While there is strong evidence linking bullying, absenteeism and poor achievement, the causal relationships between these phenomena are poorly understood. For example, it is plausible that being bullied increases the likelihood that children will be truant, with negative consequences for their learning. But it is equally plausible that children who achieve poorly are sometimes bullied for being ‘dumb’, leading to the avoidance of school. (A complication is that both high- and low-achieving students are at greater than average risk of being bullied.)
In a recent literature review, Refa Laith and Tracy Vaillancourt from the University of Ottawa examined measured relationships between bullying, truancy, and educational achievement. The review focused on longitudinal studies, which helps to identify the causal direction of relationships between the variables. For example, if an increase in bullying at a school precedes a fall in academic achievement, but the converse is not true, it suggests that bullying causes poor achievement rather than the other way around.
In fact, Laith and Vaillancourt’s found that being bullied can be both a cause and a consequence of low engagement and poor learning. Improving any of these three things, then, could contribute to a virtuous cycle of reduced bullying and improved attendance and learning.
Directly addressing truancy is difficult. Truancy increased markedly in the aftermath of COVID lockdowns and is proving stubbornly difficult to shift.
The government is introducing curriculum reforms and professional development for teachers that are likely to improve achievement, especially in critical areas like literacy and mathematics. But the reforms will take time to bed in, and the benefits for students who do not attend school regularly will be limited.
To address bullying, Victoria University of Wellington’s Professor Vanessa Green favours the widespread adoption of the Finnish KiVa programme in New Zealand. (KiVa is Finnish for ‘kindness.’) The programme focusses both on intervening when bullying occurs and on preventing it in the first place.
Green and her colleagues evaluated KiVa in the New Zealand context with positive results. They also noted international randomised trials of KiVa, which show that the programme can markedly reduce bullying within a year.
Government funding for schools to adopt KiVa might not only reduce bullying and the suffering it causes, but also yield beneficial flow-on effects on both attendance and achievement.
Dr Michael Johnston has held academic positions at Victoria University of Wellington for the past ten years. He holds a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Melbourne. This article was published HERE
In fact, Laith and Vaillancourt’s found that being bullied can be both a cause and a consequence of low engagement and poor learning. Improving any of these three things, then, could contribute to a virtuous cycle of reduced bullying and improved attendance and learning.
Directly addressing truancy is difficult. Truancy increased markedly in the aftermath of COVID lockdowns and is proving stubbornly difficult to shift.
The government is introducing curriculum reforms and professional development for teachers that are likely to improve achievement, especially in critical areas like literacy and mathematics. But the reforms will take time to bed in, and the benefits for students who do not attend school regularly will be limited.
To address bullying, Victoria University of Wellington’s Professor Vanessa Green favours the widespread adoption of the Finnish KiVa programme in New Zealand. (KiVa is Finnish for ‘kindness.’) The programme focusses both on intervening when bullying occurs and on preventing it in the first place.
Green and her colleagues evaluated KiVa in the New Zealand context with positive results. They also noted international randomised trials of KiVa, which show that the programme can markedly reduce bullying within a year.
Government funding for schools to adopt KiVa might not only reduce bullying and the suffering it causes, but also yield beneficial flow-on effects on both attendance and achievement.
Dr Michael Johnston has held academic positions at Victoria University of Wellington for the past ten years. He holds a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Melbourne. This article was published HERE
1 comment:
We are nation in a sorry state. Bullying is ubiquitous. An acquaintance , a psychiatrist from overseas, told us bullying is rife here.
Our experience in the ' Reading Wars' last century revealed the Min.Of Ed. is a bullying institution. Shamefully failing children who came after school for phonic reading instruction to our private schoolroom were terrified at being discovered by the school in their participating in this innocent tutoring they attended.. Being found out resulted in selective victimized by being denied school help. Surveys were done by schools , to determine who in a class attended the tutoring and their names put on a list with hints the names would be forwarded to the ministry . In one particular incident a teacher found books from the tutoring sessions in a child's desk. In a fit of fury the teacher yanked the child out of his seat and marched him.into the corridor. The mother reported
her child was traumatized by this . There were many similar incidents reported by parents and a 20/20 programme in 1997 documented the horror children in Kapiti were experiencing. The Min.of Ed. still force their ideology on teachers and schools in a tyrannical way. The numeracy project from my experience has been forced into schools in the same way Whole Language was. With phonics instruction, until recently teachers were threatened with job loss if they visited our school room.
We need to not just consider the bullying of children by other children but also by teachers with direction from the Min.of Ed. Ninety percent of parents do not want transgender studies .but that along with Critical Studies is being forced into schools which is , I believe , ethically degenerate. I would guess most parents want their children taught numeracy and literacy effectively not ideological agendas.
Does the Finnish programme on bullying consider the bigger educational problem in NZ. ?
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