Teachers Using Role-play to Prevent Bullying
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Teachers Using Role-play to Prevent Bullying Peadar Donohoe 1,2
# Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
Abstract Ascertaining if non-drama specialist teachers would be able to use role-play to help reduce bullying in their classrooms was the key aim of a longitudinal two-year pilot study conducted in an inner-city school in Ireland. The study combined qualitative and quantitative elements, including ongoing teacher feedback (oral and written), student focus groups and teacher interviews and the Olweus Bully Victim Questionnaire. Role-play has been offered as a resource in other anti-bullying interventions, but its efficacy is not often evaluated as usage is optional and left to the discretion of teachers who can eschew role-play activities due to time constraints, curriculum overload and unfamiliarity with drama activities. At the end of the two-year intervention, students indicated that there was a 53% drop in victimisation. Most teachers reported that role-play was a very effective resource for opening the discussion and creating awareness about bullying while aiding its prevention. Students, who participated in focus groups, reported that they found their teachers more effective in dealing with bullying incidents. Thus, this study provides evidence that role-play can be a powerful resource for teachers to utilise in creating awareness about bullying and give teachers and students the skills the aid its prevention. Keywords Bullying . Anti-bullying . Role-play . Drama . Resource
The Bullying Prevention Pack (BPP) piloted in this study is a teacher resource created by the author that employs role-play as the central learning tool to facilitate discussions on what bullying is, how it affects fellow classmates and what can be done to prevent it in the school environment. The BPP comprises five lessons that can be facilitated over five weeks. Each week the teacher aims to build on knowledge about bullying, its effects and how to prevent it through role-plays and discussions. The role-plays include bystander role-plays where students learn about participants thoughts, feelings and motivations regarding bullying incidents and defending role-plays that encourage students to do something to prevent bullying (e.g. directly preventing bullying amongst peers, enlisting the aid of a teacher, using a method to report bullying, such as a log book or report box). The final lesson is a brain storming session where the class discusses what they have learned about bullying and devise strategies to prevent it in the future.
* Peadar Donohoe [email protected] 1
CIT Cork School of Music, Union Quay, Cork, Ireland
2
Cyclone Rep Theatre in Education Company, Block B, Heritage Business Park, 2nd Floor, Bessboro Rd, Blackrock, Cork, Ireland
The learning and strategies are summarised on a poster-sized contract on which all students put their name. The contract is then posted in a central area in the classroom as a constant reminder of what the class has agreed to. Thereafter, the teacher reviews the contract on
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