BULLYING IN SCHOOL Dan Olweus, creator of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, provides this commonly accepted definition

for bullying in his book, Bullying at School: What We Know and What We Can Do: "A person is bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons, and he or she has difficulty defending himself or herself." Every day I am confronted with the phenomenon of bullying within the school environment. Students of different year groups complaining or cocooning themselves to deal with bullies; bullying is the most common form of violence in our schools. Bullying promotes fights, damaging of school property, negative school climate, disruptive classrooms and the list continues. The visual indicators can be identified but the non- visual indicators such as depression, low self-esteem and suicidal thoughts, fear and guilt are often overlooked. There are nine types of bullying defined by Olweus (2001), Verbal bullying, bullying through social exclusion or isolation, physical bullying such as hitting, bullying through lies and false rumors, having money or other things taken or damaged by students who bull, being threatened or being forced to do things by students, who bully, racial bullying, sexual bullying and cyber bullying (via cell phone or Internet). In most of these situation there are three parties involve the bully, victim and observer. Within the school environment we often disregard the effect bullying has on the observer. The observers experiences emotions such as guilt, fear, helpless and temptation to participate. Students refuse to step forward to give evidences to support the victim. Some watch their friend being bullied and become as silent as the grave. Other are persuaded to be active participator which increases the negative effect on the on victims. The National School Code of Conduct states a student is responsible for behaving in a manner that does not interfere with the rights of others. School must enforce programmes for bullies to become accountable for their behavior and implement support services intervention which includes early interventions, parent training, teacher training and positive school environment. (Olweus, 2001)

Teachers must be aware of the characteristics of bullies and implement different strategies to promote a healthy learning environment. Bullies are always reprimanded and hardly praise for good behavior. One strategy I use to promote a positive school environment is to praise bullies for good behaviour; the skilled use of contingent praise could increase positive behaviour and simultaneously decrease problem behaviours.(Moore Partin, et al. 2010).

BULLYING IN SCHOOL Dan Olweus, creator of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, provides this commonly accepted definition for bullying in his book, Bullying at School: What We Know and What We Can Do: "A person is bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons, and he or she has difficulty defending himself or herself." Every day I am faced with the phenomenon of bullying within the school environment. Students of different year groups complain or cocoon themselves to deal with bullies; bullying is the most common form of violence in our school. Bullying promotes fights, damaging of school property negative school climate, disruptive classrooms and the list continues. The visual indicators are at their highest but the non visual indicators such as depression, low self-esteem and suicidal thoughts, fear, and guilt are often overlooked. There are nine types of bullying defined by Olweus (2001), Verbal bullying, bullying through social exclusion or isolation, physical bullying such as hitting, bullying through lies and false rumors, having money or other things taken or damaged by students who bully, being threatened or being forced to do things by students, who bully, racial bullying, sexual bullying and cyber bullying (via cell phone or Internet). In most of these situation there are three parties involved, the bully, victim and observer. Within the school environment we often disregard the effect bullying has on the observer. The observers experience emotions such as guilt, fear, helplessness and temptation to participate. Students refuse to step forward to give evidences to support the victim. Some watch their friend being bullied and become as silent as the grave. Other are persuaded to be an active participator which increases the negative effect on the victims. The National School Code of Conduct states a student is responsible for behaving in a manner that does not interfere with the rights of others. School must enforce programmes for bullies to become accountable for their behavior and implement support services intervention which includes early interventions, parent training, teacher training and positive school environment. (Olweus, 2001) Teachers must be aware of the characteristics of bullies and implement different strategies to promote a healthy learning environment. Bullies are always reprimanded and hardly praised for good behavior. One strategy I use to promote a positive school environment is to praise bullies for good behaviour; the skilled use of contingent praise could increase positive behaviour and simultaneously decrease problem behaviours.(Moore Partin, et al. 2010).