School and Workplace Bullying Prevention Projects 

 

The Canberra Bullying and Life at School Project (1996-1999)

This project began in 1996 when Eliza Ahmed undertook a PhD involving children from 32 ACT primary schools and their parents. Questionnaires were used to assess who had experienced bullying and who had been involved in bullying, how families coped with these problems, the degree to which schools were successful in controlling bullying problems, and parents' concerns and wishes for how they wanted schools to respond to the problem in the future. The project was progressed by Braithwaite, Ahmed and Morrison in 1999 when a grant from the Australian Institute of Criminology made it possible to follow up children and parents in 1999 to find out how their lives had changed. 

The project has been theoretically important in allowing Ahmed to develop her notions of shame management and how poor shame management is central to the cognitions of children who bully others and children who are bullied by others (Ahmed, Harris, Braithwaite and Braithwaite, Shame Management through Reintegration, 2001, Cambridge University Press).

In conjunction with this research program, Brenda Morrison developed a program in the Australian Capital Territory with primary school children to teach them to recognize bullying, to manage bullying problems, and to look after others who were encountering difficulties. Morrison has brought her work together in a new book from Federation Press, From Bullying to Responsible Citizenship: A Restorative Approach to Building Safe School Communities.

 

Avoiding Victimization through Building Resilience Project

The young people who took part in the Canberra Bullying and Life at School Project are followed up in this study by Jacqueline Homel to find out how they have learnt to deal with victimisation and be resilient. The earlier study suggested that most children who are bullied at school bounce back to be well adjusted adolescents. This finding suggests that being bullied is a learning experience in itself. We hope to better appreciate the path of development that has been followed by those who have successfully transcended their primary school experiences.

 

Cross-National School Behavior Research Project

This is an international study (Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Israel, Italy, and South Africa) to address bystander behavior, specifically how bystanders can be empowered so they can come forward to fight against bullying. For details, contact Professor Ken Rigby at the University of South Australia (ken.rigby@unisa.edu.au).