A survey published in April by the 21st Century Education Research Institute, a Beijing-based think tank, determined that younger students were more likely to be bullied, and that nearly half of the 1,000-plus respondents from 12 schools had at some point been subject to physical or verbal bullying. From Sixthtone News http://www.sixthtone.com/news/1001470/china-lays-down-the-law-on-school-bullying

I’d like to take the area of intervention programs and the reduction effect on bullying. I’ve included a link to the study mentioned by Dr. Dorothy Espelage in Video 5 about bullying and reducing it. The study can be found here:
http://njbullying.org/documents/ttofifarrington2011.pdf

Also, I'd like to consider it within my own context as a teacher in China.

What exactly is bullying?

“The definition of school bullying includes several key elements: physical, verbal, or psychological attack or intimidation that is intended to cause fear, distress, or harm to the victim; an imbalance of power (psychological or physical) with a more powerful child (or children) oppressing less powerful ones; and repeated incidents between the same children over a prolonged period of time (Farrington 1993; Olweus 1993b). According to this definition, it is not bullying when two persons of the same strength (physical, psychological, or verbal) victimize each other. School bullying can occur in school or on the way to or from school” (Ttofi and Farrington, 2011).

What’s remarkable is that there is a nearly 20 percent reduction, if the program is done right. Teachers, students and parents need to be trained; there must be a whole-school effort; even playground supervision is important. What struck me is how “peer mediation” – that is, sitting the parties down together in the same space – doesn’t work and actually increases it. I recall this happening to me as a child a few times – and I’m reminded of something I’ll term the “snitch effect”. One can only imagine what that is.

While I see bullying and recognize it myself, I have never seen a program used in any of the schools I’ve worked at in China – either a purely Chinese program or an international program. I’ll just take the example of a Chinese program. After 10 years in China, I still don’t understand how these things are handled – but my most recent post caused me to consider it as I observed classroom dynamics – and observed power relations between students. The eldest students had a very obvious pecking order, mostly based on grades and wealth. Students with powerful parents – that is, parents with connections – were leaders and would control the classroom their own way. What they did and said was gospel. They were often not the most likeable students, but were destined for great things as their parents had money and connections, which meant they were the most likely to enter elite universities. What’s very strange is that many of these students have lived together for years in dorms, in homerooms where they spend all of their time with their peers. They have had almost no adult supervision and there is a deep-seated collectivism that only someone who has lived it can truly understand.

A recent study showed that the Chinese government is now taking such issues seriously and in this article parents describe their experiences with their children being bullied in a Chinese system.

Chinese Bullying

http://www.sixthtone.com/news/1001470/china-lays-down-the-law-on-school-bullying

China is now cracking down on bullying -- and who knows how it will take hold, but in all my Chinese schools, I've never had a meeting regarding bullying, but I did once have an administrator mention that much of it revolves around either having low grades, high grades or based on socio-economic status. Here's a video about the new Chinese initiative to stop bullying: 

I always felt myself drawn to the student who was obviously at the bottom of that pecking order – and who was often ignored by the others and laughed at. I wondered how I could help them to overcome something that they likely have had to deal with their whole lives. I realized that it requires a change in organizational culture – but that requires having a certain amount of power, and almost no foreigner is given that power. So, generally, as a teacher I’m completely powerless to make that kind of change. There are minders called “bangzhuren” who are basically Chinese teachers who monitor students and help where they can, but I really don’t know what they do, as they are very much considered extensions of the upper administration and extremely secretive.

Finally, I personally find bullying happening today generally among other teachers and administrators, who – based on the above definition – have power to bully and, frankly, they are almost always women. They actually bully staff and other teachers. This is likely to stir some resentment, but women mostly run programs in China and they are extremely aggressive with the wielding of their power and influence. So, when the administration itself is a bully, the students know this and use it, and model it in their own lives. When teachers are given power to make decisions – and the students know that – then classroom management is much more effective for the average teacher. Frankly, it’s great to have a program – but I think teachers and administrators should check themselves, first, because they are often the causes of the problem (at least in my experience) and the most important models of behavior for most students. Second, one of the mediating factors in this is how often a child is taken home on weekends or holidays – so the home life of the typical Chinese student is important. Anecdotally, I’ve noticed that the children who live at home and not in the dorms are often the least likely to be mean or involved in the pecking order. There is, perhaps, a kind of Lord of the Flies effect happening when kids are left to their own devices. I’ve probably already said too much….so I’ll leave it at that.

References:

All videos on module

Ttofi, Maria and David P. Farrington (2011). Effectiveness of school-based programs to reduce bullying: A systematic and meta-analytic review. Journal of Experimental Criminology 7(1):27-56.

http://njbullying.org/documents/ttofifarrington2011.pdf