Preventing and intervening in bullying

It is important that every child, teen, and adult student feel an equal member of their community. Children, teens, and adult students actively participate in planning, implementing, developing, and assessing community welfare work. Community welfare is also created in cooperation with guardians. Guardians will be informed about operating models for preventing bullying and intervening in it. Special attention will be paid on children, teens, and adult students in vulnerable positions.

Accounting for continuous group bonding
Group bonding is a continuous, around-the-operating-year / around-the-school-year process. Special attention will be paid to transitional stages. Student welfare employees will meet 7th-graders and students in upper secondary education in groups, discussing, among other things, wellbeing, mental health, and the impacts of bullying on wellbeing. Group bonding will be conducted in cooperation with Youth Services and/or other partners.

All units will deploy the wellbeing annual clock, as well as a plan for bolstering and teaching emotional and interaction skills.
These will be integrated into existing plans, for instance, annual plans. Employees will be provided with training in promoting wellbeing, emotional and interaction skills, as well as preventing and intervening in bullying.

Values and attitudes are reflected in everyday practices; they are concretized together with children, the young, and adult students. At the beginning of the school year, schools and educational institutions’ regulations will be handled. Classes and groups’ regulations will be compiled together. Adhering to shared regulations and instructions will be strengthened in a positive manner.

Children, teens and adult students’ social inclusion and collaboration will be developed. Prefect, sponsorship and tutor activities will be boosted to promote wellbeing, to prevent bullying, and to mediate mild disputes. Daycare centers and educational institutions may also use some peer-mediation model.

Wellbeing data will be regularly monitored and utilized with the help of surveys. The data will be analyzed and used to prevent and intervene in bullying. Examples of surveys: School health survey, School Day wellbeing applications, KiVa School survey, and units’ own surveys.

In daycare centers, schools, and educational institutions every adult shall systematically intervene in any disrespectful and inappropriate behavior they notice. Employees’ knowhow to identify bullying will be bolstered. More in-depth process descriptions of intervening in bullying will be included in unit-specific plans for preventing and intervening in bullying. Guardians and parents will be informed about the ways in which units analyze bullying.

Bullying must be widely seen. Every child, teen, guardian, and adult student must know the different kinds of ways to bring bullying to the fore. Active discussion about bullying shall take place both on community and individual level.

For instance, units have mailboxes where schoolchildren/students can submit announcements of bullying. Basic education uses an online Someturva service to inform about bullying on social media and to ask for help.Use of the Someturva service will be extended from basic education to upper secondary education. In upper secondary education, Vantaa Vocational College Varia uses the Annie app.

The team is responsible for intervening in bullying and monitoring it in the entire community. Representatives of children/teens/adult students will be assigned for the team. Guardians and parents will be heard on a regular basis. The team will utilize unit-specific plans and, when required, crisis cards in its operations.

Investigating, recording, and monitoring bullying has been described in unit-specific plans to prevent and intervene in bullying. They will account for guardians’ active participation to put an end to bullying.

An adult support person will be named for the victim of bullying. It will be agreed with the bullied person that a trusted adult, who is a member of the community, will be designated as his/her support person who will give him/her special support and help. The child, teen or adult student can have an influence on who the adult support person will be. Also, the bully can be named an adult support person.

Units will be offered outside expertise and help in cases of prolonged bullying and violence. The possibilities of acquiring outside expertise and help to solve cases of prolonged bullying and violence will be investigated. This requires separate funding.