Anti-Bullying

This morning I attended an 'bullying prevention' workshop put on by RespectED, a part of the Red Cross. It was a fascinating workshop; I'm afraid that I and the group I was being trained with made the workshop delivery a bit difficult. My questions revolved around framing, bigger-picture prevention of oppression and abuse of power, and how to work proactively with the 'bullies' to make a difference.

Cited as part of the presentation were WHO statistics on bullying; Canada, it was said, ranks poorly compared to other developed countries.

http://www.prevnet.ca/Bullying/BullyingStatistics/tabid/122/Default.aspx

The study cites that among 13-year-olds, Canada is 26th/27th out of 35 countries. I cannot find the original study; I would be curious to explore further this statement:
"The drop in Canada’s relative ranking in spite of stable rates, suggests that other countries have been preventing bullying problems more effectively than Canada. Many of the countries that rank higher than Canada, such as Norway and England, have had national campaigns to address bullying problems."

Wider societal trends may have more to do with the changes in other countries. We need to be sure that the best way to address bullying is in fact to address 'bullying' - what if it is more beneficial to focus on multiculturalism, strength in diversity, open-mindedness, respect for others, conflict resolution, assertiveness - there are so many POSITIVE frames with which these issues could be addressed.

There's my thoughts for now... perhaps this will become part of the future masters'?