Together we can say stop! Secondary School nr. 1 Bogdanesti, Suceava county
Pupils identified a problem often encountered in Romanian schools especially in our school. It’s about bullying. Children identified the causes and looked for solutions to reduce the effects of bullying on everyone affected by it: the aggressor, victim, witness. They thought to carry out an anti-bullying campaign through which to sensitise their class and school mates.
Story of change facilitated by Mrs Mitocariu Nicai Daniela.
List the problems identified by the pupils:
Bullying
Violence
Skipping class
Lack of bins on the street
Non recycling of general waste
Having a lot of homework
Addiction to technology (mobile phone, tablet etc.)
Lack of activities with the family
Poverty
Explain what problem was chosen to be solved and why.
Pupils proposed to resolve a current issue - bullying. They consider that bullying is a big source of stress at school and a lot of children result in being traumatised and to skip classes because of this. Also, bullying is a phenomenon that affects all the people involved: aggressor, victim and witness.
What people are most affected by this problem? What is bothering them?
Most affected people are younger pupils, those with less financial possibilities, overweight pupils. These pupils are bothered by the fact that they are called names, jokes are being made about them by their colleagues and they are being marginalised.
List all the solutions you thought of.
Anti-bullying campaign
T-shirts with anti-bullying messages
Essays with the title: the victim’s message to the aggressor
Work in a team more
Learn to be tolerant
Self-control exercises
Becoming empathetic
Spreading flyers with anti-bullying messages
Role play games
Which of these solutions was chosen to implement and why?
Pupils chose to implement the following ideas:
Anti-bullying campaign
T-shirts with anti-bullying messages
Essays with the title: the victim’s message to the aggressor
Work in a team more
Role play games
They chose to undertake an anti-bullying campaign that comprises of more solutions found by them, with the scope to sensitize. They considered that if they will work together in conducting this campaign, they will get to know each other better, they will learn to be more tolerant and they will experiment the joy of working together.
Briefly describe the process of implementing your solution/solutions
To carry out the campaign, the pupils organised in two teams and each made a plan of action that comprised of: activities, resources, duration and the people responsible.
Then, they applied their plan: they asked their older colleagues from the sixth grade to compose essays with the title “ The victim’s message to the aggressor”, they created posters, panels and T-shirts with anti-bullying messages. They prepared different awareness games including role play games. They created the robot portrait of an aggressor, of a victim and of a witness.
What are the results or the impact of your project?
Our story had a positive impact, both at the class level and at a whole school level. I consider that the main purpose, that of sensitising people towards a problem that leaves such bad marks on a child, was achieved.
The second graders were praised by all the school teachers for their initiative, they managed to be a model for the other children from school because more classes started carrying out anti-bullying activities. At the second grade, we saw that pupils were more united, more patient, more sensitive to the problems of their colleagues, open to activities that require working together.
How many people benefited from your solution?
10-20 people
What did the people who benefited from the solution say? Write 2 quotes or opinions.
“I am not afraid of those that offend me. I know that they are children that have more troubles than I have” said a nine year-old child.
“Before getting upset on someone, I will think twice because these essays really sensitised me. I saw what a victim really feels” said a six grade student.
What difficulties did you encounter while implementing the project and how did you overcome them?
Working together (pupil-pupil, pupil-student), we avoided all the obstacles and we managed to work joyfully together. The biggest problem encountered was the lack of time, but we managed.
How long did it take to implement the solution?
15-30 days
What did you do to promote the project in your school or in the community? With whom did the pupils talk to about the project? What answers did they receive?
Our project was promoted on the school website. We talked about the project with the parents, teachers, with the head of school and we received positive feedback, a lot of praise and encouraging. We were encouraged to continue this project.
We carried out a few activities together with the sixth graders as well and also with the second graders, whom we shared our story of success, demonstrating that if we could, they will too.
Approximately, with how many people did you talk to about the project?
10 - 20 people
Briefly, how do you plan on sustaining the project in the future?
We proposed ourselves to continue this wonderful project and to include parents as well, in our action to stop the effects of bullying on children.
