13th November 2023

5 ways to prevent bullying in the classroom

Bullying is a widely recognised issue, and unfortunately is a continuous battle that teachers are faced with. The Anti-Bullying Alliance produced some shocking statistics, showing that 40% of young people reported being bullied in the last 12 months, and 6% of all young people had experienced bullying daily. 9% experienced bullying between once a week and once a month.

Within a classroom environment, students should all have the opportunity to learn, whilst feeling safe and shielded from bullying. Unfortunately, due to the rise in technology usage and students developing creative ways of bullying which wasn’t as prevalent even a few years ago, it becomes an uphill battle for teachers trying to mitigate this negative behaviour. 

In honour of Anti-Bullying week, we’ve put together 5 ways that you can prevent bullying in your classroom.

1. Teach the importance of kindness and empathy

As a teacher, you have a responsibility to ensure that you’re educating students on the importance of kindness and empathy continuously. Every student is going to come from a different socioeconomic background, and their understanding of kindness and empathy will be shaped by what is learned at home. 

Often, bullying is a sign of something deeper – so ensuring that you’re instilling good values within your classroom is crucial. Your methods will vary depending on what age range you teach, so think of creative ways to ensure your students are engaged. 

A great way of instilling positive behaviours is through osmosis! Students should be learning from you first-hand as a teacher what good behaviour looks like. Kindness and empathy can come in many shapes and forms, and even as adults we’re continuously learning, so don’t just assume that your students will be aware when it’s important to demonstrate either of these behaviours. 

An example that you can use (which can be effective for younger classrooms or adolescent classrooms) is simply weaving examples of empathy into your everyday teaching. Whether it’s you showing empathy, or someone else in the classroom, or even something from the syllabus (let’s say it’s a book or a piece of media the class is consuming), drawing attention to these examples is crucial! 

“Empathy is the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, and teachers need to embed this skill into their curriculum. We need to do identity work with children early on so that kids know who they are and who everybody else is and what their place is in the world.”

One way to do this is to have kids get together and talk about their differences. Allow them to practice conflict resolution, work through problems, and build their understanding of those around them.”

2. Identify bad behaviours and mitigate them at the source

Bad behaviour can come in many shapes and forms, and not all bad behaviours indicate that someone will be a bully. However, some behaviours have been linked, and this is what you should be looking out for:

• Name-calling and teasing
• Non-consensual contact
• Disrupting or targeting a specific person/group
• Breaking, stealing, or damaging someone’s possessions

These are the main four to look out for, however, some bullying can be carried out in secret, where it can be difficult to spot as a teacher. For example, cyberbullying is much harder to mitigate as this can’t be controlled outside the classroom, or even inside the classroom due to social media access.

When mitigating bullying, it can be tricky territory to navigate as you would rather not put the victim at risk of more bullying should you choose to intervene. Depending on how your school decides to deal with bullying, you can also contact parents to provide context and awareness of what is going on in school. Each situation is different, and there must be nuance when dealing with bullying as there is no one-size-fits-all approach to mitigating it. 

3. Create context and use that to educate

Educating students about bullying is just as important as educating them on the importance of kindness and empathy. Behaviours at school are often learned at home or from peers, and if there aren’t clear parameters on what is considered “right” and “wrong”, “good” or “bad”, and “bullying” or “not bullying” then these behaviours will simply continue. 

When teaching, ensure that you’re creating context around what bullying is and give clear examples and explanations as and when necessary. Although it’s your job as a teacher to ensure that students absorb a syllabus, it’s also crucial to educate and create context around topics such as bullying. 

4. Communicate your classroom expectations early on

Setting boundaries with students is essential so you can have a safe space to teach, and they can have a safe space to learn. What will you tolerate? And what isn’t going to work in your classroom? 

This doesn’t mean that you need to be an overtly strict teacher or choose a methodology that doesn’t mesh with your personality. It simply means that you’re setting expectations which should be followed by all students, or consequences will occur. It can also allow you to reduce bad behaviour within your classroom and as a by-product, prevent bullying. 

5. Create a safe space for students to voice their concerns

Whether it’s creating a space for bullied students to come forward, or offering 1:1 confidential support, a great way of preventing bullying in the classroom is forming a trusting bond with students so they can feel supported to come to you as a teacher with any issues they may have. 

Students all have their favourite teachers, or teachers that they’ve connected with more. If you are this person for a student, creating a space for them to talk to you about what is bothering them – particularly bullying – can enable you to mitigate the issues and also be a trusted support system for them.