What is Bullying?
It is important to have a clear understanding of what bullying is and what it is not.
Clairmont Community School has adopted the following statement, proposed by Alberta Education (2012), in regard to bullying:
"Bullying means repeated and hostile or demeaning behaviour by a student where the behaviour is intended by the student to cause harm, fear, or distress to another individual in the school community, including psychological harm or harm to the individual's reputation."
Forms of bullying include:- Physical bullying - hitting or kicking and/or taking or damaging personal property
- Verbal bullying - taunts, name calling, put downs, threats, and intimidations
- Social bullying - exclusion from peer groups, gossip, ganging up on or group teasing
- Cyber bullying - use of technology to support deliberate, hostile, and hurtful behaviours towards an individual or group of individuals
- Homophobic bullying - bullying behaviours that are motivated by prejudice against a person's actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity
Bullying behaviour generally exhibits the following components:
- is repetitive, ongoing physical and/or verbal, aggressive behaviour
- involves an imbalance of power, such as size, age, strength, intelligence, or social status
Bullying is not...
- a one time fight or disagreement
- a disagreement between two students of equal strength, power, and/or social standing
Issues with bullying require parents and the school to work together to find solutions as bullying cannot just be addressed through normal discipline procedures. Bullying isn't a normal part of growing up and it does not build character; it is a learned behaviour that hurts everyone involved.