1. Students want to talk about bullying
For the organisers, this is by far the most important reason. Students indicate that they consider it important to talk about bullying in the classroom. Not talking about bullying and not resolving bullying have the greatest impact on the happiness in life of bullied children, according to the report Bullied in Isolation. Moreover, only 1 in 3 students who experience bullying report it. So more students do not report it than do. You can only increase the willingness to report when you call a spade a spade. You want to convey the message that talking about bullying is allowed and possible at your school. By using the name Anti-Bullying Week, you also make this visible to the entire school.
2. It emphasises the urgency
Bullying is a persistent problem that can leave deep scars on children's lives. 17% of students in primary education experience bullying, compared with 9% in secondary education. Children who are bullied rate their happiness in life lower than children who are not bullied. It is therefore something we must actively combat, not a problem that we can address simply by focusing only on the positive.
3. A clear message
Anti-Bullying Week contributes to a clear message: we do not accept bullying. From research, we know that a strong anti-bullying attitude among teachers, as well as parents and students, helps prevent bullying and reduces the likelihood of repeated bullying behaviour. During Anti-Bullying Week, you can jointly establish a clear standard and give students confidence that reports of bullying will be taken seriously.
4. Increasing empathy
The name Anti-Bullying Week encourages students to think and take action. Isn't awareness the first step towards change? During Anti-Bullying Week, you create space to work positively together, get to know one another better and share personal experiences. This creates greater connection and empathy among students—proven elements in preventing bullying. Read more about this in the publication: Good to each other all year round! And make use of the Anti-Bullying Week teaching materials.
5. A starting signal
Anti-Bullying Week is more than a one-off campaign in which your school takes part. In our view, it is a starting signal right in the middle of the Golden Weeks. You lay the foundation for an ongoing process in the classroom. Working on a positive group climate and preventing bullying is something you do every day. However, a good start is half the battle and provides a great opportunity to return to this regularly. Students often remember the name Anti-Bullying Week in connection with activities that took place, which you can remind them of: “Do you remember?”
6. A positive group climate
During Anti-Bullying Week, we provide teachers with practical guidance and tools to tackle bullying and promote a positive group climate. This ranges from teaching materials and webinars to tips for the Golden Weeks. So it is not only about combating bullying, as is sometimes thought. There is actually a great deal of focus on how a group should interact, getting to know one another, working together and making agreements. Our aim is to empower teachers, so that they feel supported and can genuinely make a difference together with the students in their class—all year round!
7. Students know how to intervene in bullying behaviour
Bullying is a group problem. You want to establish a shared standard in which the class does not accept bullying and students help one another if it nevertheless occurs. Research tells us that when students know how to intervene in, for example, bullying behaviour, they are considerably more likely to actually do so. This does mean that you need to talk with your students about what bullying behaviour is and what they can do to help. Anti-Bullying Week is particularly well suited to this.
8. Also a great opportunity to involve parents/carers
Just like students, parents consider it important that attention is paid to dealing with bullying at school. Good cooperation between school and parents helps combat bullying. Anti-Bullying Week offers a great opportunity to join forces: research tells us that when teachers and parents unanimously speak out against bullying, this reinforces the message. In addition, children often talk about bullying at home sooner than they do at school, meaning that parents are also an important source of information for the school. Parents are more likely to be motivated to share information with the school when it is clearly visible that the school is combating and addressing bullying.