Cowie, H. & Jennifer, D. (Co-ordinating team, UK), Chankova, D. & Poshtova, T. (Bulgaria), Deklerck, J. & Deboutte, G. (Belgium), Ertesvåg, S. K. & Samuelsen, A. S. (Norway), O'Moore, M. & Minton, S. J. (Ireland) and Ortega, R. & Sanchez, V. (Spain) © (2006)

School Bullying and Violence: Taking Action

Module B

Unit B1 - What Does the WSA stand for?

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PDF Unit B1 - What Does the WSA stand for?

Objectives:

To enable participants to give a definition of a WSA
To enable participants to define the benefits of a WSA
To motivate participants to use the WSA in their own school(s)
To enable participants to analyse the policy and culture of their/a school
To enable participants to understand the prevention pyramid as a useful framework to carry out a needs analysis
To enable participants to make proposals to broaden existing school practice, increase quality and achieve improved coherence

Facilitation skills to be developed through this unit:

Knowledge and understanding of:

the sense of complexity of “problematic behaviour” within the school:

multi-causality of “difficult school behaviour” (bullying, violence, vandalism, skipping school)
being able to handle an ecological framework to interpret multi-causality

some important characteristics of a positive school climate and how they contribute to a less problematic school environment (fewer problems of bullying and violence)
the prevention pyramid as a supportive framework for a WSA
the meaning and coherence of the four 'intervention levels' of the prevention pyramid
the most important characteristics and qualities of the WSA
these characteristics in participants' own schools

Personal qualities and attributes include:

remaining empathic vis-à-vis the various experiences of disrespectful behaviour including bullying and violence
being touched by the needs that are hidden behind several kinds of disrespectful behaviour including bullying and violence
being open to several perspectives with respect to “difficult school behaviour”
being open to the interaction between context and personal experience:

as an explanation for difficult school behaviour
as a point of departure to search for solutions and prevention measures

wanting to do something about formal and informal initiatives that contributes to improved quality of life within the school and are also problem-preventing or problem-solving