Researcher says anti-bullying programmes don’t work

Counsellor and outcomes researcher Steve Taylor says research shows that anti-bullying programmes by the MoE and various academic and professional “experts” do not work.

He bases his view on several studies and reviews. One of them is the research by Canadian psychologist J. David Smith of the University of Ottawa.

“Dr Smith conducted a meta-analysis (a study of studies) of all the research studies on the effectiveness of whole-school anti-bullying programmes.”

The report stated that “86 per cent of victimization outcomes [reports by victims of program benefits] were negligible or negative and the remaining 14 per cent of reported effects were positive (albeit small). For self-reported bullying, 100 per cent of the reported effects were negligible or negative.”

Another 2009 study School based Programs to Reduce Bullying and Victimisation revealed an 80 per cent failure rate in reducing victimisation by bullies.

Taylor says: “The study also found that one component of anti-bullying programmes ‘working with peers’ - having students mediate problems, mentor younger kids, or encourage bystanders to interfere in bullying behaviour - actually increased the occurrences of students being bullied.”

Currently the most comprehensive examination of school bullying has been provided by Smith, Pepler and Rigby (2004), says Taylor.

The study revealed that anti-bullying programmes failed in 85 per cent of their applications, while the most widely evaluated anti-bullying programme in the world (The Olweus programme) has only been initially successful in its study original sample, and nowhere else.

Taylor says, “Other observed harmful effects of the anti-bullying programmes have been identified as the promoting of a victim mentality in students which encourages bullies to become more anti-social, wrongful punishment for victims, diverting class time from academic study to deal with bullying issues, turning students against each other, and creating family feuds.”

He says that parents should teach their children how to stand up for themselves, including self-defence.

“The State cannot reasonably expect parents to teach children how to look after themselves in every other area of their life (e.g. self-care, sexual health, alcohol use, and social media) whilst ignoring the very real need to also teach our children how to fight and fend for themselves in the world.”