9.20am – 10.00am – Keynote Address

Associate Professor Simon Denny

“Bullying, Contexts an What To Do: A Youth Development Perspective”

There is an increasing recognition of the harms associated with bullying behaviours. These behaviours evolve during the adolescent years and require different approaches from that during childhood. This presentation will discuss bullying behaviours among young people using data from the Youth2000 series with insights from local and international research.

 

10.15am – 10.45am – Short Presentation 1:

Deidre Vercauteren, Accent Learning – “KiVa”

Student achievement is hampered by many different things. Bullying is one of them. Bullied students are unhappy and often isolated. They become anxious, they start missing school and their academic achievement suffers.

We found New Zealand bullying statistics alarming and looked in to what support there was available and whether or not it made a difference. KiVa came to our attention. An anti- bullying approach that involves everyone within a school community. A registered school becomes a KiVa school.

The approach, or programme, has been trialled, evaluated, implemented and researched.  It has been designed around decades of research in to bullying and the mechanisms of bullying.

Accent Learning is now sole licence holder for New Zealand (which is the first country in the southern hemisphere) and our team has been trained by the Finnish academics responsible for KiVa development.

 

10.45am – 12.00pm – Concurrent Workshops

 

Stream 1

• Associate Professor Paul Jose: “Cyber-Bullying and Psychological Well-Being”

 

• Justin Canty: “Children, Social Media and the Trouble Defining Bullying”

Online bullying is a hot topic for research as well as in wider society due to concern for its impact on children’s social and emotional well-being. Most research and interventions use a conventional definition of bullying, one that has been constructed by adults. Children’s perspectives on their own experiences have been marginalised in the process. Research and intervention tends to tell children what bullying is rather than listening to their perspectives and their methods for defining what is or is not bullying.

In this presentation, I explore some problems associated with the conventional definition and its uses in research through examination of some historical context and blind spots, using lenses of gender, culture, and context, including the social media context. I will discuss the importance of positioning children’s accounts as sources of valid knowledge and of taking a child-centred approach to investigation of the troubles associated with online bullying and social media.

 

• Neil Melhuish: “NetSafe and Cyber-Bullying in New Zealand”

 Neil will dedicate 15 minutes to the question “What is so special about cyber-bullying?”  He will draw on NetSafe’s extensive experience of providing practical support to those targeted by online bullying and its work advising schools, government and other organisations on how to address related issues.

 

• Brian Coffey: “Prevention of Cyber-Bullying in Schools”

This will be an opportunity to spend 15 minute focusing on the whole school context as an approach to preventing cyberbullying.  The information provided will draw on the work of the Online Safety and Bullying Prevention Advisory Group.

 

Stream 2

Dr Donna Swift: “Growing up Mean: The Influence of Family Violence on Girls’ Behaviour”.

There is no quick fix to ending girls’ use of violence, just as there is no easy means of stopping family violence.  Yet the link between the two cannot be ignored, especially when viewed from the perspective of the transmission of violence from one generation to another.

This workshop draws on findings from The Girls’ Project (Swift, 2011) and the Girls of Concern study (Swift, 2014); research conducted in New Zealand. It examines the ways girls are socialized into violence, their use of this behaviour as a tactic for survival, and how this can then impact on social interactions at school or in the community. Discussion also highlights the way in which girls can become both victims and perpetrators of violence. With violence so entrenched in their lives intervention needs to address the significant layers of its complexity. The workshop concludes by recommending approaches to help girls overcome their challenges, and acknowledges that without effective strategies the potential exists for their violent behaviour to continue into their adulthood and future families.

Stream 3

Mike Williams: “Safe and Peaceful Schools”

In this workshop, Mike will introduce a radical way of addressing relational aggression in the classroom. He will show how the intervention of an Undercover Anti Bullying Team  dramatically shifts the relationships in a high school class to one of support where previously the relationships were characterised by harm and rejection. Mike will challenge traditional ideas of bullying and show how relational positions are not fixed and how young people can successfully be recruited as agents against bullying.

 

 

1.00pm – 1.30pm – Short Presentation 2:

Gary Scott, Gibson Group – “Bullies” – Documentary Clips from Prime TV 

Television producer Gary Scott from the Gibson Group shows selected highlights from the 3-part NZ documentary series BULLIES which is screening on Prime TV concurrent with the conference. The New Zealand On Air funded series has episodes on Workplace, School and Cyber bullying and includes several conference delegates among the list of expert interviews.

 

1.30pm – 3.15pm – Concurrent Workshops

 

Stream 1

Ministry of Social Development – “Te Punanga Haumaru – The Challenges and Successes of Putting Young People at the Centre of the Community Action Projects”

Te Punanga Haumaru was established in 2012 to support community action for the prevention of bullying of children and young people (0 to 19)  It is led by the Ministry of Social Development and builds community capability to lead social change through its community action fund and online resources.

Te Punanga Haumaru aims to foster community commitment and ownership to addressing bullying by encouraging projects that are collaborative and building on what already exists.  Key to the approach is involving children and young people in the planning and implementation of projects to increase effectiveness by ensuring approaches are relevant and appealing.  Project teams found that young people bring a range of perspectives, energy and passion to the work.  They have great local knowledge and their views are key to getting traction in community.  Despite the benefits, not all project teams have managed to engage youth well in their projects.  We will discuss the challenges and successes identified by project teams.

 

 

Stream 2

Victoria University  – “Redefining Bullying: Examining the way we define, perceive and talk about bullying”

This 75-minute workshop will be an opportunity to address some of the common assumptions and (mis)conceptions about bullying that circulate in New Zealand society today. Within this session, we will touch on popular beliefs about the nature of bullying, how it is defined by youth and common personality traits that are usually associated with bullying incidents. As the aim of the workshop is to promote discussion, the session will have an ‘interactive’ format where everyone will be encouraged to contribute and share their unique perspective.

 

Stream 3

Ministry of Education – “Preventing Bullying in Schools”

In this workshop Brian will:

• Inform participants of the forward planning of the Bullying Prevention Advisor Group and;
• Unpack the Bullying Prevention Guidelines with the aim that participants have an increased understanding of the guidelines and have shared, helpful ideas with and between participants on how the guidelines may be effectively implemented in schools.