By Graeme Salt
It is universally recognised that students can only thrive and reach their full potential when they feel safe, happy and confident of expressing themselves within their school environment. Raising awareness about identifying, challenging and, ultimately, one hopes, eradicating bullying from schools is a target for the world's educational institutions.
Bullying is a repeated behaviour that intentionally makes someone unhappy, and some schools are better than others are at creating bully-free environments. Consistent and regular public guidance must be used to sensitise all within a school community to bullying's potential harm, and of the signs that it might be taking place. Schools that talk about bullying, do not necessary have a bullying culture: most often it is schools that talk about bullying the most that have the least problems. This is because the community has become aware of the signs, are confident of reporting and have skilled people capable of challenging potential bullies early.
Of course, bullying is not just a Korean problem, but it is a problem in Korea. In a society where academic pressures are high; parental ambitions high and narrow; personal appearance highly celebrated; ranking students is standard; status hierarchies are not meritocratic; and technology so widespread, there does appear to be a ‘perfect storm' whereby individuals can be undermined all too easily, and, sadly, often conditionally. I have seen how a single target for prejudice has been identified within a group: not only do these unfortunate individuals exist but they also appear necessary as a means to bind the rest of the group. But at what cost? Ultimately, it creates a divided and cruel community where individuals are in fear of being the next target.
It is good news that in Korea awareness and intolerance of bullying is on the rise. The overall wellbeing of young people is coming into focus and newly developed systems are being populated by the right people to provide both emotional support in times of need and preventative guidance.
At Dulwich College, we regularly sensitise all of our community to the negative impact of bullying and we intervene whenever bullying is identified. All students sign a Code of Conduct requiring them to show courtesy, respect and tolerance for others. We seek to know our students well and be observant of their current mental state. We teach students and teachers to report when they have worries, and to self-report in times of trouble. We have specialist staff in student welfare and hold eye-catching whole school events to raise awareness, such as our Pink Day Fun Run, the painting of a counter-bullying mural and through displays of counter-bullying assertive language. Students are taught to be compassionate and understanding regarding diversity, and are tutored in online safety and cyber bullying. They are urged to ‘Take a Stand, Lend a Hand', and to ‘Speak Out and Stay Safe'. We cannot claim that bullying has never or will never take place at Dulwich College Seoul but if it does, we believe we can close it down swiftly.
We also believe bullies usually need help themselves. Yes, we apply disciplinary measures to show that such behaviour is wrong, but we would usually leave opportunity open for students who have made mistakes to show that they can behave in the right manner. We will always believe in trying to educate students first instead of simply passing on a problem student with issues unresolved.
Creating a safe and friendly environment for our youth to thrive in is not only a worthy goal, but a priority that requires commitment from the community as a whole. By taking pride in safeguarding our students' wellbeing, we can approach the elimination of bullying and help our students become happy, secure and confident of expressing their best each and every day.
Graeme Salt is the Headmaster of Dulwich College Seoul, a part of the Dulwich College International (DCI) network of schools. Reach him at Headmaster@dulwich-seoul.kr
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Bullying is a repeated behaviour that intentionally makes someone unhappy, and some schools are better than others are at creating bully-free environments. Consistent and regular public guidance must be used to sensitise all within a school community to bullying's potential harm, and of the signs that it might be taking place. Schools that talk about bullying, do not necessary have a bullying culture: most often it is schools that talk about bullying the most that have the least problems. This is because the community has become aware of the signs, are confident of reporting and have skilled people capable of challenging potential bullies early.
Of course, bullying is not just a Korean problem, but it is a problem in Korea. In a society where academic pressures are high; parental ambitions high and narrow; personal appearance highly celebrated; ranking students is standard; status hierarchies are not meritocratic; and technology so widespread, there does appear to be a ‘perfect storm' whereby individuals can be undermined all too easily, and, sadly, often conditionally. I have seen how a single target for prejudice has been identified within a group: not only do these unfortunate individuals exist but they also appear necessary as a means to bind the rest of the group. But at what cost? Ultimately, it creates a divided and cruel community where individuals are in fear of being the next target.
It is good news that in Korea awareness and intolerance of bullying is on the rise. The overall wellbeing of young people is coming into focus and newly developed systems are being populated by the right people to provide both emotional support in times of need and preventative guidance.
At Dulwich College, we regularly sensitise all of our community to the negative impact of bullying and we intervene whenever bullying is identified. All students sign a Code of Conduct requiring them to show courtesy, respect and tolerance for others. We seek to know our students well and be observant of their current mental state. We teach students and teachers to report when they have worries, and to self-report in times of trouble. We have specialist staff in student welfare and hold eye-catching whole school events to raise awareness, such as our Pink Day Fun Run, the painting of a counter-bullying mural and through displays of counter-bullying assertive language. Students are taught to be compassionate and understanding regarding diversity, and are tutored in online safety and cyber bullying. They are urged to ‘Take a Stand, Lend a Hand', and to ‘Speak Out and Stay Safe'. We cannot claim that bullying has never or will never take place at Dulwich College Seoul but if it does, we believe we can close it down swiftly.
We also believe bullies usually need help themselves. Yes, we apply disciplinary measures to show that such behaviour is wrong, but we would usually leave opportunity open for students who have made mistakes to show that they can behave in the right manner. We will always believe in trying to educate students first instead of simply passing on a problem student with issues unresolved.
Creating a safe and friendly environment for our youth to thrive in is not only a worthy goal, but a priority that requires commitment from the community as a whole. By taking pride in safeguarding our students' wellbeing, we can approach the elimination of bullying and help our students become happy, secure and confident of expressing their best each and every day.
Graeme Salt is the Headmaster of Dulwich College Seoul, a part of the Dulwich College International (DCI) network of schools. Reach him at Headmaster@dulwich-seoul.kr
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