Anti-bullying Campaign 2019 Booklet
Agrupamento de Escolas Francisco de Holanda
What is bullying? There is no legal definition of bullying. But it is usually defined as repeated behaviour which is intended to hurt someone either emotionally or physically and is often aimed at certain people because of their race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation or any other aspect such as appearance or disability. Bullying affects lots of young people and happens in many schools, but it's the way it's dealt with which makes the difference between life being tolerable or a misery for many. At the beginning of the school year, we in the
English
Club
“Bright
Beginnings”
decided to take on the eTwinning project “Together in Fight in Bullying”. It has allowed us to become better acquainted with how this issue impacts students in other countries. Through the research done and the exchange of experiences, we have discovered that although there are differences, there are many more similarities and common goals. We are all “together” in this fight and what unites those participating in this project is the desire to protect the victims of bullying and to make our schools safe places for all....
Phase I: The first thing we did was introduce ourselves to our partners. Some students took on the task of taking photos to illustrate the short texts written in Portuguese and English about our school and city. Here are the English versions of the published texts. FRANCISCO DE HOLANDA SECONDARY SCHOOL Our school exists since 1885 and is located in the centre of the city of GuimarĂŁes. It has currently 136 teachers, 1250 students attending Science and Humanities Courses (Visual Arts, Science and Technology, Socioeconomics, Languages and Humanities), 432 students attending vocational courses (Electronics, Automation and Computers, Mechatronics, Marketing, Design, Management and Programming of Computer Systems, Geriatrics) and about 100 students in Adult Education Courses that function at night, from 7.00 pm to 11.00 pm. Our school had reconstruction and improvement work done to it a few years ago and has laboratories for the different courses, computer rooms and traditional classrooms. The library is considered an important space in the school. Students go there to study, do group work, use the computers, get tutoring from teachers when they have difficulties or they simply go there to read the newspaper and talk to colleagues in the designated area.
GUIMRÃES Guimarães is a city of medieval origin. It has been classified as a World Heritage Site since 2011 and was the European Capital of Culture in 2012. Our city is linked to the foundation of the Portuguese national identity in the 12th century and is considered the birthplace of the Portuguese nationality (the cradle city). Our history is revisited every time we look at the castle, where D. Afonso Henriques, the first king of Portugal was born and whose construction dates back to the 10th century, Paços dos Duques de Bragança (Palace of the Dukes of Bragança), a majestic estate residence of the 15th century, classified as a National Monument. Its museums, monuments and churches are worth visiting. And, if we want to get together in a medieval atmosphere, we go to Largo de Oliveira (Oliveira Square), known for its cafés and bars where everybody goes: tourist and local inhabitants. Guimarães has been able to honour, and is able to currently give its inhabitants good living conditions, while preparing for its future.
Phase II: Then we were asked to create anti-bullying posters and present drawings. We are secondary school students who are taking different courses. Our timetables are not always compatible, even for club activities. However, our interest in the theme of the project, helped us overcome these obstacles. Some posters were produced individually and others in group. Our ultimate goal was to inform and reach as many people as possible with our message, so we decided not to adopt only one slogan for our campaign. Here is a glimpse of how some of the posters and drawings which follow were produced...
Phase III: A pattern seemed to emerge from the drawings, so we decided to get insight into bullied victims’ experiences; feel the anguish and desperation of those who, many times, suffer in silence...
FEELINGS There’s nothing worse Than feeling you’re not worth it To feel that you’re bad And that you should just be dead. You try to have hope But all you want is a rope You find yourself in a trap And want to end it a.s.a.p. Your blade is your only friend And will help you put your life to an end And sometimes you feel so sad That you just wanna put a bullet in your head. But then a new day dawns When you connect with someone who may be sad and lonely too You know you’re not alone ’cause one plus one equals two.
Madalena Serra
TESTIMONIES Many students are victims of bullying. We spoke to a few who shared their experiences. We believe that by telling others, we are able to heal wounds. Although the students we interviewed will remain anonymous, we present their stories… “In the 5th form, my classmates were always calling me names - awful names. The fact that I didn’t care, only made them angrier. I told the teacher. She spoke to them and they stopped insulting me. In fact, we started getting along really well.”
“Some girls used to send me insulting messages on Facebook when I was in the 5th form. I felt so sad because I had never harmed them in any way and still they seemed to despise and hate me. When I started secondary school, I realised that special needs students are not always accepted by their classmates. They are often called names because, unfortunately, many students don’t understand that they are only different... not less.”
“I was a victim of bullying from the 3rd to the 9th form. I only became aware of being mistreated in the 4th form. In the 7th form, boys used to steal my lunch and money; lock me up in the bathroom; threaten me with a knife and harrass me. When I told teachers, they didn’t believe me and even my parents were in denial, saying that it was a problem for the school to solve. In the 8th form, I realised that I could and should react, so I started practising stand up combat sports to defend myself. The situation got worse in the 9th form. I was treated really badly; as if I didn’t matter. One day, a group of boys tried to beat me up, but by then, I already knew how to defend myself and fought back. After a while, all school staff and students came to see what was going on. As no one knew, they called the police and my father. No one could stop me... Sometimes, we are forced to do things we don’t really want to do and cause problems that could have been avoided.”
“Last year, I started attending secondary school. My classmates didn’t accept me. Whenever they had a conversation or played a game, I was left out and felt rejected. They also use to insult me, calling me retard and other names that I don’t remember.”
“When I came to the 10th form, my classmates called me names. I didn’t like it, but I ended up not giving much importance and things eventually calmed down. This year, only one classmate keeps picking on me and sometimes, some of the other students say nasty and untruthful things about me, trying to get me into trouble. Once, they told a teacher a bunch of lies., but she defended me and said they had no right to behave that way. My father also spoke to the parents of one of the bullies and I haven’t been bullied since then. Now, nobody insults me anymore and I feel much more comfortable with the group.”
“Last year, our group was bullied by students we have some classes with. They would call us names and make fun of us. There was one boy, in particular, who would humiliate us. Unfortunately, he continues to do so, although less frequently. He usually insults us during football matches. I think he is the one who has problems and to feel better picks on others.”
As you can see, there are students who suffer a lot at the hands of others. It’s sad that to feel good, some people have to bully those they consider weak or who are different. Students Interviewed by: Lígia Fernandes Leonor Oliveira
Phase IV: All that had been done up to this stage was known only to a restricted group: club members orTwinning partners. This was clearly not enough. We had to reach out to our own school community and let it know about our findings. Students and staff should be aware of just how widespread and serious bullying is; know about the importance of victims speaking out and understand the role we can play in the fight against bullying. We cannot remain quite or be passive if we want schools to become places where parents can leave their children without being concerned about their physical and mental wellbeing. So, we decided to commemorate “Anti-bullying Day” on the 31st of May. The idea was to end the project by organising an event that would capture everyone’s attention. All club members were mobilised and played their part in putting together several activities that we hoped would go far beyond the event and help the cause of fighting against bullying in our school. Next, we present what was done on this special day...
The main activities were set up in the students’ recreational zone. The space was divided into sections, each with a different activity to cater for different interests, but all with the intention of getting the message across that bullying is wrong; that kindness and respect are paramount in the fight against bullying or, for that matter, against all forms of violence and discrimination...
Kindness tree: In this section we placed a bare tree and asked students and teachers to write messages on paper hearts to fill the branches of the kindness tree.
“Be Kind” and “Stop Bullying” bookmarks: We made bookmarks with quotes to distribute to all participants.
“Anti-bullying� mural: The mural was one of the highlights of the event. Students made a pledge to fight bullying, by leaving their hand print on the mural.
Short animated films and posters: Besides exhibiting the work produced by club members for the eTwinning project, we projected several anti-bullying short animated films and posters in the lounging area. These same posters were placed on every classroom door so that students could read the powerful messages of anti-bullying campaigns around the world.
Stop Bullying Flash Dance: Another hightlight of the morning activities occured outside. The flash dance to the music of the film “The Greatest Showman� caught everyone by surprise, but was greatly appreciated by all who were priveleged to see it.
Powerpoint presentation: All English teachers of the secondary school level received a Powerpoint presentation. Those who were able to, showed it in class. The idea was to use the information and the various short videos in the presentation to initiate a discussion on the issues of bullying and cyberbullying. Some slides of the Powerpoint presentation with recent data about bullying and cyberbullying in the USA, the UK and Portugal follow. You also have a list of videos shown during the presentation.
Agrupamento de Escolas Francisco de Holanda
Anti-bullying Campaign 2019
In a report released in 2018, a third of students said they were bullied the previous school year, That’s an increase from 2 years ago, when just over 1 in 4 students had been bullied. The survey was based on responses from more than 160,000 secondary students in 27 states.
Middle school students were more likely to be bullied than high school students. Most bullying happened in person, with the majority of students saying they had been verbally harassed. Most students were bullied because of how they looked. Sexual orientation and race were the next highest reasons.
Annual Bullying Survey 2018: Over 9,000 young people aged 12-20 were surveyed at schools and educational facilities around the UK.
At least 2 in 5 young people stated they had experienced bullying the previous year, including cyberbullying. Girls, ethnic minorities, those with special educational needs or disabilities and LGBTQ pupils were the ones most subject to discriminatory bullying.
Em 2018, o estudo ‘EU Kids Online’ inquiriu 1974 crianças e jovens, entre os 9 e os 17 anos. Segundo o estudo, 1 em cada 4 afirma ter sido vítima de bullying na internet no último ano. A percentagem de alunos perturbados com a exposição a conteúdos negativos passou de 7% dos inquiridos em 2010 para 10% em 2014 e para 23% em 2018.
1 em cada 6 crianças e jovens foi alvo de ciberbullying (16%) e “teve de fazer coisas que não queria fazer”. 37% dos jovens dos 9 aos 17 afirmaram ter visto imagens de cariz sexual na ‘net’ no último ano (rapazes - 44% e raparigas - 29%). Entre os 15 e 17 anos a percentagem sobe para 59%. Entre os 9 e os 11 anos desce para 11%.
Videos: Bullying – produced by Sinatra Barbara Center Teen Talk on Cyberbullying produced by PACER Center This is Me - song from the film The Greatest Showman Daisy Chain - Animated film written by Galvin Scott Davis and narrated by Kate Winslet
Bibliography: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/life/allthemoms/2018/09/24/one-outthree-students-were-bullied-us-school-last-year/1374631002 https://www.ditchthelabel.org/research-papers/the-annual-bullyingsurvey-2018/ https://www.cmjornal.pt/sociedade/detalhe/uma-em-cada-quatrocriancas-sao-alvo-de-bullying-em-portugal https://www.shutterstock.com/pt/explore/royalty-free-images https://www.bullying.co.uk/general-advice/what-is-bullying/
Online survey on bullying and cyberbullying: Initally, we were going to ask students to do an online survey produced by one of our club members. English version: https://www.survio.com/survey/d/X9I7U9R2I9W7P1K5I
Portuguese version: https://www.survio.com/survey/d/A8N4O0B3Q4W9V2X9E
We ended up not doing so, as many students were either out on field trips or were doing their practical training at local firms and institutions. Therefore, the statistical data obtained from the survey would not be representative of the school community. It should be something to consider in the future, as it may provide some valuable insight into the issues of bullying and cyberbullying in our school and help those in charge take appropriate measures.
Conclusion: Paticipating in the eTwinning project has been a long and somewhat difficult process because of many limiting and some unforseeable factors. We were seldom able to fulfil the deadlines initially established for the project. However, we hope that this final product will somehow redeem us. It shows all we have done for and because of the eTwinning project “Together in Fight in Bullying”. It started off as a mere project, but as some of the members of the club have themselves been victims of bullying, it ended up being so much more. For a few it was cathartic. They were able to face their demons and have since grown in selfconfidence. This is priceless. If nothing else has been achieved, this alone has made this project worthwhile. As the teacher responsible for the eTwinning project at our school, all I can say is that it will forever stay in my memory due to the effort it took to complete and the commitment of the English Cub coordinators and members to bring the “Stop Bullying” message to our school community. I hope that this booklet will be a legacy we leave of what the teachers and students of this school are capable of achieving when they set their minds to it.
Cristina Tomé
Thanks to:
Club members: Ana Isabel Oliveira -
10TGR, Bárbara Silva – 11CT2,
Leonor Oliveira – 10CT1, Lígia Fernandes – 10CT1, Alexandra Lopes – 11CT1, Madalena Serra – 11CT1, Matilde Vinagreiro – 11CT1, Soraia Alves -11CT1, Jessica Moreira – 11CT2, Maria João Pereira – 11CT2, Mariana Fraga – 11CT2, and Sofia Freitas – 11CT2 ...for your commitment and time;
Collaborators in “Anti-bullying Day” ...for your contribution and aid;
People and organisations committed to the anti-bullying cause ... for your ideas and material.
Without all of you, the eTwinning project and the anti-bullying campaign in our school would not be possible.
Teacher responsible for eTwinning project “Together in Fight in Bullying”: Cristina Tomé. “Anti-bullying Day” organised by: Cristina Tomé and Alice Alves. Booklet created by: Cristina Tomé.