Prevencion di termento na Scol

The project Prevencion di termento na Scol was developed on the basis of empirical studies conducted by Dan Olweus, Ph.D.. Dan Olweus is a professor / researcher in psychology from Norway and is seen as the pioneer in research on bullying . Dan Olweus has been researching bullying for decades (started in 1970). His findings about bullying are the most adopted programs worldwide.

The theoretical insight on which the project ‘Prevencion di termento na Scol’ is based is that bullying occurs when wrong use of unequal power is made by the person who is bullying and the person being bullied. This is the most important element that distinguishes bullying from senseless violence among a group of children / youngsters. As soon as the perpetrator exercises his power (physical, emotional and / or social) incorrectly on the victim, he will be bullied until the balance of power is restored. Power means physical power, emotional power and / or social power.

The project has a definition of bullying. Bullying is when a person systematically makes incorrect use of his personal power (physical, emotional, social) to hurt, intimidate or frighten another person who can not or finds it hard to reject such a manner, with the intention of making personal gain.

The purpose of the project ‘Prevencion di termento na Scol’ is to change the school from a school where incorrect use of unequal power between pupils occurs, to a school where pupils compromise to put an end to bullying and where the staff confronts unacceptable behavior of children. By achieving the goal, a nonviolent childhood for the pupils at the school is created.

The project achieves its goal by first teaching the pupil the following:

Becoming aware of the bullying problem and its consequences,
Defining bullying and recognizing bullying behavior,
Understand the effects of bullying behavior and create empathy for the bullied student,
Characteristics of the children who are bullying,
Characteristics of the children who are being bullied,
Apply protection tools against bullying,
How and when to report bullying,
The consequences of bullying behavior for the school,
The consequences that the school imply to bullying behavior.

Secondly, this project achieves its goal by teaching school staff:

Defining bullying and recognizing bullying behavior
Understand the effects of bullying behavior and create empathy for the bullied student,
Protection tools against bullying,
Characteristics of the children who are bullying,
Characteristics of the children who are being bullied,
Create a comprehensive statement of strategy,
Determine consequences for bullying behavior,
Develop a procedure to report bullying behavior,
Develop an evaluation plan,
How the project should be carried out,
How to get support from parents for the project,
How to get support from the students for the project,
How to get the support of society (neighborhood) for the project.

Finally, the project reaches its goal by teaching the parents:

Defining bullying and recognizing bullying behavior
Characteristics of the children who are bullying,
Characteristics of the children who are being bullied,
How parents can support the project.

The project contains both preventive and repressive components. Because of the training that the school staff follows, the workshops that the pupils attend and the information evening that the parents attend, everyone is made aware of the problems (preventive). This allows the parents, the students and the teachers to recognize bullying better and faster and to understand the negative effects of this better. By reporting bullying behavior (by the students) and by the consequences that the school staff agrees to enforce, limits are set (repressive). By becoming aware, the bullying behavior is prevented (preventive) and by taking action the bullying behavior will decrease (repressive).

Fundacion Telefon pa Hubentud Aruba has developed a ‘train the trainers’ project for the ‘Prevencion di Termento na Scol’ project. Every school in Aruba can make a request.