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What
could be done to support pupils who are being bullied?
One way of supporting
children who are being bullied is peer support. This is
when pupils are trained to help younger or vulnerable children
cope with problems such as bullying. When over 2,000 pupils
in Britain were asked about peer support schemes in their
schools, many of the bullying victims said that it had made
a difference and had helped them to survive. However, it
was found that the schemes did not seem to reduce bullying
in the schools. Some of the most common types of peer support
include: conflict resolution (where peer supporters help
younger or vulnerable pupils to work through school problems
such as bullying and racist name-calling); mentoring (where
a pupil who is usually older, provides another with a positive
role model, encouragement and support); befriending (where
peers offer their friendship) and counselling (with peer
supporters receiving training from a qualified adult).
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Article details
P Naylor and H Cowie
(1999) 'The Effectiveness of Peer Support Systems in Challenging
School Bullying: the perspectives and experiences of teachers
and pupils' in 'Journal of Adolescence', Volume 22, pages
467-479.
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Author details
 Helen
Cowie is research professor in the European Institute of
Health and Medical Sciences at the University of Surrey.
She is also director of the UK
Observatory for the Promotion of Non-Violence and Co-ordinator
of Violence in Schools Training Action (VISTA). She has
published many books and papers on peer relationships and
support, bullying in schools and in the workplace and the
mental health of children and young people.
For information about
her research interests and her publications please go
here. She may be contacted by email.
 Paul
Naylor is Senior Research Fellow/Programme Convenor Certificate
in Peer Support at Roehampton University of Surrey. His
publications and research interests cover a range of topics
including: peer support, bullying, racism and social psychology.
For information about
his publications and research go
here.
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