based approaches
• develops capabilities.

Guiding questions

As you read through the criteria and descriptions below, use the suggested questions to guide your investigation and discussion.

Honours Te Tiriti o Waitangi

How does this programme, intervention or approach support us to … ?

• enact the articles of te Tiriti o Waitangi: kāwanatanga – governance, rangatiratanga – agency, ōritetanga – equity, and “the spoken promise” of cultural and spiritual freedom
• co-design a holistic approach to learning with whānau, hapū and iwi that meets the needs of ākonga
• affirm the identity, language and culture of whānau Māori and tamariki in ways that can be seen, heard and felt by all members of the community
• support inclusion of all children and their families in Aotearoa, as tangata tiriti.

Uses evidence-based approaches

How does this programme, intervention, or approach … ?

• reflect the core elements of a successful bullying prevention approach
• align with the current definition of bullying
• explore bystander roles and safe ways bystanders can prevent or intervene in bullying
• outline evidence, or promising practice, that the approach works in contexts like ours.

Develops capabilities

How does this programme, intervention, or approach support us to … ?

• make specific links to the key competencies and learning areas in the NZ Curriculum, or the graduate profile and ngā wāhanga ako in Te Marautanga o Aotearoa
• build students’ capabilities to manage their social and emotional wellbeing
• develop skills in effective problem-solving dialogue for ākonga, staff, and the community
• provide strategies for repairing harm, and making and maintaining healthy social relationships.

What have we learned?

If the programme, intervention or approach you are considering meets these criteria well enough to satisfy your needs, then continue with the next focus area.

If there are gaps, discuss if and how you can fill these gaps before you continue with the next focus area. What will you need to do?

Next focus area - Aroha, Culture of care(external link)

Download the file: Selecting programmes – discussion  [DOCX, 983 KB]

Related links

Te Hurihanganui(external link) (Ministry of Education)

Ka Hikitia – Ka Hāpaitia(external link) (Ministry of Education)

Social and emotional learning(external link) (Ministry of Education)

Te Tiriti o Waitangi Articles(external link) (Google doc – CORE Education)

Aroha, culture of care

Ko te tamaiti te pūtake o te kaupapa 

The child – the heart of the matter

Purpose

In this focus area you will be examining your selected programme, intervention or approach to ensure that it:

• resonates with your school community’s vision and values
• is mana enhancing and inclusive
• engages students, whānau and community as partners.

Guiding questions

As you read through the criteria and descriptions below, use the suggested question stems to guide your investigation and discussion.

Resonates with your school community’s vision and values

How does this programme, intervention or approach … ?

• reflect the aspirations of whānau and our local hapū and iwi
• respond appropriately to the identified needs of our students, teachers and community
• connect deeply with our vision and values and who we are
• align with our school policies, models and other actions to support student wellbeing, learning and behaviour.

Mana enhancing and inclusive

How does this programme, intervention or approach support us to … ?

• understand learners, their whakapapa, cultural values and their experiences of school
• build cultural pride and identities to enhance the mana and wellbeing of ākonga, whānau and the community
• promote respect for diversity and actively challenge behaviours such as racism, ableism, and discrimination against people of diverse sexualities and gender identities
• provide a range of options and choices to support learner diversity (not one-size fits all).

Engages students, whānau and community as partners

How does this programme, intervention or approach support us to … ?

• partner and build a shared understanding with our students, teachers, whānau, and the community
• draw on student, whānau and local community strengths and resources to plan solutions and maintain relationships
• provide a range of meaningful ways to actively engage whānau in the programme.

What have we learned?

If the programme, intervention or approach you are considering meets these criteria well enough to satisfy your needs, then continue with the next focus area.

If there are gaps, discuss if and how you can fill these gaps before you continue with the next focus area. What will you need to do?

Next focus area - Mahi, Practice(external link)

Download the file: Selecting programmes – discussion [DOCX, 983 KB]

Related links

Collaborative planning for learning(external link) (Inclusive education website)

Inclusive classroom culture(external link) (Inclusive education website)

LGBTQIA+ students(external link) (Inclusive education website)

 

Mahi, Practice

Me mahitahi tātou mō te oranga o te katoa

We should work together for the wellbeing of everyone

 

Purpose

In this focus area you will be examining your selected programme, intervention, or approach to ensure that it:

• is sustainable in your context
• builds professional capability
• has effective processes for using data and evaluation.

Guiding questions

As you read through the criteria and descriptions below, use the suggested question stems to guide your investigation and discussion.

Sustainable in your school

Does this programme, intervention or approach … ?

• give a clear view of the activities the school needs to implement to be successful
• give a clear view of the time, resources, and whole-school commitment required to sustain the programme and adapt it to our context
• fit within our budget and compare well to other ways we could use these funds.

Builds professional capability

Does this programme, intervention or approach … ?

• build the capability of a team to lead the project
• offer teachers professional support resources and learning opportunities, and where applicable, tailor these to the individual school
• suggest systems to ensure the ongoing sharing of knowledge and collaboration, and the induction of new staff
• provide ways to identify when further support and access to referral systems, such as counselling services, are required.

Has effective processes for using data and evaluation

Does this programme, intervention or approach … ?

• use data to drive programme decisions
• clearly state aims and intended outcomes that can be monitored and evaluated
• include whānau and ākonga in planning, reviewing and measuring outcomes
• provide a plan to implement a monitoring and review schedule.

What have we learned?

If the programme, intervention or approach you are considering meets these criteria well enough to satisfy your needs, continue below.

If there are gaps, discuss if and how you can fill these gaps. What will you need to do?

Then it’s time to consolidate and weigh up what you have concluded from the three focus areas. Do you have enough information to make a decision about going ahead with this programme, intervention, or approach?

Final task How will the addition of this new programme, intervention or approach strengthen what you are already doing in your school?   Does this programme deal with all of your bullying prevention needs or just some aspects? How does it contribute to the nine core elements of a successful whole-school approach? Use your copy of the file you created in the Before you start section of this tool to map the strengths of this programme alongside those of your current activities.

 

Selecting Programmes - Discussion Document [DOCX, 983 KB]

Related links

Leading inclusive schools(external link) – Inclusive education website